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| Chinese Screen Wall (Yingbi) |
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Foreign visitors may have noticed the isolated wall either outside
or just inside the gate of a traditional Chinese house to shield
the rooms from outsiders' view. Known as a "screen wall"
in English, it is called yingbi or zhaobi in Chinese. It can be
made of any material-brick, wood, stone or glazed tile.
The yingbi dates back at least to the Western Zhou Dynasty (11
century B. C. to 771 B.C.). Archaeologists have discovered in
recent years from tombs of that period in Shaanxi Province what
remains of a screen wall. It measures 240 cm long and 20 cm high.
This is the earliest known wall of its kind in China at the time
of writing.
In ancient times, the yingbi was a symbol of rank. According
to the Western Zhou system of rites, only royal palaces, noblemen's
mansions and religious temples could have a screen wall. Apart
from keeping passers-by from peeping into the courtyard, the screen
wall could also be used by the visitor, who would get off from
his carriage and, standing behind the wall, tidy up his dress
before going in. It was not until much later that private houses
(mainly the quadrangles of bungalows in the northern parts of
the country) began to have screen walls.
The most exquisite of all ancient screen walls are three "nine-dragon
walls" built of glazed colour tiles. The largest of these,
45.5m X 8m X 2.02m, is now in the city of Datong, Shanxi Province.
It originally stood in front of the princely mansion of the thirteenth
son of Zhu Yuanzhang, first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Sculpted
on it in seven different colours are nine dragons flying in clouds.
The most splendid of the three is the one which belonged to a
palace of the Ming Dynasty and now stands north of the lake in
Beijing's Beihai Park. It is a mosaic of glazed colour tiles showing
on each side nine curly dragons in relief. An observant visitor
could also count 635 dragons of smaller sizes on the ridges and
roof tiles of the wall. The third of these walls stands opposite
the gate Huangjimen in the Forbidden City and is well-known to
sightseers. All the three mentioned above were built during the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and all used to stand in front of the
entrance to a courtyard, making a component part of the architectural
complex and adding to the magnificence of the buildings.
Besides these, there are also screen walls with one, three or
five dragons to be seen in different parts of the country.
There is a screen wall in each of the side palace courtyards
of the Forbidden City. Whether made of wood, carved out of marble
or built with glazed tiles, it is invariably a fine piece of work
with designs symbolic of good luck.
Certain screen walls found in the eastern provinces of China
bear the image of a strange animal called tan, either carved in
brick or painted in colour. According to local belief, this animal
was so greedy that it wanted to devour the rising sun on the sea,
meeting its own death by drowning. The picture serves as a reminder
that greed leads to self-destruction.
In the vicinity of the Five Dragon Pavilions (Wulongting) in
the Beihai Park of Beijing, there is a so-called "iron screen
wall," a relic from the Yuan Dynasty of the thirteenth century.
At first glance, it appears to have been cast of iron but actually
it is a piece of volcanic rock. Carved on it in vivid style are,
on one side, lions playing with a ball and, on the other, a legendary
unicorn; it is noted for its antiquity and simplicity of execution.
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