Chinese Ancestral Hall

Foreword Againts the trend of time, the monograph is dedicated upon the revitalization of traditional chinese architecture, characteristically the Chinese Ancestral Hall’s roof architecture, as it withhold centuries of ancient chinese history, their beliefs, philosophy, and teachings.

Unfolding these sacred apprehension allows us to understand a nation’s advancement and progression, comprehending the past allows us to strive for the uncertainty future. As the saying goes “never forget our roots”, plays an important roles in shaping the hereafter as it has a direct influence on the social impact of a civilization. Therefore the purpose of this monograph is to bring traditional chinese ancestrall hall and its focused architectural elements into the limelight once again to bring awareness about ourselves.

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Jessie Lim Jie Ying

0333793

Rachel Lau Yi Xuen

0335079

Chermayne Chew Jea Myn

0334936

Lin Shan Ying

0334109

Sylvester Ch'ng Ying

0334060

Nadhih Ahmed

0324636

Adele Teh Kai Xin

0337044

Shin Ken Men

0339331

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COSMOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY

The built environment and the form of Chinese ancestral hall are heavily influenced by the beliefs and teachings of cosmology and philosophy studies. These influences include the study of geometry, environment, humanism, and cultural beliefs and religion. The purpose is to seek for an ideal placement from an environment while showing the respect that is needed towards their religion dieties and ancestors, in hoping for assistance from them or simply for good fortune.

The origin and spiritual teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism lays upon the foundation that bears the fruits of labour that is ultimately the cosmology and philosophy beliefs of chinese ancestral hall architecture and its built form.

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Figure 2.1.1 : Whispering Pines on a Mountain Path (山路松聲圖) (Source: China Online Muesum)

Confucianism

Buddhism

Confucianism is a humanism in the sense that it is centered on the improvement of humans and the collective community, but it leans towards religious beliefs in its ideals of yin and yang, tian, and ritualism. The major ideas defining Confucianism as a humanistic philosophy are the ideal of the sage and the four virtues: ren (humanity), li (ritual propriety), yi (appropriate conduct), and zhi (practical knowledge).

Chinese Buddhists believe in a combination of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, the latter of which teaches that enlightenment can be achieved in a single lifetime.

Other concepts are self-reflection and change through introspection, as well as renxing. Within Chinese culture itself, and that is the concept of collectivism, meaning that the good of society and the community is put before the individual. This can also be seen in Confucianism with the concept that individuals can only be defined by the sum of their relationships to the natural world, its inhabitants, and the universe.

Buddhist thought and practice are said to have emerged out of sustained practical commitment to discovering and nullifying the roots of human suffering. Just like Taoists, Chinese Buddhists also pay homage to their ancestors, with the belief that they need and want their help.

Taoism The aim of Taoism it to live in accordance with the Tao. Tao, meaning the Way, is the notion that the universe has a particular inherit orientation. It is inherently simple, spontaneous, and naturally occurring. That which is inherently effortless and in a completely natural state is referred to as Ziran, which means “of its own.” Ziran then, describes Tao and nature in its most unadulterated state.

In Taoism, the cosmos is viewed as having a cyclical nature; extremities, and balance are characteristics of this view. The universe is constantly changing, according to a pattern called Wu Xing, meaning the Five Phases or Five Elements. According to the classical explanation of the five elements, Wood generates Fire, which turns into Earth, which gives rise to Metal, which produces Water, then gives rise Wood, completing and starting the cycle over.

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COSMOLOGY Compass School

According to feng-shui, a favorable natural site for a human dwelling is enfolded by surrounding hills. called "tiger and dragon hills."

Cosmologically. these hills correspond to two stars. the Azure Dragon in the east and the White Tiger in the west of the sky. Symbolically, they stand for the protection of Mother Earth. A favorable site faces south toward a mountain peak, called "the facing mountain." that symbolizes ancestors.

Representing the ancient Chinese perception of heaven, earth, people, time, and space, ancient Chinese cosmology was preserved in the diagrams of the I Ching, dating from about 3000 years ago, such as the Luo Book, these diagrams were believed to be ideal models indicating harmonic relationships within the world. Since prosperity, or the accumulation of Qi, was conceived in terms of harmony with the cosmos.

The widely held conception that China comprised "all under heaven" (tian xia), traditional Chinese cosmographical charts generally represent structures in microcosmic dimensions following the compass in the form of cosmology , these Chinese representation charts were generally based on the supposition that there exist correspondences or correlations, which may be graphically expressed, between various orders of existence or realms of the universe, such as those of heaven, earth, and humanity. But in Chinese cosmographical thought these correspondences were drawn less often between macrocosm and microcosm as among various orders of mundane reality.

