Lin Huiyin on Architecture

Author: Lin Huiyin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: We should cherish cultural relics and architectural heritage not only by protecting individual halls, pavilions, towers, and structures, but also by preserving their surrounding environment as a whole. We cannot sit idly by or tolerate the direct or indirect destruction of magnificent buildings, allowing them to suffer from dissonant surroundings and unnecessary dismemberment. Chinese architecture, with its long history and widespread distribution, has retained its original form throughout its prime or subsequent periods of prosperity. The important buildings have consistently maintained their original appearance, preserving their essential structural components and layout scale. At the same time, they have undoubtedly reached an extremely high level of artistic and engineering advancement. What is even more remarkable is that the history of the nation that produced this architecture is not simple and has not been without significant religious, intellectual, and political transformations. It has also experienced multiple interactions with powerful foreign ethnic groups, either through peaceful intellectual exchanges or through conflicts and battles based on practical interests. The simple and orderly Chinese architectural form has remained remarkably stable, flourishing for thousands of years with direct descendants, forming a unique and dignified architectural family. This is a phenomenon truly worthy of study.