Recreating Splendid and Romantic Jing-chu Style Architecture—An Interview with Guo Hepin, the Deputy Chief Architect from CSADI

By Xu Kuang Translated:Liu Jie

Recreating Splendid and Romantic Jing-chu Style Architecture—An Interview with Guo Hepin, the Deputy Chief Architect from CSADI

By Xu Kuang Translated:Liu Jie

The juxtaposition of the two Chinese characters “荊 (jing)” and “楚 (chu)”first appeared in a poem “Only thy Jing and Chu people, residing in the south land,” recorded in The Book of Poems, the first collection of Chinese ancient poetry. Chu people had not only created the amazing Chu culture in Chinese history , but also brushed a colorful splendor in the storyline of oriental architecture,whose innovative spirit serves as a good example for modern people to follow.

Long Gone are the Pavilions and Palaces of the Kings of Chu

Jing-chu culture derived its name from the State of Chu (1,115B.C.-223B.C.) and Chu people, which was a representative type of regional culture developed from the Zhou Dynasty (1046B.C.-256B.C.) to the Period of the Warring States (475 B.C.-221B.C.) in the Jianghan Plain area, which mainly refers to what is now Hubei Province. In the eyes of Guo Heping, the deputy chief architect from CSADI(Central South Architecture Design Institute Co.,Ltd), ancient architecture is a best record of the history and culture of each dynasty.

After Chu State was defeated by the King of Qin State, all the important buildings in the State of Chu were either torn down or looted, leading to an abrupt end to the brilliance of Chu architecture.The remaining Chu buildings were long lost in history, for the ancient earth-and-wood buildings were prone to weathering. Furthermore, in order to prevent the resurgence of the Chu State, Emperor Qin Shihuang, the first emperor in feudal China,broke up Chu land into seven prefectures, thus, the architecture of Chu was assimilated by the adjacent provinces and their features were gradually eliminated.

Though the ancient buildings of Chu style had gone with the wind, their romantic charm was recorded in historical documents. Not only did the poets of Chu State like Qu Yuan and Song Yu repeatedly depict splendid Chu buildings in their works, men of letters in varied dynasties all cherished the magnificent buildings in the Chu State and sang for them over and over again. For instance, they were been depicted in Yue Fu Poems of Han Dynasty. Both Li Bai and Su Shi, who were famous poets of the Tang and Song Dynasties respectively, expressed their admiration for those great Chu buildings and the regret for being unable to appreciate their beauty in person. Even the great poet Li Bai of Tang Dynasty sighed, “Brilliant are Qu Yuan’s poems, like the sun and the moon shining in the sky; while long gone are the pavilions and palaces of the Kings of Chu.” The fact that in the poems of Tang alone, there were more than ten occurrences for the phrase “the Palace of Chu” fully reveals the tremendous cultural influence of Chu Architecture.

“維女荊楚，居國南鄉(xiāng)。”“荊楚”二字并提，最早出現(xiàn)于《詩經(jīng)·商頌·殷武》。楚人創(chuàng)造出世人驚嘆的楚文化，他們同樣在建筑上留下濃抹重彩的一筆，其創(chuàng)新精神，值得現(xiàn)代人效仿。

楚王臺榭空山丘

荊楚文化因楚國（公元前1115年—公元前223年）和楚人得名，是周代（前1046年—前256年）至戰(zhàn)國時期（前475年—前221年）在江漢流域興起的一種地域文化。在中南建筑設(shè)計院副總建筑師郭和平看來，建筑也是各朝各代歷史文化的一種記載。

秦王滅楚后，對楚國重要建筑拆毀和擄掠，楚式建筑的輝煌戛然而止。古代建筑的土木結(jié)構(gòu)不耐風化，殘存的楚建筑也早已湮滅于歷史。秦始皇為防止楚國勢力復(fù)燃，將楚地分解為七郡，使楚地建筑的風格被周邊省份同化，特色逐漸消失。

