Siheyuan, also known as Siheyuan, is a traditional quadrangle-style building in China. Its pattern is a quadrangle with houses on all sides, which usually consists of a main room, an east-west wing and an inverted room. The courtyard is surrounded in the middle from all sides, hence the name quadrangle.

Since Beijing was formally established as the capital in Yuan Dynasty, quadrangles and palaces, office buildings, blocks and hutongs in Beijing have appeared at the same time. Xiong's Analysis at the end of Yuan Dynasty recorded: "The street system is called longitude line in the north and south, and latitude line in the east and west. The street is 24 steps wide, there are 384 fire lanes and 29 streets. "

The so-called "street crossing" here is what we call hutongs and hutongs today. The land between hutongs is for people to build houses. At that time, Kublai Khan wrote to the residents of the old city that the capital was too old and the high (rich) position (serving in the imperial court) came first, so he customized eight acres of land and gave it to Jia, an official who moved to Beijing.

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Regular quadrangles in Beijing generally sit in the east-west hutong facing south, and the gate is located in the southeast corner of the house. There is a yard in the middle of the yard, which is very spacious. There are flowers and trees in the courtyard and goldfish in the fish tank. It is the center of the courtyard layout, and it is also the place where people walk, light, ventilate, enjoy the cool, rest and do housework.

Small and medium-sized quadrangles are generally the houses of ordinary residents, and the big four-in-one is a mansion and official residence.

The carved patterns of quadrangles are mainly auspicious patterns, such as "longevity and happiness" composed of bats and longevity figures, "peace in the four seasons" implied by vases with Chinese roses, and "generation after generation", "three friends in cold years", "jade pond is rich" and "happy life", which show the longing of old Beijingers for a better life.

Siheyuan is generally a family living in one yard, but there are also cases where many families share one yard, mostly poor families, which are called "mixed living". The warmth of the buildings makes many old Beijingers unforgettable.

The decoration, sculpture and painting of quadrangles reflect the local folk customs and traditional culture, and show people's pursuit of happiness, beauty, prosperity and auspiciousness under specific historical conditions.

References:

Beijing quadrangle (Beijing traditional quadrangle building) _ Baidu Encyclopedia