It was not until the Tang Dynasty (618-907) that ancient Chinese architecture began to be colorfully decorated.

 The Tang Dynasty: Color symbolizes social rankings

It was not unusual to blend vermilion with white in the Tang Dynasty. With stark contrast, this blending of two colors was pleasantly bright. However, since the Tang's Ministry of Rites was responsible for architectural issues, buildings at that time began to be painted in different colors to show social rankings.

For instance, yellow was peculiar to the royal family, and the imperial palace and monasteries were usually painted in yellow and red; residential buildings of government officials were in red, greenish black, or blue as well; while ordinary residential buildings were in black, gray, or white.

With bricks more widely used and glass firing further improved, architecture in the Tang Dynasty thrived and saw unprecedented development. Some buildings have been perfectly reserved till today, while some only can be found in mural paintings .

Buildings in the Tang Dynasty boasted an exquisite interior decoration. For instance, windows were usually decorated with different striations (referring to design patterns); the interior walls were painted with frescos; and ceilings were pleasantly simple.

 The Song Dynasty (960-1279): Color reflects the mainstream culture

Thanks to the wide use of lacquer and the profound influence of the Indian Buddhism , buildings in the Song Dynasty were mainly painted in red. With the Confucian Rationalism and the Zen philosophy (a sect of Buddhism) dominant in the Song Dynasty, people tended to prefer simple but elegant colors such as red.

Although smaller in size than that in the Tang Dynasty, buildings in the Song Dynasty were more diversified in shapes. Various kinds of temples, pavilions , and attics with complicated forms began to emerge.

The Song Dynasty witnessed great achievements in architecture. Evidences were that components of buildings tended to be standardized, and some books on architecture were produced. Architecture at that time was featured by proper decorations. The typical examples were Huqiu Pagoda in Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province, and Renshou Pagoda in Quanzhou in East China's Fujian Province .

An enjoyable mixture of buildings with different colors, frescos, and other decorative accessories made buildings in the Song Dynasty look tender but gorgeous. In terms of fitments, special types of doors and windows were created and spread widely, which consequently gave rise to alteration in the exterior appearance of buildings and improved the inside ventilation and lighting. Roofs were either covered only with colored-glaze tiles, or covered with both colored-glaze tiles and greenish-black ones.

 The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368): Architecture became more elegant

The decorative style tended to be more realistic from the Yuan Dynasty. Influenced by craftsmen from North China, architecture in the Yuan Dynasty began to embrace wildness instead of tenderness.

Meanwhile, religious buildings were rampant throughout the whole country. Numerous Lama Temples and Pagodas were built from Tibet to Dadu (today's Beijing), and some Islamic mosques gradually emerged in Dadu, Xinjiang (today's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), Yunnan Province , and some cities in Southeast China. Accordingly, a lot of buildings in the same period were decorated with sculptures and frescos whose themes revolved around Buddhism and Islamism. Carvings with Lamaism as themes exerted great influences on architecture, in particular the official buildings, in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

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