楚式建筑雖隨風遠去，其浪漫風姿卻留存于歷史文獻中。屈原、宋玉等人的文學作品中對楚建筑有大量精彩的描述，歷代的文人墨客對楚式建筑亦念念不忘，反復(fù)歌詠。漢樂府《八變歌》有“北風初秋至，吹我章華臺，浮云多暮色，似從崦嵫來”的描寫，贊嘆“日落章華浮暮云”的壯麗景象；唐代詩人李百藥在《郢城懷古》中發(fā)出“壯觀章華筑”的喟嘆；蘇軾在《渚宮》中，以“飛樓百尺照湖水，上有燕趙千娥眉”的詩句，描繪出楚宮的宏大與浪漫；面對不能目睹楚式建筑絕美風姿的遺憾，大詩人李白也只能發(fā)出“屈平詩賦懸日月，楚王臺榭空山丘”的嘆息。僅在唐詩中，就有十余篇出現(xiàn)“楚宮”一詞，充分說明楚式建筑巨大的文化影響力。

2013年7月21日，習近平總書記在鄂視察時提出“荊楚派建筑”，強調(diào)城鄉(xiāng)建設(shè)應(yīng)體現(xiàn)湖北特色和荊楚文化。郭和平說，荊楚派，可通俗理解為古楚人創(chuàng)造并延續(xù)下來的建筑風格。荊楚建筑風格，與周邊相比略顯弱勢，但作為“春秋五霸”、“戰(zhàn)國七雄”之一的楚國，荊楚文化在歷史上卻很強勢，建筑是其文化篇章中閃光的一頁。楚學專家高介華曾評價，楚之建筑技藝，從用材制作之精，到施工工具之完備，均居當時前列。

“封建時代，帝王是歷史文化總指揮，楚懷王對建筑情有獨鐘，秦王拆毀楚國建筑，是將楚國的精神物質(zhì)基礎(chǔ)毀滅，楚建筑的研究其實是一個斷代的研究?！惫推秸f。如今，尋找“荊楚派”，只能從歷史遺跡中去尋根，從楚人的詩詞歌賦中去感悟。

郭和平認為，創(chuàng)立“荊楚派建筑”，就是要繼承楚文化的優(yōu)秀傳統(tǒng)，煥發(fā)我們創(chuàng)造美的本能，讓湖北的城鄉(xiāng)建筑風貌呈現(xiàn)自己的特色。

再現(xiàn)楚建筑精美浪漫

一直以來，中國建筑藝術(shù)風格呈多元化態(tài)勢。改革開放初期，中國建筑界曾有京派、海派、嶺南派之別。此后，又陸續(xù)涌現(xiàn)出巴蜀風格、新疆風格等等。從這些風格興起和發(fā)展過程看，各地區(qū)在發(fā)掘和發(fā)揚本地區(qū)文化特色的同時，都明確了與其他地域風格的差異。

On July 23rd, 2013, Secretary General of CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping mentioned“Jing-chu style Architecture” when inspecting in Hubei. He stressed that the urban and rural construction in Hubei should reflect the unique features of Hubei and Jing-chu culture. According to Guo Heping, Jing-chu style can be generally understood as the architectural style created by ancient Chu people that has continued to this day.In comparison with that of the adjacent areas,Jing-chu style architecture is not as prevalent;however, after all, the Chu State was one of the five super powers in the Period of Spring and Autumn and one of the seven super powers in the Period of Warring States, Jing-chu culture had been historically strong with its architecture as a brilliant part. Gao Jiehua, an expert in Chu Studies,once commented that, the architectural skill of Chu State, with their refined materials and complete construction tools, had been in the front ranks of the time.

“In the feudal times, the monarch had always been the general director of historical culture.As King Huai of Chu had special preference for architecture, the King of Qin ordered the buildings of Chu be demolished, which, in effect, ruined the material foundation for the spirit of Chu State.Therefore, the study on Chu architecture has actually been a cohort study,” said Guo Heping. At present, to seek Jing-chu style, one can only search for its root from historical sites, and get inspiration from the poems and songs of Chu people.

Guo Heping believed, to create the architecture of Jing-chu style means we should inherit the excellent traditions of Chu culture, and arouse our instinct for creating beauty so as to make the urban and rural buildings in Hubei take on their unique features.

Recreating the Elegance and Romance of Chu Architecture

The artistic feature of Chinese architecture has been in the trend of diversification over the time.In the early period of reform and opening-up,there had been the distinctions among Peking style, Shanghai style, and Linnan style in Chinese architecture. Later on, more styles successively appeared, like Bashu style, Sinkiang style, and so on. Judging from the rise and development of these styles, while all the regions were exploring and carrying forward the cultural features of their own regions, they all defined their differences from the styles of other regions.

