Editing Chinese architecture (section)

==Culture==
Beyond China's physically creative architecture techniques lies an "imaginary architecture".<ref name="Bray">{{cite book |last1=Bray |first1=Francesca |title=Technology and gender: fabrics of power in late imperial China |date=1997 |publisher=Berkeley: University of California Press |hdl=2027/heb.02385.0001.001 }}</ref> This imaginary architecture reflected three major principles that carry messages about the relations between inhabitants, society, and the cosmos, and that depict gender power imbalances.<ref name="Bray"/>

=== Confucius ===
The first design principle was that the Chinese house was the embodiment of [[Neo-Confucianism|Neo-Confucian values]]. These collaborative values were loyalty, respect, and service. They were depicted through representations of generations, gender, and age. The Chinese home was a community in itself that sheltered a patrilineal kinship clan. It was quite common for houses to shelter "five generations under one roof".<ref name="Bray" /> Social concepts reflected the Five Relationships between "ruler and subject, father and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother and friends."<ref name="Bray" /> The unequal relationship between the superior and subordinate in these relationships was emphasized. The relationship between husband and wife was patriarchal. The husband was required to treat the spouse with kindness, consideration, and understanding.

=== Cosmic space ===
The Chinese house was a cosmic space. The house was designed as a shelter to foil evil influences by channeling cosmic energies (''[[qi]]'') by respecting feng shui. Depending on the season, astral cycle, landscape, and the house's design, orientation, and architectural details, some amount of energy would be produced. However, cosmic energy could be used in both moral and immoral ways. The moral way is by adding feng shui to a local community temple. Feng shui could also be used competitively to raise the value of one's house at the expense of others. For example, if someone built part of their house against the norm, their house could be considered a threat, because it was recklessly throwing off cosmic energy. In one detailed account, a fight broke out over feng shui.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Freedman |first1=Maurice |title=Geomancy. Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=1968 |pages=5–15 |date=1969 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute |location=London |doi=10.2307/3031743 |jstor=3031703 }}</ref>

Feng shui was also incorporated inside the home. Symmetry, orientations, arrangements of objects, and cleanliness were important factors to direct cosmic energy. Even in poorer homes cleanliness and tidiness were highly desired to compensate for the lack of space. Sweeping was a daily task that was thought to be a purifying act. Chinese historian [[Sima Guang]] writes, "The servants of the inner and outer quarters and the concubines all rise at the first crow of the cock. After combing their hair, washing, and getting dressed, the male servants should sweep the halls and front courtyard; the doorman and older servants should sweep the middle courtyard, while the maids sweep the living quarters, arrange tables and chairs, and prepare for the toilet of the master and mistress." The task of cleaning further illustrates, the gender segregation of the Chinese household.<ref name="Bray" />

=== Culture ===
The house was a space of culture that depicted the Chinese view of humanity. The house was a domestic domain, separated from the undomesticated world. The separation was commonly realized through walls and gates. Gates were first a physical barrier and second a notice board.

The home was where family rules could be enforced, dividing the upbringing of the inhabitants.

Women were often hidden away within the inner walls to perform domestic duties, while men would freely interact with the outside.

While brides entered an unknown and potentially hostile environment, the husband "never had to leave his parents or his home, he knew which lineage and which landscape he belonged to from the time he began to understand the world."<ref name="Bray" /> New brides were typically treated badly by senior household members. Junior brides might be treated like unpaid servants and forced to do unpleasant chores. Bray characterized marriage as the bride's descent into hell. "The analogy of the wedding process with death is made explicit: the bride describes herself as being prepared for death, and the wedding process as the crossing of the yellow river that is the boundary between this life and the next. She appeals for justice, citing the valuable and unrecognized contribution she has made to her family. Her language is bitter and unrestrained, and she even curses the matchmaker and her future husband's family. Such lamenting can take place only within her parents' household and must cease halfway on the road to her new home, when the invisible boundary has been crossed."<ref name="Bray" /> Women were fully accepted into a new home only after bearing a child.

The confinement of women was also a method of controlling their sexual lives. Confinement was used to prevent impregnation by an outsider who might  thereby claim a slice of the family's wealth. Bray claimed that wives were often represented as "gossiping troublemakers eager to stir up strife between otherwise devoted brothers, the root of family discord, requiring strict patriarchal control."<ref name="Bray" />

Husbands and wives did not stay in the same private room for long periods. During the day, men would go out or work in their studies, avoiding unnecessary contact with female relatives. Women were generally confined to the inner perimeter. When leaving the inner perimeter, they must cover their face with a veil or a sleeve. Conversely, men were not usually permitted to enter the inner perimeter, providing women some control over their daily experience.