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Expert Papers
The masterpiece of Chinese attic architecture - Nü wa Palace
Time：2025-07-09 09:43:29 Hit：2952
Professor Luo Zhewen
Professor Luo Zhewen was born in 1924 in Yibin, Sichuan Province. In 1940, he was admitted to China’s then‑only academic group dedicated to traditional architecture studies—the Yingzao Xueshe (China Architecture Research Society)—where he studied under renowned architectural scholars Liang Sicheng and Liu Dunzhen. In 1946, he worked at Tsinghua University’s Department of Architecture, jointly operated with the China Architecture Research Society’s China Architecture Institute. From 1950 onward, he served in various roles at the Ministry of Culture’s Cultural Relics Bureau (later the State Administration of Cultural Relics), the Research Office of Relics Archives, and the China Cultural Relics Research Institute, focusing on the preservation and research of ancient Chinese architecture.
He later held leading positions as head of the Ancient Architecture Expert Group at the State Administration of Cultural Relics, President of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society, Vice-Chair of the National Expert Committee for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Cities, and Vice-President of the China Great Wall Society.
His major works include Ancient Chinese Pagodas, Famous Ancestral Halls of China, Famous Towers of China, A Concise History of Ancient Chinese Architecture, The Great Wall and Conversational Stories of the Great Wall, as well as Imperial Tombs of Chinese Emperors.
Luo Zhewen on Wa Palace and Pavilion Architecture
Wa Palace (Wa Huang Gong) has been singled out by Professor Luo as one of the “Top Ten Wonders of Ancient Architecture in Hebei Province”, alongside the Great Wall, the Zhaōzhōu Bridge, and the Liaodi Pagoda. He described these as essence of Chinese ancient architecture and symbolic icons of Chinese civilization.
He also praised the Wa Palace Pavilion (Wa Huang Ge)—the three-story hall built into the cliff—as a tour-de-force among ancient Chinese pavilion architecture. As a Daoist temple merged seamlessly with folk and Buddhist traditions, he considered it a masterpiece of classical loge buildings.
Roles and Significance of Pavilion Structures According to Luo Zhewen
1.Architectural Importance in Chinese History
Pavilion structures—lou, ge, guan, que—stand out in Chinese architectural history. Ancient texts and dictionaries define them distinctly: lou for tall, multi-story towers; ge for smaller chambers or official rooms; guan for scenic viewing towers; and que for watchtowers or ceremonial gate towers. These structures require advanced building techniques and remarkable artistry and feature across many provinces—from Beijing’s Summer Palace’s Hall of Buddhist Fragrance, to Bianjing Tower in Shanxi, Guangyue Tower in Shandong, and Wa Huang Ge in Hebei—each showcasing advanced structural engineering and artistic finesse within Chinese architectural tradition.
2.Cultural Value in Literature and Visual Arts
Historic pavilions have inspired countless literary classics such as "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng", "Ascending Crane Tower", and "Memorial to Yueyang Tower", where emotional conviction and moral ideals intertwine with the architectural subject matter. In visual art, precise paintings like Zhang Zeduan’s Along the River During the Qingming Festival or Song dynasty tower illustrations serve as critical references for architectural historians and restoration specialists—demonstrating that pavilions and towers have deeply shaped China’s aesthetic and cultural heritage.
3.Preserving Historical Texts and Books
Ancient bookstores and libraries (cangshu lou), such as the Tianlu Pavilion, Shiliang Pavilion, Qilin Pavilion, and the Ming and Qing dynasties’ treasuries for Siku Quanshu, show how pavilion structures preserved invaluable manuscripts. These buildings contributed significantly to the continuity and protection of China’s extraordinarily rich textual heritage.
4.Defensive and Strategic Engineering
Defensive towers—city gate towers, bell and drum towers, watchtowers—often combined structural robustness (stone base) with wooden or brick multi-stories. They served practical defense, timekeeping, alarm, and observation roles. Mounting fortress towers along the Great Wall further enhanced both security and monumental presence, exemplified in structures like Shanhai Pass and Jiayu Pass. Luo noted that traditional perceptions of tall buildings as purely modern symbols overlook the millennia‑long Chinese legacy of elevated architecture, dating back to mythical or early dynastic eras.
5.Tourism, Aesthetics, and Landscape Enhancement
Pavilions add human artistry to natural scenery, turning landscapes into complete cultural experiences. At the Wa Palace Scenic Area, Wa Huang Ge is both a spectacular ancient architectural wonder and a vantage point for tourists. The iconic Chinese pagoda (ta) evolved from these tower forms, blending Buddhism’s relic tradition with native wooden tower aesthetics. Architectural masterpieces like Guanque Tower (Yellow River), Tengwang Pavilion, Yueyang Tower, and Wa Huang Ge sculpt China’s majestic scenery into moments of national pride and poetic resonance.