古琴臺 Ancient Lute Pavilion

建筑的首要目的，是為了解決生活中的居住需要。郭和平介紹，根據(jù)荊楚的地理位置和氣候環(huán)境等因素，楚人在居住上，講究高臺基、深出檐。荊楚之地，高溫多雨，深出檐，則可遮陽防雨。楚王多好筑臺，以章華臺最為著名，其對秦漢以后的高樓建筑有重要影響。武漢的琴臺、禹稷行宮、晴川閣便是實例。

楚國詩人屈原在《楚辭·招魂》中“冬有穾廈，夏室寒些?！泵枋龅谋闶浅Y(jié)構(gòu)重深的大屋，即冬天有溫暖的深宮，夏天有涼爽的內(nèi)廳。

郭和平認為，無論是傳統(tǒng)建筑還是現(xiàn)代建筑，都應(yīng)從中找到與當今生活具有積極聯(lián)系的部分。除了適應(yīng)地域環(huán)境氣候的生活要求，建筑的形成更重要的是民俗民風、生活習慣及文化審美這些精神層面的要求。

為人服務(wù)是建筑的根本，良好的使用功能、先進的設(shè)施配備，是現(xiàn)代建筑成功的基礎(chǔ)。郭和平認為，在挖掘民族文化和地域建筑精髓的基礎(chǔ)上，結(jié)合建筑場地的條件，結(jié)合使用者特殊的要求，創(chuàng)造獨有的建筑個性，才是建筑藝術(shù)的最高境界。就像每部音樂作品都要有自己的旋律，每首歌詞都要有特殊內(nèi)涵一樣，只有反映民族地域特色的城鄉(xiāng)風貌，才能體現(xiàn)鄉(xiāng)情，只有個性化的建筑，才能打動人的心靈。

楚人崇尚“天人合一”，建筑上追求與自然的高度融合。這些也體現(xiàn)在對風水的追求上，“對風水要批判地繼承?！惫推秸f，“去除封建糟粕部分，取其科學部分。科學部分是人居環(huán)境的物理要素，風、水、光、土、山、植物、等等，這些都利于人居的發(fā)展，是現(xiàn)代風水的本質(zhì)。”

楚式建筑不是簡單的、靜態(tài)的，而是融匯南北、兼容東西。郭和平認為，北方建筑偏于方正大氣，有些抽象化；南方建筑偏于細致；西方巴蜀建筑偏于樸素，無任何裝飾；東方的吳越文化特色導(dǎo)致建筑偏于柔美。唯有荊楚文化恰到好處保護最佳，不會偏于柔美，有自己的力度、氣魄。

只有經(jīng)過這樣的對比探索，才能突出荊楚建筑的特色，一個沒有特色的風格是沒有生命力的。郭和平說，要全面了解荊楚建筑，除了從出土文物、歷史典籍中去尋找蛛絲馬跡，還要從民間去找，“禮失求諸野”，歷史文化雖漫長，王朝湮滅，文化還在民間，“從出土的日用品來看，手工如此精細，建筑會差嗎？荊楚遺風有存留，建筑造型有所記載，我們據(jù)此來通過現(xiàn)代工藝去體現(xiàn)。”

Guo Heping believes that the primary purpose for a building is to meet the housing needs of the people and the geographical location and climate conditions of an area are also taken into account.So, when building their houses, Chu people placed great attention to high stylobates and deep eaves extending from the beam prominently, as it is hot and rainy in Jing-chu, deep eaves could help protect the building against the sun and the rain.Most of the Kings of Chu loved to construct their palaces on high stylobates, among which the Palace of Zhanghua Tai (535B.C.) built by King Ling of Chu was the most famous one, which had great impacts on the tall buildings built after the Qin and Han Dynasties. Some historical sites in Wuhan,such as Qin Tai, a commemorative building for the great friendship between a musician named Yu Boya and his bosom friend Zhong Ziqi, The Palace of Emperor Yu and Ji, and Pavilion Qinchuan are the cases in point.

The great poet Qu Yuan of the Chu State said in a poem collected in The Songs of Chu that they could stay in the grand warm house with deep courts in winter, and keep a cool interior hall in summer.

