Editing Chinese architecture (section)

===Horizontal emphasis===
Classical Chinese buildings, especially those of the wealthy, are built with an emphasis on breadth and less on height, featuring an enclosed heavy platform and a large roof that floats over this base, with the vertical walls deemphasized. Buildings that were too high and large were considered unsightly, and therefore generally avoided.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=Li Yih-yuan |last = Li |first = Yih-yuan |title = Ancestors |publisher = DE GRUYTER MOUTON |isbn = 9783110805314 |doi = 10.1515/9783110805314.329 |chapter = Chinese Geomancy and Ancestor Worship: A Further Discussion |year = 1979 |pages = 329–338 }}</ref> Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact of the width of the buildings, using sheer scale to inspire awe.<ref>{{cite book |date = 2017-01-31 |publisher = Princeton University Press |isbn = 9781400885138 |doi = 10.1515/9781400885138-018 |chapter = Twelve. Typical Design Features of Ming Palaces and Altars in Beijing |title = Traditional Chinese Architecture |pages = 315–348 }}</ref> This preference contrasts with Western architecture, which tends to emphasize height and depth. This often meant that [[pagoda]]s towered above other buildings.<ref name="Kohrman">{{cite journal |last = Kohrman |first = Matthew |date = March 1998 |title = Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China:Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China |journal = American Anthropologist |volume = 100 |issue = 1 |page = 236 |doi = 10.1525/aa.1998.100.1.236.1 |issn = 0002-7294 |doi-access = free }}</ref>

The halls and palaces in the [[Forbidden City]] have rather low ceilings when compared to equivalent stately buildings in the West, but their external appearance suggests the all-embracing nature of imperial China. These ideas have found their way into modern Western architecture, for example through the work of [[Jørn Utzon]].<ref>{{cite book |first = Richard |last = Weston |title = Utzon |publisher = Edition Blondal |year = 2002 |isbn = 978-87-88978-98-8 |page = 221 }}</ref>