Why Wa Palace is a Special Towered Architecture—Professor Luo’s Perspective
1.Its site-responsive layout: built on a cliff 10km northwest of Shexian County, aligned east–west, commonly called “Nai Nai Ding.” The upper palace is perched 1,437m² with 432.80m² of building, set into a semicircular stone ledge. The main pavilion (Wa Huang Ge) is centrally placed, flanked by the Shuzhuang Pavilion and Yingshuang Pavilion, with bell and drum towers opposing north and south. Below are Chaoyuan Palace, Tingcan Palace, Guangsheng Palace, and the ceremonial arch, all harmoniously and ingeniously arranged to break the typical axial symmetry of Chinese temple layouts, while leveraging the cliff’s natural form to create a breathtaking setting known as “Penglai fairyland”.
2.Its cliff-suspended pavilion: The Wa Huang Ge, the central three-storied pavilion (Qingxu Pavilion, Zaohua Pavilion, Butian Pavilion), built on a natural ledge against a vertical cliff, is over 23m tall. It features glazed-tile gable roofs, stone arch base, projecting corridors, stone railings, and a distinctive bracket system under the eaves. People can look out over the gorge from balconies on three sides. The pavilion’s design economizes materials, simplifies construction, and creates an “active/piloting architecture” effect—with the entire building hanging off the cliff in a visually dramatic way akin to an airbound palace immersed in mountain mist.
3.Its ingenious chain-and-anchor system: Eight carved “horse‑nose” anchors in the cliff wall are linked to the pavilion by nine iron chains. As crowds fill the building, the chains tighten like bowstrings and the pavilion leans ever so slightly forward—creating both visual drama and structural stability. This principle—balancing overhanging weight via spring-safe anchoring—is found in iconic examples like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Tiger Hill Pagoda. Before modern retrofitting, Wa Huang Ge survived over ten earthquakes without damage. Luo called this unique approach—a “living, suspended pavilion”—a remarkable architectural achievement unmatched in China. Today, similar cliff-hung temples exist (e.g. Hanging Monastery at Hengshan, Shibaozhai in Sichuan), but Wa Huang Ge’s design is even more majestic in poetic and technical conception. It is a profound artistic and engineering marvel. Luo believed the Shengxian locals would ensure its careful preservation and further promotion.
Professor Luo Zhewen was born in 1924 in Yibin, Sichuan Province. In 1940, he was admitted to China’s then‑only academic group dedicated to traditional architecture studies—the Yingzao Xueshe (China Architecture Research Society)—where he studied under renowned architectural scholars Liang Sicheng and Liu Dunzhen. In 1946, he worked at Tsinghua University’s Department of Architecture, jointly operated with the China Architecture Research Society’s China Architecture Institute. From 1950 onward, he served in various roles at the Ministry of Culture’s Cultural Relics Bureau (later the State Administration of Cultural Relics), the Research Office of Relics Archives, and the China Cultural Relics Research Institute, focusing on the preservation and research of ancient Chinese architecture.
He later held leading positions as head of the Ancient Architecture Expert Group at the State Administration of Cultural Relics, President of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society, Vice-Chair of the National Expert Committee for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Cities, and Vice-President of the China Great Wall Society.
His major works include Ancient Chinese Pagodas, Famous Ancestral Halls of China, Famous Towers of China, A Concise History of Ancient Chinese Architecture, The Great Wall and Conversational Stories of the Great Wall, as well as Imperial Tombs of Chinese Emperors.
Luo Zhewen on Wa Palace and Pavilion Architecture
Wa Palace (Wa Huang Gong) has been singled out by Professor Luo as one of the “Top Ten Wonders of Ancient Architecture in Hebei Province”, alongside the Great Wall, the Zhaōzhōu Bridge, and the Liaodi Pagoda. He described these as essence of Chinese ancient architecture and symbolic icons of Chinese civilization.
He also praised the Wa Palace Pavilion (Wa Huang Ge)—the three-story hall built into the cliff—as a tour-de-force among ancient Chinese pavilion architecture. As a Daoist temple merged seamlessly with folk and Buddhist traditions, he considered it a masterpiece of classical loge buildings.
Roles and Significance of Pavilion Structures According to Luo Zhewen
1.Architectural Importance in Chinese History
Pavilion structures—lou, ge, guan, que—stand out in Chinese architectural history. Ancient texts and dictionaries define them distinctly: lou for tall, multi-story towers; ge for smaller chambers or official rooms; guan for scenic viewing towers; and que for watchtowers or ceremonial gate towers. These structures require advanced building techniques and remarkable artistry and feature across many provinces—from Beijing’s Summer Palace’s Hall of Buddhist Fragrance, to Bianjing Tower in Shanxi, Guangyue Tower in Shandong, and Wa Huang Ge in Hebei—each showcasing advanced structural engineering and artistic finesse within Chinese architectural tradition.