Guo Heping maintained, one should always be able to find in a building, whether it was a traditional building or a modern one, something closely linked with life today. Since the essence of buildings is to serve people, good functional quality and advanced facilities are the basis for the success of modern architecture. Guo Heping held that, with the exploration of national culture and the essence of regional architecture as the foundation, and combining with the conditions of construction sites and the specific requirements of the users, creating unique architectural character would be the supremacy of the art of architecture. In the same way that each piece of musical work carries its own melody, and the lyric for each song contains its own special meaning, only the town and countryside,which reflect local ethnic characteristics, could embody the nostalgia for one’s hometown, and only such personalized buildings could touch one’s heart.

武漢大學 Wuhan University

追求荊楚建筑魂

當前楚式建筑的建設(shè)實踐和推廣成效并不樂觀，與徽派建筑等地方特色明顯的地域建筑相比，這不能不說是一種遺憾。“推廣地方特色建筑意義重大，這與習近平總書記提出的美麗中國夢一致，如果神州大地上充斥的都是西洋建筑，最終會失去我們?nèi)A人自己的家園?！?/p>

“要古為今用，用現(xiàn)代工藝手法去展現(xiàn)建筑的現(xiàn)代化功能。中國地域廣闊，東西南北差異大，建筑除了滿足功能需要，還要有民族特色，不僅要有中國特色，還要有地方特色，這樣才能化解‘千城一面’、‘萬村一形’的尷尬局面?！?/p>

郭和平認為，楚式建筑的推廣成效差主要有兩方面的原因。一是認識問題，在早期正統(tǒng)的建筑學中，有對中華民族的輕視。這與當時社會極弱有關(guān)，導(dǎo)致社會各方面都不同層次產(chǎn)生崇洋媚外的心態(tài)。

二是社會發(fā)展階段問題?！凹词巩斍跋氲迷俸?，也需要好幾代人的共同努力，當前國家處于發(fā)展中，短期上升到一定階段很難。”郭和平說，“從建筑的現(xiàn)代功能上講，是不是每一個中國人都認為自己的居住環(huán)境很舒服？可能內(nèi)外環(huán)境的品質(zhì)都還沒達到一定標準。但是，我們并不因為困難就放棄這些追求?！?/p>

珞珈山 Luojia Mountain

建筑是形態(tài)和空間的視覺藝術(shù)，其風格必須通過具體的形象來體現(xiàn)。近年來，一些公共建筑已經(jīng)在自覺不自覺地將荊楚文化元素融入到設(shè)計中。除了工業(yè)設(shè)計中的藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)，一些開發(fā)商的樓盤也有著對楚建筑風格的追求，郭和平參與設(shè)計的保利華都樓盤，就是在整體和細節(jié)上呈現(xiàn)出楚式建筑之美的現(xiàn)代化建筑。

Chu people advocated the theory that man was an integral part of nature, so they sought to make their buildings highly fused with nature,which was revealed in their pursuit of geomancy.“We should inherit geomancy discriminatingly,”said Guo Heping, “by removing the superstitious and bad parts, and taking the scientific part,which concerns the physical elements of human settlements, like wind, water, light, earth,mountains, and plants, which is the essence of modern geomancy and is helpful for housing development.”

Chu-style architecture is not simple and static; instead, it integrates the styles of both southern and northern China, and contains the characteristics of the east and the west of China. Guo Heping held that architecture of the northern style tends to be square and upright and is somewhat abstract; while, the southern style on the other hand, is refined and delicate; and Bashu architecture in western China is simple and artless,and Wu-yue style in eastern China is graceful and feminine owing to their unique cultural features.Only Jing-chu culture manages to strike a balance,which is refined but not too feminine and delicate and still contains its own vigor and daring courage.

龍王閣 dragon King Pavilion

Only after such comparison and exploration, can the features of Jing-chu style be highlighted, and a style without features is lifeless. Guo Heping said.To have a comprehensive understanding of Jingchu style architecture, besides tracing the signs and clues from the unearthed relics and historical books and records, one can go to the folks for that.After all, even Confucius once said, “When the etiquette is lost, one can still find it practiced in the populace.” Similarly, dynasties were lost in the long history, but culture would be retained among the folks. “Judging from the unearthed articles of daily use, the handcrafts had been so exquisite,not to mention the architecture. So, based on the remaining Jing-chu relics and the record of the architectural image, we could embody the Jing-chu style by means of modern technology.”

