The architecture of the Song dynasty encompasses structures built in China from 960 to 1279, and includes towering Buddhist pagodas, temple halls, pavilions, gardens, stone and wooden bridges, lavish tombs, and extravagant palaces. Song dynasty architects inherited ideas, methods, and traditions from previous dynasties such as the Tang and Later Zhou, though with stylistic changes, especially with the growth of the economy and blurring of residential and commercial areas in urban districts. Although many timber structures built during this era no longer survive, much is known about the layout of Kaifeng (Bianjing), capital city of the Northern Song (960–1127), and Hangzhou (Lin'an), capital city of the Southern Song (1127–1279), due to art and literature. Wooden buildings were the most prevalent, but stone, brick, and rammed earth structures were also built.
Architectural knowledge in China had been passed down orally for thousands of years, usually from craftsman fathers to their sons. There were also government agencies and schools for construction, building, and engineering. The professions of architect, master craftsman, carpenter, and structural engineer did not have the high status of the Confucian scholar-officials. However, some statesmen were commissioned by the emperor to oversee construction projects, such as Su Song for his astronomical clocktower erected in Kaifeng. Scholar-officials such as Ouyang Xiu designed and built their own private gardens, and the written works of architects such as Yu Hao were appreciated by some Chinese literati. Song architectural trends not only impacted later Chinese dynasties but also influenced Japanese architecture.
Literary works on Chinese architecture existed beforehand, but architectural writing blossomed during the Song dynasty, maturing into a more professional form that described dimensions and working materials in a concise, organized manner. In addition to ruins and structures still standing intact, depictions in Song artwork, architectural drawings, and illustrations in published books all aid modern historians in understanding the architecture of the period. The Song dynasty's building manuals aided not only the various private workshops, but also the craftsmen employed by the central government. The Yingzao Fashi, published in 1103, remains the earliest Chinese building manual to survive in full, while literary works such as the Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, published in 1147, provide clues about urban landscapes and construction details.
Materials and components
Traditional Chinese architecture encompasses mainly timber structures held up by elaborate dougong brackets, and therefore timber buildings of the Song dynasty (960–1279) shared similar features and components of those built by the contemporary Liao dynasty (916–1125) and Jin dynasty (1115–1234). During the Song period, timber architecture was broadly divided into two main categories: the palace type and hall type. These two types of buildings had fundamental differences in terms of structural support, with palace type buildings containing a roof layer and separate dougong layer, and hall type buildings compensating for a lack of a separate dougong layer by utilizing a panjian rectangular wooden bar to maintain longitudinal stiffness and structural integrity.
Timber structures were also designed to accommodate different climatic conditions. The hot, humid climate of the Jiangnan region in southern China prompted Song era engineers to replace heavy rammed earth walls and fixed lattice windows with detachable wooden lattice windows for better regulation of ventilation and insulation. Southern Song architects in the Jiangnan region preferred not only wooden column platforms but also rammed earth platforms lined with stone and brick to elevate timber buildings for better lighting, ventilation, vantage points, and aesthetic appeal. Construction materials also varied by building type. Song era structures such as bridges were built of either wood or stone, and pagoda towers were constructed using wood or brick. The elevated rammed earth platform or terrace lined with brick and stone and crowned with a wooden structure had existed since the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC); it was used for various functions such as feasting and holding diplomatic meetings, and served as partial inspiration for the later pagoda in Chinese Buddhist architecture.
City and palace
While some structures built during the Song era remain intact or in ruins, many of the buildings and much of the construction materials from this era have disappeared or eroded over time. Chinese pavilions, restaurants, and wine shops built in urban areas during the Song period no longer exist, and can only be studied with the aid of primary sources such as government edicts, literature, and artworks. For instance, Zhang Zeduan's large painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, which depicts various buildings, bridges, vehicles, and people in Kaifeng, serves as one of the major sources for understanding Song architecture before the Jurchen Jin siege and occupation of the capital city in 1127. Various texts from the 12th and 13th centuries also describe the layout of Kaifeng and other cities. From these sources it is known where precise city gates, government palaces, markets, and streets were located in Kaifeng and Lin'an (Hangzhou), the capital of the Southern Song dynasty.
