Chinese Art
Teacher's Resource
Lesson Plan: Daily Life in Ancient China
Lessons submitted by: Patti Burkhardt

Pottery Courtyard House
Grades 3-5
Sunshine State Standards: VAB121, VAB122, VAC121, VAC122

Goal:
These various activities will ready Grades PreK-12 students for their visit to the Naples Art Museum where the Gow Collection will be explored. Three other lessons are included: one each for Grades PreK-2, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12.

Additional Background Information

The Han Dynasty was a 400-year period of stability that allowed for increased expansion, trade, prosperity, and cultural creativity. The emperor, followed by the aristocracy who ruled the land in his name, held the greatest wealth, but the gentry, who aided the aristocracy, and the merchants, traditionally at the bottom of the social scale, were better off than they had ever been before. Some of these "commoners" rode in chariots pulled by horses and lived in fine mansions with beautiful gardens. These splendid houses were enhanced with such things as gilded pillars, window frames with bits of mica and colored glass, and marble stairs.

Even the most elegant manors had a layout similar to farmhouses - a courtyard with a gate in the south wall (the direction of holiness), several buildings within the yard, a main dwelling in the center, a garden area behind. The basic framework of the houses was also the same for people of all classes: a roof supported by rows of wood pillars and lintels set on stone slabs on a foundation of rammed earth. By the time of the Han Dynasty, most roofs were tiled instead of thatched. (http://www.ucf.edu)

This impressive gray pottery manor compound is a form of siheyuan, a single-enclosure courtyard with buildings on four sides, which could also be seen in stone and brick tomb carvings of the same period. This type of structure was very popular in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, especially in Northern China. The compound is comprised of twenty-eight pieces, which make up a walled yard with a two-story building, a central gazebo, four pagoda-like towers, and an elaborate roofed gateway. Each tower is a two-storied structure with first-story eaves and a gently sloping hexagonal cuanjian (pyramidal roof); the base of each story is surrounded by a short railing. A roofed corridor with columns and railings connects the two towers on the right of the central axis, and a similar corridor connects the two towers on the left.

The main building, at the rear of the compound, has an open corridor on the ground floor. Several posts topped by dougong, or bracket sets, firmly support the three rooms on the second floor. Set back under separate si'a ding, or hip roof, each of the three symmetrically placed rooms has a separate entrance and a balcony with a railing overlooking the courtyard.

Pottery houses and towers were very popular tomb objects from the late Western Han through the Eastern Han dynasties, reflecting the prosperity of the farm economy and depicting life on and the operation of individual farms. This compound, however, with its gazebo and pagoda-like towers, is rare. Its configuration suggests some special function, possibly as a temple. (Chang, 2000)

Objectives:
The student will study examples of houses from a variety of cultures and times and identify similarities and differences while reasoning the needs behind the architecture.

Materials:
teacher materials

Teacher Preparation:
Study the belief behind Chinese architecture through videos, books, and internet resources.

Vocabulary from the paragraphs above:

• Gazebo
• Pagoda
• Compound
• siheyuan, a single-enclosure courtyard with buildings on four sides
• Manor
• South wall
• Pillars
• Lintel
• Slab
• Tiled roofs
• Thatched roofs
• Gateway
• Eaves
• Railings
• Columns
• Central axis

Activity Description:

1. Students look at pictures of buildings of traditional China. List the elements and characteristics which give these buildings a distinctive Chinese quality. China has influenced architecture of other cultures. Help them identify the architectural terms.
2. Find examples of architecture from different cultures that show the influence of China.
3. Since ancient times, the Chinese believed that there was another world and another life after death. Because of this belief, whenever an important ruler or aristocrat died, they would be buried in an enormous tomb with images of domestic animals, people such as warriors, servants, and entertainers, and models of personal possessions including houses such as this model. Discuss other cultures that believe in including objects in burial tombs. (http://www.kyohaku.go.jp)
4. Students look at the Two Tomb Guardians from the Gow Collection. Generate these questions for discussion:

• What kind of an animal is it?
• Is this the same as a dragon? Why, why not?
• How does this animal make you feel?
• What might the purpose of such an animal be?

  Guardians such as these sat in pairs at the entrance of a tomb to safeguard the deceased. The tradition of their use may be traced back to the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1100-256 B.C.), when it was recorded in the rituals of Zhou that the fang xiang shi, a legendary monster hunter, was responsible for all exorcisms of evil spirits. Dressed in a black jacket and red garment covered with a bear's skin, the fang xiang shi would put on a facemask with four golden eyes and hide in the tomb before the funeral ceremony takes place. Then, brandishing his dagger-ax, he would strike at the four corners of the tomb to fight and expel the fang liang---a ghost believed to suck out the brain of the deceased. Later, people made sculptures of tomb guardians which could remain on guard for eternity. Thus, they replaced the lively performance of fang xiang shi exorcisms. (Chang, 2000)
  

Suggested resources:

Extensive photos with text on different regions of China:
http://www.orientalarchitecture.com

Architecture of China (photos & text)
Pagoda:
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/street/street.html

Yingbi or zhaobi (screenwall):
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/yingbi/yingbi.html

Pavilion:
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/pavilion/pavilion.html

Three other lessons on ancient Chinese daily life are included: one each for Grades PreK-2,
Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12.