There did exist countervailing cultural traditions in premodern China that opposed some of the basic principles of geometric cosmography. The most prominent of these was geomancy, or feng shui (literally, wind and water), an art concerned primarily with siting of such structures as buildings and graves in auspicious locations so as to benefit the living and pacify the dead. This was accomplished by locating these structures in places where they would harmonize with and draw upon the flow of the energetic pneuma (qi) that circulated through such features of the terrain as mountains and streams.

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The Later Heaven Sequence, derived from the Luo Book, consists of eight trigrams. called "Ba Gua," making up a binary system of divination which is derived from the basic units Yin, broken line (-), and Yung, unbroken line ( - ). Traditional Chinese used the eight trigram system to judge or divine the quality of their life.

The Later Heaven Sequence, was also applied in the feng-shui practice of arranging Qi, which emphasized the relationship of Qi with orientations and positions. In a typical chinese traditional structure such as ancestral halls, ; the major entrance was placed in the southeast chamber and faced south to attract the living Qi and good luck. Thus the frontage of the roof will always be facing south relatively to the entrances.

Figure 2.2.1: Extracted 8 elements from the ba gua octagon with later heaven order. (Source : Bagua, Early Heaven Sequence.)

COSMOLOGY Form School

Figure 2.2.2 : Illustrations of the topographical forms corresponding to the five planets and five phases. (Source: Chinese Cosmographical Thought: The High Intellectual Tradition)

Figure 2.2.3: Diagram of the traditional natural five elements

The other major geomantic school, the "Form" or "Forms and Configurations" school, associated with the southern inland province of Jiangxi, supposedly developed from the teachings of Yang Yunsong (fl. 874-88). In contrast with the rather analytical Compass school, with its "abstruse cosmology and elaborate calculations," the Form school was much more popular and down to earth, "by virtue of its emphasis on physical forms and configurations."63 Its practitioners relied less on the cosmological schemata encompassed by the geomantic compass and more on on-site inspection of the landforms around proposed sites for buildings and tombs, particularly the shapes of mountains and the directions of watercourses, in order to determine the patterns of cosmic energy flow.

Nevertheless, the adherents of the Form school did not rely on intuitive insight or visual scanning alone, but made use of schematic topographical maps that showed how the currents and concentrations of the energetic qi or pneuma that pulsed through the ridges and watercourses of the earth could be traced in order to identify auspicious locations.

Geomancers correlated each of the five planets (and correlatively the five phases of cosmic change) with particular landforms, specifically the shapes of mountains, on the theory that celestial bodies must have their terrestrial counterparts. They correlated gently rounded forms with metal and the planet Venus, elongated trunklike forms with wood and the planet Jupiter, softly undulating forms with water and the planet Mercury, sharply pointed forms with fire and the planet Mars, and squared forms with Earth and metal star (Venus) is round, to the wood star (Jupiter) is straight, to the water star (Mercury) is curvy, to the fire star (Mars) is pointed, and to the Earth star (Saturn) is square.

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PHILOSOPHY Beliefs & Teachings

The philosophy of Chinese beliefs relative to its built form revolves around the concept of "Art of Contextualizing".

Chinese thinkers sought the understanding of order through the artful disposition of things, a participatory process which does not presume that there are essential features, or antecedent-determining principles, serving as transcendent sources of order.

The art of contextualizing seeks to understand and appreciate the manner in which particular things present-to-hand are, or may be, most harmoniously correlated. Classical Chinese thinkers located the energy of transformation and change within a world that is ziran, autogenerative or literally ‘so-of-itself’, and found the more or less harmonious interrelations among the particular things around them to be the natural condition of things, requiring no appeal to an ordering principle or agency for explanation.

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Built Forms The architecture derived from the philosophical aspects acknowledge the order of things advertises an important ambiguity in the notion of ‘order’ itself. The architectural symmetry defines the natural order with no hierarchy as a depicting factor to the harmoniously correlated philosophy (zi ran), in both tangible and intangible elements.

Tangible

Intangible

Figure 2.3.1 : Symmetrical measurements and ratio of an ancestral hall structure. (Source: Measurement and Analysis if the Ancient Chinese Timber-Frame Building.)

Figure 2.3.2 : Ancient traditional representation of Yin & Yang (Source : Yin -Yang in Traditional medicine )

The first sense of order Associated with uniformity and pattern regularity. This ‘logical’ or ‘rational’ ordering is an implication of the cosmological assumptions which characterize the logos of a cosmos in terms of causal laws and formal patterns.

Relative to built form, it results in a symmetrical proportions with equal dimension.

The second sense of order is characterized by concrete particularities whose uniqueness is essential to the order itself. No final unity is possible in this view since, were this so, the order of the whole would dominate the order of the parts, cancelling the uniqueness of its constituent particulars. Thus, ‘aesthetic’ order is ultimately acosmological in the sense that no single order dominates.

