A cultural study on the symbolic meanings of the Forbidden City’s Architecture 紫禁城建筑的文化象征意义研究.docVIP

- PAGE i - A cultural study on the symbolic meanings of the Forbidden City’s Architecture 紫禁城建筑的文化象征意义研究 Abstract Architecture is a kind of touchable culture. As a typical representation of the Chinese Feudal architecture, nearly every detail in the Forbidden City has some symbolic meaning and reflects Chinese culture in one way or another. Therefore, it is feasible to generalize some essences of the traditional Chinese culture through the architecture of the Forbidden City. This thesis attempts to introduce the basic theories and applications of the traditional Chinese culture by interpreting the symbolic meanings of the Forbidden City’s architectures. It relates the palace with Confucianism, Taoism, Five Element Theory (Wuxing) and Totem Culture, in order to help people comprehend the colorful and mysterious Chinese culture represented in the marvelous royal palace. Keywords: culture; architecture; Forbidden City; symbolism PAGE II - - - PAGE iii - 摘要 建筑是直观的文化载体。作为中华传统建筑的典型代表，几乎紫禁城中的每一个细节都这样或那样地反映了中国传统文化。因此，通过分析紫禁城的建筑象征意义来直观地介绍中国传统文化的思想精髓是可行的。本文将紫禁城的建筑与中国传统文化中的儒家思想、道家思想、五行学说、图腾崇拜联系在一起，来帮助人们理解丰富多彩和充满神秘的中华传统文化，以达到继承和传播中华传统文化的目的。 关键词　文化；建筑；紫禁城；象征 Table of Contents TOC \o 1-3 \h \z \u Abstract i 摘要 ii Introduction 1 I. Symbolic Meanings in Buildings’ Names and Arrangements 3 A. Supremacy of Imperial Power 3 1. God-divined Power – Purple Forbidden City 3 2. Centralization of Imperial Power – Hall of Supreme Harmony 4 B. Unity of Human and Heaven 6 1. Yin-Yang – A Theory of Taoism 6 2. Harmony—the Ideal of Confucianism 8 II. Symbolic Meanings in the Applications of Numbers 10 A. Heavenly Numbers, Earthly Numbers and Hexagrams 10 1. Introduction to Numbers’ Division and Hexagrams 10 2. The Numerical Difference between Inner Court and Outer Court 12 B. “Three”, “Six” and Their Relationship with the Universe 13 1. “Three”— not Only A Heavenly Number 13 2. “Six” – A Special Earthly Number 15 C. “Nine”, “Five” and H