During the Tang dynasty (618–907), urban areas in China were strictly divided into distinct residential and commercial wards divided by city walls, and had to follow strict building codes that forbade multistory pavilions to overlook private homes in residential and market areas. The Later Zhou dynasty (951–960) deviated from this approach, allowing the construction of various lavish multistory buildings catering to merchants, a model of city management inherited by the Northern Song dynasty. Emperor Renzong of Song issued an edict in 1036 forbidding private homes not used as market shops or pavilions from using elaborate construction methods such as caisson ceilings, but overall the Song government had a far more relaxed attitude in regulating civilian structures than the Tang. Due to intensely growing commercialism during the Song period, shops could now line streets in residential areas and did not have to be situated behind precinct walls. Large wine pavilions grew in popularity, to the point that entire streets in Kaifeng were named after them. Song dynasty palaces and temples resembled Tang precedents but gradually became more complex in terms of construction, details, and multistory parts.
Emperor Zhezong of Song commissioned the statesman and scientist Su Song to build a large astronomical clocktower in Kaifeng. It was completed in 1094 and had a waterwheel-powered armillary sphere along with mechanically operated mannequin musicians who sounded the hours, but was dismantled after the 1127 siege by Jin forces. Although his tower no longer exists, Su Song described it in thorough detail in a horological treatise with illustrations.
Buddhist pagodas
After the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), the idea of the Buddhist stupa entered Chinese culture from India as a means to house scriptural sutras. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, the distinctive Chinese pagoda was developed, its predecessors being the tall watchtowers and towering residential apartments of the Han dynasty (as inferred from models in Han-era tombs). During the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) periods, pagodas were developed from purely wooden structures to use articulated stone and brick, which could more easily survive fires caused by lightning or arson and were less susceptible to decay. The earliest brick pagoda that remains extant is the Songyue Pagoda, built in 523 by the Northern Wei, and a typical example of a Tang-era stone pagoda is the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, constructed in 652. Pagodas during the Song and Liao dynasties had improved masonry designs, survive in greater numbers than those of previous dynasties, and Song structures are distributed mainly south of the Yellow River.
Roughly sixty Buddhist pagoda towers built in China during the Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties still survive. Tall Chinese pagodas were often built in the countryside rather than within a city's walls, largely to avoid competition with the cosmic-imperial authority embodied in the cities' drum-towers and gate-towers. However, the Song capital city Kaifeng was filled with pagoda towers, the tallest of which stood 360 ft (100 m) in height and was built by Yu Hao to house relics from Mauryan emperor Ashoka of India. Pagoda towers built during this period usually contain six or eight sides, are often made of brick or wood, and the brick pagodas are usually built in an imitative style of timber architecture (replicating bracket structures).
The Song period featured true cast-iron pagodas, such as the Iron Pagoda of Yuquan Temple (Jade Springs Temple), Dangyang, Hubei Province. Built in 1061, it incorporates of cast iron and stands tall. The Liuhe Pagoda, or Six Harmonies Pagoda, is another example of Song-era pagoda architecture. It is located in the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province, at the foot of Yuelun Hill facing the Qiantang River. Although the original was destroyed in 1121, the current tower was erected in 1156 and fully restored by 1165. It stands tall, and was constructed from a red brick frame with 13 stages of wooden eaves. Because of its size, the pagoda served as a permanent lighthouse to aid sailors at night. The Liaodi Pagoda of Dingzhou, Hebei, built in 1055 and standing at a height of , was used as a religious structure but also as a watchtower for military observation of forces belonging to the Khitan Liao dynasty.
Temple halls
After Buddhism spread to China from India during the Han period, Buddhist temples became common throughout the country. With the transmission of Chan Buddhism to Japan, regional Southern Song dynasty building styles influenced Japanese architecture, in particular the construction of the Great South Gate at Todai Temple in Nara, and the Reliquary Hall of Engaku Temple in Kamakura, Japan. During the Song period it was typical for wealthy families to facilitate the construction of large temple complexes, usually by donating a portion of their family estate to a Buddhist sect. Often the land already contained buildings that could be repurposed for religions use. The Fei (費) family of the town of Jinze, located just west of Shanghai, converted a mansion on their property into a Buddhist sutra recitation hall, and later built several other religious buildings around the hall. This spurred a boom in temple construction in the area, causing Jinze to become a major center of the White Lotus sect of Buddhism, which in turn spurred the construction of more temples during the Song era. The nearby town of Nanxiang gained prominence shortly after the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty in large part due to this construction of temples and other religious buildings.