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CHINESE ARCHITECTURE & ROOF FORM

The first communities that can be identified culturally as Chinese were settled chiefly in the basin of the Huang He (Yellow River). Gradually they spread out, influencing other tribal cultures until, by the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), most of China was dominated by the culture that had been formed in the cradle of northern Chinese civilization. Over this area there slowly spread a common written language, a common belief in the power of heaven and the ancestral spirits to influence the living, and a common emphasis on the importance of ceremony and sacrifice to achieve harmony among heaven, nature, and humankind. These beliefs were to have a great influence on the character of Chinese art and architecture.

As a nation progresses, different regional forms unique variety of their own built environment based on their cultural influences and beliefs.

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Cantonese Architecture

Teochew Architecture

Fujian Architecture

Cantonese architecture, that refers to the characteristics of the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. This style began with the architecture of the ancient non-Han Nanyue people and absorbed certain architectural elements from the Tang Empire and Song Empire as the region sinicized in the later half of the first millennium AD.

The Teochew is native to the historical Chaozhou prefecture of eastern Guangdong province who speak the Teo-Swa Min language (typified by the Teochew_dialect). Today, most Teochew people live in Hong Kong, Guangdong Province , and also outside China in Southeast Asia, including in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Fujian architecture, also called Hoklo architecture or Minnan architecture, refers to the architectural style of the Hoklo people, the Han Chinese group who have historically been the dominant demographic of the Southern Chinese province of Fujian.

Figure 3.1 : Cantonese Architecture Silhouette

Figure 3.2 : Teochew Architecture Silhouette

Wok yi uk is a distinct characteristic in Cantonese architecture. It is a building that has a pair of curved walls protruding vertically at both ends of its roof, usually seen in traditional residential buildings. It was a tradition to build such walls for people who have been granted honors through the empire's examination system. This later evolved into the belief that building such walls could help one's sons and grandsons attain similar honors.

Characterised by greyish-black clay roof tiles on a roof with a less sloping roof-ridge than the traditional Hokkien roofs . Finial ends of the main roof ridge are styled in “Tang grass” and shard work is typically Teochew.

The exterior columns terminating under cantilevered granite corbel beams with ends sculpted in the form of ‘dragon heads’ is typically a Teochew style.

Figure 3.3: Fujian Architecture Silhouette

Swallowtail roof is a feature commonly seen in seen in non-Hoklo Han Chinese architecture. It is very common in Hokkien and Taiwan. The term refers to a roof that has an upward-curving ridge shaped like the tail of a swallow The degree of curving may vary. The "swallowtail" in question can be single- or double-layered and is typically decorated with a large amount of colorful carvings.

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Hall

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Hall

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Hall

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Figure 6.4.3 Location of ornaments of Chan See Shu Yuen diagram

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Figure 6.5.3 Location of ornaments of Han Jiang Ancestral Hall diagram

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Figure 6.4.7 Ornament of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

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Figure 6.4.9 Location of ornaments of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi diagram

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Figure 6.4.8 Ornament of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

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Figure 6.4.10 Ridge End of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

Figure 6.4.11 Ridge End of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

Figure 6.4.12 Ridge End of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

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Figure 6.4.13 Pai Tou of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi (Source: Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi)

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SOCIAL IMPACT Chan See Shu Yuen

Local Impact Serves as a shrine and a community center and also a refuge home for newly-arrived China’s migrants a century ago.

Cultural Impact Celebration of ‘Journey of Reunion’, a tradition for the Chinese to take their family on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Belief Impact Majority of Cantonese practice Chinese folk religion.

It incorporates traditional Chinese practices of the belief in deities who help people gain to salvation.

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Figure 7.1 Chan See Shu Yuen. (Source: ningling on Instagram)

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SOCIAL IMPACT Han Jiang Ancestral Hall

Local Impact It promotes clan solidarity and to foster Confucian core values and is a mark of the dominant presence of the Chinese in Penang.

Cultural Impact Chinese operas are staged in the ancestral hall during the 7th Lunar month and the celebration of the Ancestors’ Remembrance Day is on the 1st day of the llth Moon of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

Belief Impact The people believe that deceases continue to have influence on his offspring. Thus, the dead must be worshipped as if they are still alive.

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Figure 7.2 Han Jiang Ancestral Hall. (Source: walkaboutphotoguides on Instagram)

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SOCIAL IMPACT Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi

Local Impact Serves as the heart of Teochew culture in Penang and is funded by the local Teochew community.

Cultural Impact It works with the Penang Teochew Association to conserve Teochew heritage by reviving Teochew opera, food and cultural activities.

Belief Impact The ancestral worship is a ritualized appeasement and invocation of deceased relatives and the belief that their spirits influence the fate of the living.

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Figure 7.3 Leong San Khoo Kongsi. (Source: davehooi on Instagram)

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