Crystal Beauty–Stone Windows with Hollowed-out Carvings.doc

Crystal Beauty–Stone Windows with Hollowed-out Carvings Windows are to con- struction, what eyes are to humans. Windows, which have a close connection with people, have become an epicenter of designs and ornaments. Leoh Ming Pei, a famous international architect, praised Chinese windows, taking root in the Chinese culture as a combination of arts and function. Traditionally, windows are usually made of wood. In the Ming (1368 –1644) and the Qing (1644 – 1911) dynasties, stone windows with hollowedout carvings became popular in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Stone windows are aesthetic for their design and make internal spaces well lit and ventilated, manifesting a Chinese tradition of emphasizing beauty and function equally in architecture. Stone windows were indispensable parts for decoration in ancient construction, particularly during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Mainly applied in outdoor walls and sometimes for indoor walls, stone windows are usually mounted on walls as a whole or carved into walls. Stone windows combine functions of ventilation, illumination, security and aesthetics. With the concerted efforts of craftsmen from past dynasties, stone windows became art, evolving from simplicity to complexity and from practicality to decoration. Dull walls are enlivened with windows as one can see outside scenery through them. Various patterns including birds, beasts, flowers, people, inscriptions and geometrical patterns on stone windows implicate peoples? wishes for happy lives. Stone windows are widely applied across China. However, it is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (including Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian and Sichuan) where stone windows thrive with abundant heritages in residential yards and gardens. The art of stone windows, created by the people for their own benefit, are definitely “folk art”. The art, with various forms and patterns, shows lives, wishes, values and pursuits of the people who demand and cre