晴川閣 Qingchuan Pavilion

Pursuing the Soul of Jing-chu Style Architecture

At present, compared with other regional architectures, like Hui-style architecture, which is typical of Anhui Province, the construction practice and promotion of Chu architecture has not been too successful, which is definitely a great regret. “Promoting architecture with regional characteristics is of great significance, which is in agreement with the beautiful China Dream put forward by Secretary General Xi Jinping. If China is filled with buildings of the Western style, we will lose our own homes in the end,” said Guo Heping.“We should make the past serve the present and display the modern functions of the buildings with modern crafts. As China is such a vast country,there are huge differences among different parts of the country. So, besides meeting the functional needs, buildings should also possess national characteristics, not just Chinese characteristics,but more importantly, the local features. Only in this way, can we escape the embarrassment that“all our towns and cities look the same, and the villages are all constructed in the same pattern.”

值得一提的是，湖北擁有一大批高水平的建筑師，在他們的共同努力下，湖北省博物館、武漢琴臺大劇院、湖北出版文化城等現(xiàn)代建筑，都有著深深的“荊楚派”建筑風格烙印。

德國思想家歌德曾說，音樂是流動的建筑，建筑是凝固的音樂。湖北省為打造有個性的荊楚建筑走過艱難的歷程。改革開放以來，省住建廳多年堅持優(yōu)秀建筑設(shè)計的評選活動，大量的優(yōu)秀設(shè)計，對荊楚文化內(nèi)涵的體現(xiàn)有著豐富的實踐經(jīng)驗。

“現(xiàn)代建筑、現(xiàn)代中國建筑、現(xiàn)代中國地域建筑、現(xiàn)代中國地域個性化建筑，這是一個發(fā)展過程。我們的追求目標，就是要打造高質(zhì)量、經(jīng)得起時間檢驗的，湖北人民認可喜愛的標志性建筑作品，‘荊楚派’建筑風格必然流光溢彩，在世界建筑史上寫下極具特色的篇章?！惫推秸f?！?/p>

寶通禪寺 The Baotong Temple

Guo Heping held that, the failure of the promotion of Chu architecture mainly resulted from the following two reasons. Firstly, this is a result of psychological problems. In the early orthodox architectural traditions, there had been contempt for the Chinese nation, which had a lot to do with the fact that China was extremely weak at that time, and which in turn led to the exocentric mentality in every sector of society, more or less.

Secondly, this is a problem specific to the stage of social development. “Any project, no matter how well you have planned, needs the joint efforts of people of several generations to accomplish. As our country is currently developing, it would be hard to make great difference to the present situation in the short term,” says Guo Heping. “From the perspective of the modern functions of buildings,is every Chinese person satisfied with their living conditions? Maybe the quality for both the interior and exterior environment fails to meet certain standard. However, that does not mean we will abandon our pursuits because of the difficulties.”

Architecture is a kind of visual art involving form and space, whose style is embodied in concrete images. In these years, there have been some Jingchu cultural elements integrated into the design of some public buildings to some extent. Besides the artistic expression in industrial design, some properties of the developers also display the pursuit for Chu-architecture. For instance, the project of Baoli Huadu, in which Guo Heping has participated, contains some modern buildings that present the beauty of Chu architecture both in its entirety and in detail.

What is worth mentioning is that, there have been a group of high-level architects in Hubei, with whose joint efforts, some modern buildings like Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan Qintai Grand Theatre, and Hubei Cultural Town for Publishing have demonstrated a distinctive Jing-chu style.

German thinker Geothe once said that, music is fluid architecture, and architecture is frozen music.Hubei has undergone great difficulties in order to create Jing-chu style architecture with their unique features. Since China’s reform and opening-up, the Housing and Construction Department of Hubei has continued electing for excellent architectural designs over the years, and a large number of distinguished designs have been awarded,thus accumulating rich practical experience in embodying Jing-chu culture.

“It is a development process from modern architecture, to modern Chinese architecture,modern Chinese regional architecture, and finally to modern Chinese regional architecture with unique features. What we pursue is creating symbolic architectural works of high quality, which could stand the test of time, and which will be accepted and loved by people in Hubei. Jing-chu style architecture is bound to be brilliant and will occupy a special position in the history of the world architecture,”said Guo Heping. ◆ (Photos by Shi Hai)

建筑再現(xiàn)輝煌浪漫“荊楚派”——專訪中南建筑設(shè)計院副總建筑師郭和平

文/許曠 譯/劉潔

（攝影/石海）