Temples & Palaces

One fabulous example of Chinese architecture is the Buddhist temple which can be found scattered around China. Unfortunately, there are not many of these temples left. The reason being that most of them were torn down because the space was either needed for urban development, or others just fell apart because of many years of neglect. One tower which still remains is nearly 400 feet high which was erected in the Yung-ning-ssu dynasty. This temple is located at Toyang and was made at the beginning of the 6th century. However, there is not much information which can be found about these towers.

Information which is available says that the most distinctive kinds of Buddhist buildings in China are the stupa (t'a) or pagoda. The pagoda was mainly used to house sacred objects. As for the architecture, these temples can take the form of a storied tower, or, more rarely, a upturned bowl. As the centuries passed, however, the shape of these temples took new forms. In the second and third century, the structures were basically made out of wood. Their shape took the form of a tetragonal under Sung during the 10th Century. The next dynasty, Tang, decided to have their towers shaped into an octagon or diagonal. The number of stories varied with each of the buildings. The height demised regularly from the base to the summit but everything else remained the same.

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