China's ancient architecture is based on
many different factors. Demons and evil spirit's influenced the curved and
pointed roofs. China's ancient architecture was also closely connected with the
shapes of Chinese pictographs.
From many characters related to architecture
that appeared in Jiaguwen (scripts written in tortoise shells and animal
bones), we could see the development of the structure of ancient Chinese
architectures.
For instance, from the original shape of the
character
(gao,
high) in Jiaguwen we can deduce that in the Shang Dynasty
(17th- 11th century BC) there was a kind of architecture
built on a terrene platform. The character
(gong, palace)
looks like a rooftop with two empty rooms under it. The shape of the
character
(jia, home) looks like a rooftop with a
(pig) under it, which means that a
family raises a pig in the house.
In
addition, many character components such as
(xue,
hole),
(men,
door),
(hu,
door),
(mu,
wood),
(wa,
tile) and
(tu, earth) and
so on are also closely connected to architecture.