The “Jian” Spatial Unit, as the Main Characteristic for Measuring Individual Structures and Architectural Complexes in China

Abstract

This article examines the question of the interpretation of the term "jian"— a span, interval, or a measurement of space in between (points, columns, supports, or objects)—in traditional Chinese architecture. This term was used [as a spatial unit] in Chinese treatises, to describe the spatial dimensions of large architectural complexes for various purposes, as well as to measure the amount of damage from a potential fire and to describe the scale of destruction. The amount of jian, which an individual structure spanned also possessed a certain value, and varied in accordance with changes in the prevailing rituals of Chinese society. Over time, the number of spans the main façade of a building possessed, become an important characteristic and indicator of status. A comparison of the instructions in the "Yingzao Fashi" treatise, with various surviving architectural complexes, revealed that from the beginning of the 11th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, the instructions described in Yingzao Fashi, concerning the number of jian were implemented in the overwhelming majority of extant cases.