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A Chinese Treatise on Architecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

W. Perceval Yetts
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Extract

The chinese have held to the architectural standards of the past no less tenaciously than to other traditions of their ancient civilization. Buildings standing at the present day testify to this fact, and innumerable written records indicate a continuity of architectural practice lasting more than 2,000 years. The probability is that foreign importation has affected Chinese architecture least of all the arts.

Type
Papers Contributed
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , February 1927 , pp. 473 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1927

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References

page 473 note 1 For sake of brevity, Li Chieh's treatise will be indicated thus: YTFS.

page 474 note 1 BEFEO, xxv (1925), pp. 213–64. A much shorter review by Professor Naitō Torajiro appeared in Shina-gaku i (1921), pp. 797–9. With the help of Professor Itō Chūta the writer had in 1905 copied the MS. copy of YTFS in the S8ŭ k'u set at Moukden (v. inf., pp. 480, 485, 488–9).Google Scholar

page 474 note 2 An article by the present writer on literature relating to Chinese architecture appeared in the Burlington Magazine of March last.

page 476 note 1 It is reproduced here as Fig. 3. Alongside it for comparison the corresponding page of YTFS (1925) is reproduced in Fig. 4.

page 476 note 2 See Fig. 2.

page 476 note 3 This biography, by the Sung writer Ch'êng Chü , is preserved in his collected works, entitled of which a manuscript copy, formerly belonging to the Yao family, is now in the Peking Metropolitan Library. Ch'êng Chü (T. ) was a native of K'ai-hua and he held the doctor's degree. From time to time he occupied various official posts at the capital. One of them was that of Assistant Inspector in the Department of Seals and Records. He was a contemporary of Li Chieh, though younger than he. Presumably he knew him personally, and may have served under him. Accordingly this biography is likely to be trustworthy. A short account of Ch'êng Chü appears in p. 1186.

page 476 note 1 Thus M. Demiéville's surmise that Li Chieh never attained the post of Inspector (loc. cit., p. 228) lacks support.

page 477 note 1 A collection, dated 1106, of extracts from a number of books, many of which are now lost; v. Pelliot, , BEFEO, ix (1909), pp. 236–45.Google Scholar

page 477 note 2 This error in his name is discussed later, v. inf., p. 488.

page 480 note 1 For notes on this vast collection v. Mayers, , China Rev., vi (1877–1878), pp. 215–18Google Scholar; BEFEO, ix (1909), pp. 828–9Google Scholar; Aurousseau, , BEFEO, xii (1912), No. 9, pp. 79–87. Originally there were more than 10,000 volumes of manuscript. The printing of it was attempted towards the end of the Ming period, but was soon abandoned. Some volumes had been lost before the burning .by the Boxers in 1900. Several hundred volumes are now known to have survived the fire. Professor Hu Shih informs me that the rumours of a second manuscript copy are false.Google Scholar

page 480 note 2 Reminiscent of his famous namesake T'ao Yụan-ming, near whose house stood five willow-trees. Hence the sobriquet assumed by the poet.

page 481 note 1 v. Pelliot, , BEFEO, ix (1909), pp. 212, 468, 813Google Scholar, and Aurousseau, , BEFEO, xii (1912), No. 9, p. 64.Google Scholar

page 482 note 1 Strictly speaking, the author had not yet attained the post of Assistant Inspector when he wrote the treatise, since his promotion did not occur till 1102. See his Biography, p. 477.

page 482 note 2 Aetually D writes “Ch'êng”, instead of “Chieh”, as also do B and E. On this error, v. inf., p. 488.

page 484 note 1 Doubt exists whether Li Chieh ever wrote a book entitled Mu ching. M. Demieville discusses this subject fully, loc. cit., pp 220–2. The title, New Book on Wood [Construction], of the only work attributed to Li Chieh in the Sung History (v. A), presupposes an earlier treatise of the kind. Perhaps it was the Mu ching of the famous architect, Yü Hao (v. C). M. Demiéville identifies all the alleged extracts from a Mu ching of Li Chieh, as quoted in Shuo fu, with passages in YTFS. Perhaps these extracts were in fact derived from the New Book on Wood [Construction] which Li Chieh may have drawn upon when writing YTFS.

page 488 note 1 Note by Mr. T'ao Hsiang: “Here we find the author's name clearly written ‘Chieh’, which is proof enough that the version ‘Ch'eng’ is erroneous.” Cf. B, D, and E. v. Pelliot, , BEFEO, ix (1909), pp. 244–5.Google Scholar

page 488 note 2 Professor Naitō notes the superiority of the illustrations in the copy belonging to the Ssŭ k'u set at Moukden in 1905 as compared with those in YTFS (1920); v. sup., p. 474.

page 488 note 3 When the great catalogue of the imperial library under the late Manchu dynasty (v. H) was in preparation, certain books among those sent to the capital by collectors throughout the empire were temporarily retained for investigation. These were divided into two categories: (1) Works sufficiently rare for complete copies to be made and added to the imperial library. One of these was the Fan copy of YTFS. Bibliographical particulars of books in this category were entered in the catalogue. (2) Works not eopied, but of which bibliographical particulars were entered in the catalogue, v. Pelliot, , BEFEO, vi (1906), pp. 415–16, and ix (1909), pp. 211–12.Google Scholar

page 489 note 1 The Yüan ming Yüan was destroyed by the Allied Army in 1860. The sets at Golden Island and Yang-chou were burnt by the T'ai-p'ing Rebels a few years earlier.

page 489 note 2 Also by the T'ai-p'ing Rebels. Professor Hu Shih informs me that the loss has been repaired owing to the generosity of Mr. Ting Ping (v. T) and to the recent efforts of Mr. Chang Tsung-hsiang formerly Commissioner of Education in Chehkiang.

page 490 note 1 They appear in two supplements: one of twenty-six folios at the end of chapter 30, and the other of twenty-four folios at the end of chapter 31. The new technical terms and explanatory notes are printed there in red ink.

page 490 note 2 This craft has much advanced in recent years. Formerly foreign paper was used for lithographs done in China, but here in YTFS (1925)coloured prints for the first time have been made on Chinese paper. The paper comes from the province of Fuhkien.

page 490 note 3 Several are reproduced in colour on Plate I of my article in the Burlington Magazine of March, 1927.