An Architectural Study On Dacheng Hall Of Ming Dynasty Confucian Temples In Shaanxi

Formerly the Wen-Xuan Wang(Prince of Erudition)Hall,Dacheng(Great Achievement)Hall was cleped its present-day name by Emperor Huizong of Song(r.1100-26 AD)in 1100 s.Flanked by wings on the east and west as well as facing a Dacheng Gate to the south,a Dacheng Hall is the edifice of paramount importance in a Confucian temple complex.Before Song Dynasty(960-1179 AD),Dacheng Hall routinely served as the sole venue for the worshipping ceremonies for all the sages and worthies,a duty its limited interior space usually proved less than competent to cope with.In response to this such ceremonies were in Song Dynasty extended to the two wings,thence the standardized main-hall-plus-two-wing layout was established.Since Tang Dynasty(618-907),the worshipping ceremonies had been in a gradual course of canonization and sanctification,which finally peaked between 1460 s and 1480 s,only to be relegated again during the reign of Emperor Shizong’s of Ming(r.1522-66).The ceremonies themselves,however,remained in substance stable throughout Ming Dynasty(1369-1644).As could be ascertained from historical archives,Ming Dynastiy regarded the Ceremony of Shidian(Laying out Offerings),practiced twice a year in spring and autumn,as the most highly sanctified among the wide arrange of ceremonious activities conducted in Confucian temples.And among the procedures of the rite,the Three-Offerings,which consist of First,Secondary and Final Offerings of Wine,were the most complicated phases in terms of the number and circulation of the personnel involved.This dissertation attempted a simulation on architectural drawings of these phases focusing on the placing of fixtures and fittings as well as circulating routes of personnel to establish an understanding of the form and volume needed to perform such a ceremony.It was revealed that compliance with the spatial requirements of the Three-Offerings was the practical prerequisite in the designing of Dacheng Hall.Such a prerequisite urged the designers to recognize the ceremonial-personnel-involved area as the core space in Dacheng Hall and prioritize ritual-oriented in their works.This could be corroborated by a cross-examination of the simulation and measured drawings of the standing Dacheng Halls,such as that instead of strictly observing the building codes,designers would frequently not hesitate to improvise with columniation and trussing to strike an balance between functional and structural concerns.The social and cultural role that a Confucian temple played suggest that its architectural and spatial characteristics were are linked to the spiritual activities it housed and the symbolic implications thereof.As the foremost component of the temple complex,Dacheng Hall was central to a wide range of rituals,especially the major Confucius-worshipping ceremony.The whole ceremony was to be conducted in Dacheng Hall or the courtyard complex enclosed by the Hall,two wings and Dacheng Gate,thus being relatively irrelevant to other buildings in the temple.Investigation of the Hall’s physical traits could,therefore,lead to a better understanding of the political,cultural and spiritual dimensions of the ritualistic activities embodied in the architectural space,which are most tellingly represented by the ritual-oriented designing ‘codes’ or ‘principles’ architects then adopted.It was the coupling of such ‘codes’ and ‘principles’ with technological concerns that spawned the distinct spatial general mode every designer of the building followed,notwithstanding not without some minor moderations.This mode,as could be almost invariably seen from every standing cases of Ming-Dynasty Dacheng Hall in Shaanxi,attests to the function-oriented strategy designers of the kind of building adhered to.Such a strategy could also demand varying of architectural members,such as columniation and trussing,due to respect for both function and structure.It was such invariables and variables that represented a whole set of rigorously-formulated and logically self-consistent spatial designing strategies that pervaded Confucian temple builders of the time.This could very well inform further studies on Ming-and Qing-Dynasty government-commissioned ritualistic buildings in China in terms of perspectives and methodologies,as well as those on spatial features of other buildings similar to Dacheng Hall.