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Foreign Influence in Chinese Architecture To the Hellenic World China was known as early as the fourth century B.C., but simply as the land celebrated for sericulture. The Chinese people, on the other hand, did not even bother to inquire who consumed their silk, which later in imperial Rome was worth its weight in gold. Gibbon, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, deplored that the art of printing failed to reach Europe with the importation of silk. However, long before Europe received the blessing of printing, Greek influence had already firmly established itself, though indirectly, in Chinese art. Official communication between the Roman and Chinese Empires, according to Chinese records, took place in A.D. 166, but neither one seemed to have made any impression whatsoever on the other through the contact. This does not mean that China was entirely free from foreign influence at that time, for a century earlier the Han Emperor Mingti (A.D. 58-75), inspired by Buddhism, had dispatched delegates to India, and immediately afterwards Hindu monks came to the capital, Loyang. Here the first Buddhist temple, Pai Ma Sze (White Horse Temple), was built. The importance of this temple lies more in nomenclature than style. The building, though a Buddhist shrine, was not a reproduction of Hindu architecture. Meanwhile, the word “Sze,” which had hitherto meant a governmental department, was now employed also to designate a Buddhist temple. This usage became gradually an accepted one, with the result that today it is the exclusive term for all the monastic Buddhist temples in China. The development of a certain coloured material, peculiar to Chinese architecture, also began in the Han Dynasty. This glittering and translucent material, liu li---a term derived from the Sanskrit “vaidurya” ---created a new craze and was much treasured by the Chinese in the second century B.C. It was imported through the southwest into China, and first mentioned in His Ching Tsa Chi ( Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital) as building material, in the term of a glazed screen, which, more concealing than transparent, much delighted an imperial concubine. This material was developed five hundred years later into the glazed tile which became indispensable in roofing the palace buildings in imperial style. The stone tablets in Wu Liang T’zu, a family shrine, executed in the second century A.D., give some valuable information in bas-relief regarding Chinese architecture in the Han Dynasty. An instance is the playful figure on the second storey of a building, balancing on his hands a portion of the roof. Strangely enough the supporting is also done by the head, very similar to the Caryatid in Greek architecture. The difference is that fulfilling the duty of a slave, in shame, sorrow, and servitude. It might be far-fetched to suggest that the Chinese relief was inspired by the Hellenic legend, but the resemblance is indeed striking. The guardian of the Chinese temple gate, the stone lion, made its appearance in the Han Dynasty. A most remarkable example now stands in front of the tomb of Kao Yi, in Szechuan, executed about A.D. 209. Our particular interest is not so much concerned with whether the animal is a lion, as with the strong similarity it bears to the Assyrian winged bull. The fact that the latter was also used to flank the Assyrian palace portal makes the resemblance all the more extraordinary. The year A.D. 366 witnessed the beginning of the rock-cut Cave of a Thousand Buddhas at Tunhuang, and marked the commencement in China of a period of more than two centuries of active cave-cutting, which thoroughly displayed the intensity of religious fervour. Other well-known caves followed, at Yun Kang, A.D. 409; Lung Men, A.D. 494; and T’ien Lung Shan, A.D. 575. Lesser caves are numerous, and the rock-cutting activity did not entirely cease till the end of Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279-1368). In these caves one discovers the development of sculpture from the Greco-Indian-Gandhara tradition to the pure T’ang Dynasty style. At Yun Kang is to be found the polygonal column with an Ionic capital. There are also such architectural ornaments as the acanthus, honey suckle, garland, and “egg and dart.” All these evidences point to the wholesale influx of Hellenistic influence through India. The Indian characteristic is the strongest at T’ien Lung Shan. Quite likely Hindu craftsmen played an important part in its construction. During the “Six Dynasties” (A.D. 220-589) a conspicuous tomb ornament is the stone pillar, standing side by side with the stone lion. In many cases the main part of the shaft is fluted, in exactly the same style as the Greek Doric column. The fact that this type of ornament exists mainly to the south of the Yangtze might prove the growing popularity of another channel through which Western influence came to China---the sea route. Although the picture of a pagoda, known in India as the stupa, was said to be painted on the fresco at Pai Ma Sze in the Han Dynasty, it is doubtful whether a pagoda was actually built at this time. Pagoda construction was recorded in the middle of the third century A.D., but existing ancient examples have yet to be found in the various rock-cut caves. One of the earliest pagodas, and the grandest, is described in Loyang Chialan Chi. This pagoda of Yung Ning Sze, built in A.D. 516, was nine storeys high and of wooden construction. The fact that a structure was built to the somewhat exaggerated height of 900 feet and was accomplished with timber, is most significant. The Hindu stupa, invariably erected with masonry, was now transformed by the Chinese architectural genius into an entirely different system of construction. The Chinese pagoda thus became as organic as, and akin to, the Chinese palace and temple. We see all kinds of Chinese pagodas today, and it is difficult to classify them. Well known is the Great-Goose Pagoda in Sian, built of brick about A.D. 625, but with few Chinese features. Sometimes the core of the pagoda is constructed of masonry, sheathed with a wooden fa?ade purely Chinese in character. Most of the pagodas built in masonry have also the Chinese roofing, balcony, and portal, with nothing foreign about them. |
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