Hui Style architecture

Hui-style architecture is one of the traditional Chinese architecture styles, which prevailed mostly in Huizhou areas as a key element of Huizhou culture. The architecture uses bricks, woods and stone as raw materials, timber frames as major structures. The bearing structure is wooden beam, and parapet walls are made of bricks, stones, and soils. The central room is decorated by painted beams, sculpted roof, and carved eaves with skylights.The technical features and style of Hui-style architecture majorly occur in residential houses, ancestral temples, joss houses, archways, memorial gates and gardens. The architecture reflects mountainous features of the area and geomantic omen of traditional Chinese religions.

Origin of Name

The word "hui" came from the province Anhui, which is famous for its merchants. The Anhui merchants travel around China for money, after they become rich they go back to Anhui and build luxury houses and gardens to show off their fortunes. The architectures shared a similar features so that they were called Hui-style architecture.

Architecture Features

The structure is much into courtyard type, facing south commonly and surrounded by the river and mountain. The layout is divided symmetrically by the central axis. The central hall locates in the middle, rooms are on two sides. The ront of the central hall is called "patio”, which functions for lighting and ventilation. The appearance of residential integrity is very strong with closed tall bounding walls, horse head warping, black tiles, and white walls.In adornment respect, mostly use brick, wood, stone carvings craft.

Structure

Hui-style architecture takes brick, wood and stone as raw materials, and mainly uses wooden frame. Beam is always built in a big scale and pays attentions to decorate. The middle part of the beam slightly arched, so it is commonly known as "Chinese watermelon beam", with Ming dynasty or Qing dynasty patterns carved on both ends. The middle section of the beam is often carved a variety of patterns, and the whole beam is designed to be magnificent and gorgeous.

The material used for the vertical column is also bulky and the upper part is slightly thin. The columns of Ming dynasty are usually spindle shaped, most of them are carved with patterns. Girder does not apply color paint commonly but China wood oil. Patio, balusters, and screen walls are made of bluestones, red sandy stones or granite, which are cut into stone bars, and usually use natural textures of stone materials to combine into carving patterns. The wall basically uses small black bricks until the horse head wall.

Decoration

Hui-style architecture also widely used brick, wood, stone carving, showing a high level of decorative art.

The brick carving mostly inlaid on door covers, window lintels, and side walls. Vivid figures, fish, flowers, birds, and patterns are carved on the big black bricks.

Wood carving plays a major role of ancient residential houses with an extensive content. There are many themes, such as traditional operas, folk stories, myths and legends, as well as life scenes such as fishing, farming, feasting travelling and dancing. These wood carvings are not painted, but require a high quality of wood natural colors and textures.

Stone carvings mainly manifest in the ancestor halls, temples, memorial archways, towers, bridges and residential doorways, pools, flower tables, window leakage, pillars, stone lions, etc. The content is mostly the auspicious dragon and phoenix, the crane, the tiger, the lion, the elephant, and the auspicious cloud. Techniques are mainly relief, openwork carving, round carving, etc.