2.Cultural Value in Literature and Visual Arts
Historic pavilions have inspired countless literary classics such as "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng", "Ascending Crane Tower", and "Memorial to Yueyang Tower", where emotional conviction and moral ideals intertwine with the architectural subject matter. In visual art, precise paintings like Zhang Zeduan’s Along the River During the Qingming Festival or Song dynasty tower illustrations serve as critical references for architectural historians and restoration specialists—demonstrating that pavilions and towers have deeply shaped China’s aesthetic and cultural heritage.
3.Preserving Historical Texts and Books
Ancient bookstores and libraries (cangshu lou), such as the Tianlu Pavilion, Shiliang Pavilion, Qilin Pavilion, and the Ming and Qing dynasties’ treasuries for Siku Quanshu, show how pavilion structures preserved invaluable manuscripts. These buildings contributed significantly to the continuity and protection of China’s extraordinarily rich textual heritage.
4.Defensive and Strategic Engineering
Defensive towers—city gate towers, bell and drum towers, watchtowers—often combined structural robustness (stone base) with wooden or brick multi-stories. They served practical defense, timekeeping, alarm, and observation roles. Mounting fortress towers along the Great Wall further enhanced both security and monumental presence, exemplified in structures like Shanhai Pass and Jiayu Pass. Luo noted that traditional perceptions of tall buildings as purely modern symbols overlook the millennia‑long Chinese legacy of elevated architecture, dating back to mythical or early dynastic eras.
5.Tourism, Aesthetics, and Landscape Enhancement
Pavilions add human artistry to natural scenery, turning landscapes into complete cultural experiences. At the Wa Palace Scenic Area, Wa Huang Ge is both a spectacular ancient architectural wonder and a vantage point for tourists. The iconic Chinese pagoda (ta) evolved from these tower forms, blending Buddhism’s relic tradition with native wooden tower aesthetics. Architectural masterpieces like Guanque Tower (Yellow River), Tengwang Pavilion, Yueyang Tower, and Wa Huang Ge sculpt China’s majestic scenery into moments of national pride and poetic resonance.
Why Wa Palace is a Special Towered Architecture—Professor Luo’s Perspective
1.Its site-responsive layout: built on a cliff 10km northwest of Shexian County, aligned east–west, commonly called “Nai Nai Ding.” The upper palace is perched 1,437m² with 432.80m² of building, set into a semicircular stone ledge. The main pavilion (Wa Huang Ge) is centrally placed, flanked by the Shuzhuang Pavilion and Yingshuang Pavilion, with bell and drum towers opposing north and south. Below are Chaoyuan Palace, Tingcan Palace, Guangsheng Palace, and the ceremonial arch, all harmoniously and ingeniously arranged to break the typical axial symmetry of Chinese temple layouts, while leveraging the cliff’s natural form to create a breathtaking setting known as “Penglai fairyland”.
2.Its cliff-suspended pavilion: The Wa Huang Ge, the central three-storied pavilion (Qingxu Pavilion, Zaohua Pavilion, Butian Pavilion), built on a natural ledge against a vertical cliff, is over 23m tall. It features glazed-tile gable roofs, stone arch base, projecting corridors, stone railings, and a distinctive bracket system under the eaves. People can look out over the gorge from balconies on three sides. The pavilion’s design economizes materials, simplifies construction, and creates an “active/piloting architecture” effect—with the entire building hanging off the cliff in a visually dramatic way akin to an airbound palace immersed in mountain mist.
3.Its ingenious chain-and-anchor system: Eight carved “horse‑nose” anchors in the cliff wall are linked to the pavilion by nine iron chains. As crowds fill the building, the chains tighten like bowstrings and the pavilion leans ever so slightly forward—creating both visual drama and structural stability. This principle—balancing overhanging weight via spring-safe anchoring—is found in iconic examples like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Tiger Hill Pagoda. Before modern retrofitting, Wa Huang Ge survived over ten earthquakes without damage. Luo called this unique approach—a “living, suspended pavilion”—a remarkable architectural achievement unmatched in China. Today, similar cliff-hung temples exist (e.g. Hanging Monastery at Hengshan, Shibaozhai in Sichuan), but Wa Huang Ge’s design is even more majestic in poetic and technical conception. It is a profound artistic and engineering marvel. Luo believed the Shengxian locals would ensure its careful preservation and further promotion.
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