Abstract

Chinese are an old and traditional people who have preserved their own culture for thousands of years. The Chinese have lived inside walls, and formed their own particular life style. Today, in a multicultural era, every culture inevitably has to communicate with other ones. In these last hundred years, China has faced a strong western impact on its old way of life, the door has suddenly been opened and the walls have been torn down. China is standing on the crossroads between tradition and modernity. Being a Chinese and also a resident of the world village, raises the question of how to realize the essence of Chinese traditional culture and still keep these good characteristics assimilating them into a new modern world. This is the core of my topic. Chinese traditional architecture is "based on quantity, not on mass," which is the complex of construction, not the single one. The focus does not emphasize the sculptural forms of a single building but the relationship among spaces. The meaning of space and the methods of organization in Chinese traditional architecture are based on Chinese philosophies and folk traditions. The walls have civilized the long-held philosophies and values which have set the parameters for Chinese traditional architecture. As Nelson I Wu said, "Inside his four walls he, (Chinese man), regulates human relationships to achieve internal harmony, to him the highest goal on earth." The purpose of this study is to explore these parameters of the world inside the walls, and examine the physical design methods which are feasible for today.