The Interpretation Of The Ancient Architecture Ornaments In QingCheng Town

Qingcheng Town in Yuzhong County, Lanzhou, also named "the first ancient town along the Yellow River", sites on a plain area which is against the mountain and facing the water. It is as beautiful and elegant as a pearl on the plain and famous for the staple-green shredded tobacco for water pipe. It has a long history of prosperous trades and flourishing culture. Consequently, the large scale of the residential architecture came into being in Qingcheng Town. There exist more then 50 historical relics of the ancient architectures categorized into different levels belonging to province, city and county respectively. Owning to its long history, the whole mold of architecture, the variety of its style in decoration and the well-preserved features of the architecture, it's called "the living fossil of the ancient residential architecture in the north-west".The ornaments on the ancient architecture in Qingcheng Town mainly include the following crafts- brick carving, wood carving and stone carving. Brick carving can be seen on the screen wall facing gate, the wall and the ridge of roof. Wood carving functions as the ornaments on the door and the window, the furniture and the utensils at home. Stone carving is the decoration on the stone lion before the gate, the base of pillar, the stele inscription and the floor. The contents of carving are concerned with the story, the plants, the utensils, the auspicious birds and animals, the horizontal inscribed board and the couplet on pillar. There is a certain incline in choosing the ornamental objects which bear the geographical features. The craftsmen in Qingcheng Town employed the different ways in carving such as the symbols, the homophonic indicators, the formulaic heritage and the scene-setting, etc, which expressed the rich living style and caused longstanding and vivid ornamental effectiveness. The theme, the contents and the ways of expression of the ornaments on the ancient architecture may reflect the plain quest of life and the tradition and the perceptions of folk culture which involve the living value, the education value and the religious belief. All of these conceptions are expressed in their aesthetic values through almost every ornament of the architecture. The Ancestral Hall of the Gao, the Temple of City God, the Academy of Classical Leaning and the Courtyard of the Luo are all typical architectures with a great wealth of ornamental crafts. This article attempts to summarize the art features of these ancient architectures at a macro-level by analyzing their historical background, the styles and the elements and to compare and testify the folk psychology and the cultural significance reflected by the ornaments on these architectures.There are seven chapters in this article. The 1^st chapter is the introduction, delimitating the research objects and illustrating the significance of the present study. In the 2nd chapter, the ancient architectures in Qingcheng Town and the history as well as the geography are explicitly explained and analyzed for the purpose of establishing a good foundation of the later part. From chapter 4 to chapter 5, the specific location of the ornaments on the ancient architecture, the type and the styles, the way of expression, and significance are categorized and further studied. In chapter 5, the perceptions of folk culture and aesthetic ideal are revealed though the systematic study of the architectures. The chapter 6 deepens and testifies the argument by the case study. The conclusion comes naturally in the last chapter, and it is drawn to show the features and significance of the ornaments on the ancient architectures in Qingcheng Town.The premise and foundation of flouring ornaments on the ancient architecture are the long history, unique geographical location and prosperous trade of shredded tobacco for water pipe. As for the ornamental style, contents, expression and function, they convey the value of "literary pursuit rather than trade-centered", the folk culture and aesthetic value, symbolizing people's emotion and expectation. The crafts of architecture once again revealed the principle of art beauty-the style of beauty has to be based on the culture background to convey the aesthetic ideal and expectations. The architectural decoration functioning as a practical style in art should be related to the tradition and culture to bring the harmony to the environment and people.