The Song-dynasty imperial 'Yingzao fashi' (building standards, 1103) and Chinese architectural literature: Historical tradition, cultural connotations, and architectural conceptualization

As the most important primary text for the study of ancient Chinese architecture, the imperial Northern Song (A.D. 960-1127) architectural treatise Yingzao fashi (Building Standards, 1103) is not a pure, typical technical manual at all. Underlying its comprehensive building methods, elaborate structural and decorative details, and strict regulations of building materials and manpower are a plenty of distinctive cultural connotations. These cultural implications have been underestimated by the 20th-century scholarship. This dissertation investigates the full range of architectural literature of imperial China prior to this treatise and treats how historical tradition was incorporated into imperial building standards in medieval China. Analyzing each type of historical texts in the development of architectural writing, I identify the Yingzao fashi as a unique literary work. Li Jie, the author of this treatise, strenuously sought orthodox roots from classical texts and earlier legitimized documents for the Song official standards on building practice. The building methods and architectural terminology that he recorded from oral accounts of craftsmen also reflect a large amount of intriguing cultural phenomena during the Northern Song period. I consider the architectural terminology of the YZFS as an important carrier of popular architectural cultures and distinctive architectural concepts during the 10th to 12th centuries. My research has indicated that not only the naming of architectural components in this treatise was affected by the Song literature, but the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture during the Northern Song period also were aesthetically in harmony. In addition, this dissertation reconstructs a systematic Chinese architectural metaphor that underlies the nomenclature for bracketing in the Yingzao fashi treatise. Here, bracketing elements are likened to flowers, sprays, branches, and leaves. With the aid of other contemporary texts, my research indicates that in the 10th to 12 th-century China, both craftsmen and literati perceived bracketing as flowering trees. The rich cultural connotations that are reflected in the technical terminology of the Yingzao fashi demonstrate that this imperial building standard was far beyond just a technical text.