Examples of Chinese Ancient Architectural Ornament

In ancient China, in order to protect wooden buildings, it was necessary to paint the wood parts. By the time of the Warring States period, architectural painting had become a special architectural ornament art。 The Examples of Chinese Ancient
Architectural Ornament was published in 1955, created by the Beijing cultural relics organizing committee. Refer to the modification of the architect Lin Huiyin，edited by Liu Xingmin and Wang Zhongjie, drawn by Liu Xingmin and Chen Lianrui according to the rules of architectural art after the Emperor Qianlong period.

A Memory of Chinese History and Art.
Chinese traditional patterns are expressions of the living environment, thought and values of the ancient Chinese, and the themes are abundant, most of them are auspicious. It is widely used in classical drama costumes, decoration of architecture or instruments, it is an important part of Chinese culture.
Chinese had been a long way to get the opportunity and study classical materials of the emperor.
In 1860, the Anglo-French army invaded Beijing. They plundered the Yuanmingyuan, the largest art treasure of the Qing emperor, and finally burned it down.
Since the war plunder was brought to Europe and sold by British and French soldiers, a large number of precious Chinese classical works of art have appeared in museums in France and Britain.
The Empress' Chinese Museum housed at Fontainebleau palace was built in 1863 by Queen Eugenie of Napoleon III, is used to store and display cultural relics from the Yuanmingyuan. Most of the collections come from Yuanmingyuan.
At the same time, Owen Jones, a British architect and designer, sorted out the patterns of Chinese relics in the South Kensington Museum and published Examples of Chinese Ornament in 1867.
In 1900，When the Eight-Nation Alliance force invaded Beijing, the Qing emperor's art treasures were once again plundered to Europe.
In the late Qing Dynasty, some people went to Europe to study. They were shocked by the splendor of Chinese classical artworks, because at that time the Chinese had no chance to study the art collection of the Qing Emperors.
In 1912, the Qing Dynasty perished. As one of the conditions for peaceful takeover of all Chinese territory, Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was allowed by the new government to continue living in the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace. But in the autumn of 1924, suddenly a warlord Feng Yuxiang entered the palace with guns, drove Puyi out.
At that time, the upper class all knew that the planners behind the incident were intellectuals who dreamed of studying cultural relics. The representatives were Li Shizeng , who had studied in France, and Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, who had studied in Germany and France.
In order to avoid the aftermath, Li Shizeng even asked the warlord to kill the 18-year-old Puyi.
In 1925, Li Shizeng renamed the Forbidden City as the Palace Museum, and from that time on, the Chinese finally became able to study rich classical cultural materials.
In 1958, in the face of China's poverty and backwardness, Mao Zedong attempted to bring the economy up at one blow, ignoring the principles of the market, began the Great Leap Forward. Unexpectedly led to a famine in China.
The lack of material will lead to the fear of the leaders. The most perfect way to stabilize the political power is to make the people's thoughts lack. The Cultural Revolution should be the result of such a vicious circle, which makes the research of Chinese classical culture ruined, and many historical materials were destroyed.
Examples of Chinese Ancient Architectural Ornament published in 1954, before the Cultural Revolution.