A Comprehensive Research On Morphological Characteristics Of The Architectural Heritage In The Old City Of Yangzhou

Yangzhou, with a history of nearly 2500 years, is one of the first batch of 24 historic and cultural cities announced by the State Council. In the Old City of Yangzhou with an area of 5.09 km2, which is remained from Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are a great number of architectural heritages such as traditional dwellings, ancestral halls and temples. Among them traditional dwelling is the type of the largest amount and the most regional features. Thus it has the great value of history and cultural and architectural art.This dissertation takes the architectural heritage of traditional dwellings in the Old City of Yangzhou as the major research object, and comprehensively studies its morphological characteristics. Based on extensive field work, on-site plotting and literature study, correlation theory and research methods of typology, cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural geography are applied to conclude the characteristics of the physical forms of the architectural heritage of traditional dwellings, and to analyze the forming process and the evolution phenomena. At the same time, the effects and impacts that the non-physical forms such as social, economic and cultural factors have on the characteristics of the physical forms and their forming and evolving process.There are seven chapters in the dissertation. Chapter One is the introduction of the dissertation that explains the background and significance of this research, and introduces the major research object, the main contents and method of the research that have been made aiming at the disadvantages of former researches. Chapter Two briefly summarizes the forming background of the architectural heritage in the Old City of Yangzhou, including the natural environment, social and times background, local economic traits, regional culture atmosphere, etc.. Chapter Three analyzes and concludes the characteristics of the spatial forms of the architectural heritage of traditional dwellings in the Old City of Yangzhou. It abstracts the "archetype" of plan from the aspects of shape and structure so as to build the plan type system. It also analyzes the functional composition and design features of the traditional dwellings' spatial forms, and the deep meanings of the spatial forms from the aspects of society and culture. In Chapter Four the characteristics of substantial forms of the traditional dwellings in the Old City of Yangzhou are concluded, including inside and outside elevations, doors and windows, brick carving decorations, and technology and folk customs of construction, etc.. Chapter Five searches the forming process of the morphological characteristics and discusses the architectural type transformation from courtyard to patio; it analyzes the causes of the type transformation from the aspects of politics, culture, immigration and economy, etc.. In this chapter, the architectural style formed in the transformation process, which is a combination of northern and southern building types, and a mixture of Huizhou and Suzhou features, is summarized, and the main sources of the style is analyzed. Chapter Six describes the changes of the architectural heritage in the Old City of Yangzhou in modern times, summarizes the specialty of the changement, and explains the reasons from the aspects of politics, society, economy, and culture that architectural heritage developed very slowly in modern times. Chapter Seven is the conclusion of the dissertation.