The architectural art of tall buildings was highly developed in ancient China, dating back to the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). Among them, the classical Chinese storied buildings (“lou” in Chinese) has been regarded as one type of the representatives works.

In modern Chinese, the word “lou” might refer to any building of two or more stories. Strictly speaking, however, it means a storied building with a horizontal main ridge and usually, all-round verandas. Many such buildings also feature sloped, double-eaved roofs, and dou gong brackets (carved brackets supporting the overhanging eaves from the columns).

In ancient times, this kind of buildings served a variety of purposes, but most often, they were belvederes for enjoying distant scenery. Ancient cities usually had storied buildings housing a huge bronze bell or drum to announce time, respectively called “zhong lou” (bell tower) and “gu lou” (drum tower). According to the old rule, the local officials would open the city gate at the toll of the bell in the morning, and close it with the strike of the drum at dawn.

In the Forbidden City of Beijing, there are four so-named jiao lou (corner tower) on the four corners, which used to be stationed by the emperor's guardsmen. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), each city gate of Beijing was also guarded by a jian lou (archery tower), and two of them have been well preserved.

In Chinese, a corridor is generally called lang. But corridors of different styles may have their own names. A corridor in the shape of a zigzagging belt, for instance, is often called hui lang or qu lang (“winding corridor”). And the word hua lang that you might hear frequently at a classical Chinese garden, is the name for a painted corridor.

Usually built of wood and roofed with tiles, a typical corridor of this kind also features wooden railings or side benches on both sides. Originally built to shelter people from the summer sun as well as the rain and snow, the structure has become a internal part of beauty in many ancient gardens.

Among all of them, the so-named Long Corridor in Beijing's Summer Palace, the former imperial garden, is unrivalled. Stretching 728 meters from Yaoyue Gate in the east to Shizhang Pavilion in the west, the corridor has 273 sections in all. In between, there are four double-eaved, octagonal pavilions, respectively symbolizing the four seasons. While lingering in the ingeniously conceived corridor, you'll see the majestic Longevity Hill to the north, and meanwhile, the peaceful Kunming Lake to the south. However, the corridor itself is a fascinating gallery featuring traditional Chinese art as well as the country's history and culture which is thousands of years old.

On the beams of the corridor, there are over 40,000 classical paintings depicting landscapes, flowers and birds, human figures and stories. It is said that if you spent just one second before each painting, you might need several hours to travel through the passage. In 1990, the 240 year old corridor was recorded in The Guinness Book of Records as the largest painted corridor in the world.

The Chinese pavilion (called ting in Chinese) is a very common sight in the country, for you can notice such buildings almost in every city. Sometimes, even in a tiny garden covering no more than one hundred square meters, there might be a fancy one as well.

Normally built of wood, bamboo or stone, pavilions can be in any of such plane figures as triangle, square, hexagonal, octagonal, a shape of five-petal flower or a fan. No matter how they look like, however, all of them have one thing in common: there are no walls to support the roof, only columns. This unique feature is, actually, how the Chinese pavilion is defined.

In ancient times, pavilions served various purposes, without mentioning those luxurious ones for entertaining the upper class in imperial or private gardens. A wayside liang ting, (cooling pavilion) could provide weary trekkers with a place for rest and shelter them from the vigor-consuming heat in summer.
Some pavilions, however, were erected to protect such important memorials recording certain historical events or commemorating some outstanding figures. Since most of the memorials are stone tablets engraved with words, this kind of pavilion is often called bei ting (stele pavilion) in Chinese.

Ocassionally, you might find a pavilion over a water well, with a dormer window in its roof. The pavilion was, no doubt, to keep the well water clean, but how about the window? Ancient Chinese always believed that water untouched by sunlight was not purified, and would cause diseases, so they built such a dormer window to allow the sun to cast its rays into the well.

Nowadays, the purposes of pavilions have become much more simple. Part of the landscape, they also make a nice place for tourists to take a rest and snap pictures.

As the name tells, marble boat is an ornamental structure mainly built of stone. In Mandarin, it is often called “shifang” or “shichuan” (both mean “boat of marble”), and in some areas, it is also called “hanchuan” (a similar meaning of “land boat”).

Built by the shore, normally in a lake, a marble boat has a stone base underwater, and its body is also built of stone. On its deck, there are often cabins either built of stone or wood, making the whole structure the shape of a luxurious boat in ancient times. If not partially on land, a marble boat is often accessible by means of a bridge. Aboard on the boat, people can appreciate the beautiful scenery on the lake, never having to worry about the safety of the boat.

Marble boats are usually built in large gardens, and the largest one “floats” in the lake of the Summer Palace of Beijing, a garden for the royal family of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Named as “Qingyanfang” by Emperor Qianlong, the boat was first built in 1755, completely of white stones and with a total length of 36 meters. When rebuilt in 1893 on the order of Empress Cixi, the boat combined the Chinese style with a Western one. The windows of the cabin were paned with stained glass, and the floor was paved with enameled tiles. It is said that the ambitious empress used to inspect the exercise of her naval units on the boat.

Another place to see typical Chinese marble boats is the area around the City of Nanjing, especially Suzhou and Yangzhou. Famous for their waterside buildings and gardens, these cities can present you with a great view of marble boats with the unique style of South China. Marble boats, waterside pavilions and small bridges are in such harmony with nature that they earned these cities the name of “Paradise on Earth”.

“Zhong Qiu Jie”, which is also known as Moon Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It is a time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon——an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant mooncakes of many varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with their brightly-lit lanterns.

“Zhong Qiu Jie” probably began as a harvest festival. The festival was later given a mythological flavour with legends of Chang-E, the beautiful lady in the moon.

According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. Yi stole the elixir of life to save the people from his tyrannical rule, but his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at Moon Festival.

In the 14th century, the eating of mooncakes at “Zhong Qiu Jie” was given a new significance. The story goes that when Zhu Yuanzhang was plotting to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty started by the Mongolians, the rebels hid their messages in the Mid-Autumn mooncakes. Zhong Qiu Jie is hence also a commemoration of the overthrow of the Mongolians by the Han people.

During the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368 A.D.) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Packed into each mooncake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this event.