Yingzao Fashi

The Yingzao Fashi (營造法式, "Treatise on Architectural Methods" or "State Building Standards") is a technical manual of the Song dynasty, compiled by the official Li Jie (1065-1110) of the Directorate of Buildings and Construction. It is the oldest complete Chinese building manual to survive and the key source for how the roofs of Song-period halls were designed and built.

Compilation and editions

Li Jie revised older building treatises from 1097 to 1100 and completed his own text by 1100, presenting it to Emperor Zhezong. Emperor Huizong had it published in 1103. A second edition followed in 1145, and a third printing was made at Pingjiang (modern Suzhou) in 1222-1233; this was later copied into the great imperial compilations, the Yongle Encyclopedia and the Siku Quanshu. A hand-copy of the Pingjiang edition was rediscovered in 1919 and printed in facsimile in 1920, which made the text available to modern architectural historians.

Contents

The manual has 34 chapters. It covers units of measurement, earthworks and fortifications, stonework, and "greater" and "lesser" woodwork, with specifications and drawings for bracket sets and column-and-beam joints. It also covers carving, bamboo work, wall building, painting and decoration, and tiling, including formulas for glazes and coatings and mixing proportions for mortars and glazed tile. A glossary defines technical terms, and labour tables give cost estimates based on a day's work.

The cai-fen module

The best-known feature of the manual is its modular system for timber, known as cai-fen. Timber member sizes were graded in eight standard ranks, so that the scale of beams, brackets and other parts followed from the rank chosen for a building. The Tang-period East Hall of Foguang Temple (857) corresponds closely to a seventh-rank building in this system.

Roofs and tiles

For roofing, the Yingzao Fashi standardised tile manufacture and set out the terminology, elements and dimensions of ridge-end ornaments (chiwen). Song tiling practice overlapped plain tiles by about 40 per cent; later Qing rules increased this to about 70 per cent to stop leaks through cracked tiles.

Significance

The manual records the building practice of a single dynasty in detail and allows surviving halls, such as Foguang Temple, to be compared with an official standard. It remains the starting point for the study of Chinese roof construction.