The Three Dimensional Theory Of Chinese Palatial Architecture Aesthetics

Palatial architecture represents the highest achievement of ancient Chinese architecture, contains diverse administrative, residential, ritual and educational functions, encompasses all essences of traditional Chinese architecture, and has become the paradigm for other traditional Chinese architecture, displaying in a condensed way aesthetic principles and artistic modes of traditional Chinese architecture. In the context of "heaven and humanity in harmony", Chinese people regard heaven, earth and human beings as components of the universe, and have long been trying to establish a universal order in which nature, human society and individuals exist in harmony for thousands of years. In ancient Chinese political systems emperors reside at the peak of the social structure of humanity, on the one hand were sovereign, empowered by the 'universe', or 'heaven', on the other obliged to maintain the stability of social structure and to safeguard the wellbeing of people. Therefore, they need to prove the legitimacy of royalty and the rationality of policy with 'providence'. As the residential area for emperors, palatial architecture reveals the royalty which is 'empowered by heaven' and functioning as 'civilizing all people', thus its pattern corresponds to 'heavenly projection', the earthly 'projection' of the centre of 'heaven', and 'projecting heaven' is the principal aesthetic orientation for Chinese palatial architecture.In its history of millenniums, Chinese palatial architecture contains a progressive process in style. The occurrences of such change in architectural style are accounted for in two aspects:man's knowledge on 'heaven' is developing gradually, hence palatial architecture undergoes the transformation from 'projecting heavenly shape','projecting heavenly significance', to 'projecting heavenly force'; the approach to 'projecting heaven' has developed from straight astronomic simulation to adapting to the corresponding relationship between geographical environment and astronomic state, further regarding the 'social institutions' of human society as the earthly representation of the order of 'heaven', which has become the foundation for design in palatial architecture, thus traditional Chinese palatial architecture has completed its development from 'heaven'back to'earth'.The development of ancient astronomy has always influenced the construction of Chinese palatial architecture. "Zi Wei Yuan", a constellation in the centre of the sky, corresponds to royal palatial architecture, with the simulation in layout and direction displaying the special position of royal palatial architecture. While traditional Chinese geography relates to astronomic state by'the interfluve theory', offering an alternative approach to the projection of heaven. With the development of traditional geography, the culture of the immortal as well as the theory of Fengshui has pushed Chinese palatial architecture forward in the direction of'pleasant environment', guiding palatial architecture to 'reasonable function'and'suitable scale'. Confucianism since Han dynasty pays more attention to the establishment and construction of the order of human society. The theories aim to solve the problem of correlation between the order of human society and the order of'heaven', intending to employ the authority of'heaven'to prove the legitimacy and rationality of the social institutions in question. The process provides a large amount of exploration in Chinese palatial architecture of how to meet the demand of human behavior, how to demonstrate the stipulated norms to entire society, etc.Chinese palatial architecture has finally reached reconciliation between the conflict of'projecting the heaven','following the earth'and the order of human society, returned from'the heaven'to'the earth', and become the paradigm for all types of Chinese architecture. In all traditional Chinese architecture, residential or religious, administrative or educational, the buildings reveal one way or the other, some inherent relation to the conformation of palatial architecture. Chinese architecture has finally established its own distinctive aesthetic standard, that is, a building should become the bridge over the nature, society and individuals. As the relation between the architecture and the natural environment is emphasized, a series of approaches have emerged in connecting and unifying architectural environment and natural environment; as the establishment of relation between individuals and society is stressed, Chinese people have always regarded architecture as a platform for interpersonal communication, endeavoring to realize the unity between human behavioral patterns and architectural space, endowing traditional Chinese architecture with sense and humanistic color. In order to reach such goals, Chinese palatial architecture even partially rejected its pursuit of grandeur, magnificence, and perfection in skill, thus it has become an architectural system with high adaptability and popularization value.