I just found out why foxes were throwing roof tiles off of Chinese houses all the time - the roof tiles were held onto the roof only by their weight, and weren't fixed with anything.
The wonder is why they needed a supernatural explanation for that.
Having just done a digital painting of a building based on photos of Ci'en Temple, I was wondering what the deal was with the roof. =-P First, did you notice there are horizontal slats between the vertical cylindar shaped tiles? I found photos that show weeds seem to love making themselves at home in those slats. Teehee. Second, I wonder what the Chinese do about heavy snow on the roof if not all of it slides down the slopes.
The book said that in the most northern areas they used mud to help the tiles stick to the roof. Presumably, that stood up to heavy snow?
The photos of this house and the schematic drawings don't show horizontal slats. I wonder if it was a regional thing, or the difference between domestic and religious architecture, or if there was a difference in the shape of the roofs?
It might be a regional feature. Ce'in Temple is in X'ian which is smack in the middle of an arid flood plain. I didn't know the horizontal slats existed until I found a close-up photo of one of the roofs. They're small enough to be almost invisible from a distance. I'd assumed the dark spaces between the light colored tiles were simple drain pipes until I found the close-up photo.
The lone travel book I've got on hand just says the same style of sloping roof is used for both religious and government buildings. It doesn't give enough detail on how the roofs are built, nor does it describe ordinary commercial or residential buildings. It would be fascinating to learn more about Chinese architecture if I could find enough time and decent resources.
Something I found to be rather ironic is noticing how residential homes in China (Probably Hong Kong because that's where most of these movies were made) look like American houses in 1970s kung fu movies.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
The photos of this house and the schematic drawings don't show horizontal slats. I wonder if it was a regional thing, or the difference between domestic and religious architecture, or if there was a difference in the shape of the roofs?
no subject
The lone travel book I've got on hand just says the same style of sloping roof is used for both religious and government buildings. It doesn't give enough detail on how the roofs are built, nor does it describe ordinary commercial or residential buildings. It would be fascinating to learn more about Chinese architecture if I could find enough time and decent resources.
Something I found to be rather ironic is noticing how residential homes in China (Probably Hong Kong because that's where most of these movies were made) look like American houses in 1970s kung fu movies.