Architectural Principles in Early Imperial China: Structural Problems and Their Solution

Abstract

While no buildings survive from the early Imperial period, i.e., the Qin and Han dynasties (ca. 250 B.C. - A.D. 200), new archaeological information, combined with literary and visual data, allows a preliminary inquiry into the architectural principles of this early age in China. Five important sites are analyzed, particularly with regard to their plans and structural features. The manipulation of pounded earth beds, cores, and footings, of engaged columns as well as free colonnades, and of timber frames and bracketing, distinguishes the early Imperial period from prior Bronze Age practices and later conventions as attested by extant structures.

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