"Pavilion" As A Symbol In Chinese Literature And Arts

"Pavilion" is one of the oldest buildings of China. In ancient times, pavilion was called "pavilion defensibly", and was established as the frontier fortress or outposts, but wasn't used for ornamental and rest. Pavilion had existed widely in Qin and Han Dynasty, it was regarded as a floorboard of the architectural image which was multipurpose and practical. There were street pavilion, city pavilion, capital pavilion, flag pavilions and so on. Up to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, pavilions started to alleged little fortress in defense fort. Afterwards, the centralized government of Qin and Han Dynasty expanded the conception of the pavilion to the grassroots administrative units that were intended to maintain public order. Pavilion often built at the side of the main road during this period, and was called "pavilion transmitting" because of its role of postal and hostel. With the emergence of private hotel, "pavilion transmitting" was gradually abandoned while the custom of build pavilion at the road side or entrance to a village for rest and farewell was persisted. Then, pavilion evolved into a symbolic architecture abounded in sad colorific which concerned to homesickness, farewell as the practical applicability of pavilion was bring down."Pavilion" was one of an outstanding representative of Chinese architectural aesthetics. Pavilion formed an extensive and profound cultural connotation through litterateur of different generation and their literary works, especially when the pavilion was served as a picturesque meaningful cultural symbol of Chinese culture history and a image of literary and artistic. The constant flux of the pavilion's image not only reflected the evolution of literati's cultural thinking and psychology, but also embodied the endless pursuit to aesthetic space, artistic value, and the ultimate meaning of survival. Meanwhile, the author tried hard to make full discussion on the influence and penetration of the pavilion's rich image to the spirit and life of literati during the past thousands of years, and the contributions that the development of pavilion image made for the extension of literature and art aesthetic space, through using various arguments.