BJ's Five Architectural Colors, and the Symbolism Behind Them
It
sometimes seems like the dominant color in Beijing is “Socialist
Taupe.” The streets. The bricks. The roads. Getting away from the gray
and the beige is hard.
Even the sky can appear beige
That wasn’t always the case. In imperial times, builders and architects relied on five colors to add life to their creations: red, yellow, blue, white, and (yes) gray.
These
colors were not just aesthetic choices; each was associated with a
complex schematic that involved everything from astrology and
metaphysics to food and medicine: 五行 wǔxíng. This concept sought to explain all phenomenon as an interaction between five different elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Later, each element became associated with different colors, which then became the dominant palette in Chinese architecture.
There are reports that the Beijing Municipal Government wants
to create a standardized color palette for buildings and even signage
in Beijing, restricting new construction and historical renovations to
(you guessed it) red, yellow, blue, white, and gray.
According to Chinese-Canadian author and scholar, Dr. Donia Zhang, who serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, “Green, red, white, gray, and black have historically been associated with vernacular Chinese architecture, such as Beijing siheyuan (courtyard
houses). The exterior walls of Beijing courtyard houses were
traditionally constructed of gray bricks, with structural columns often
painted in vermillion red – the color of fire and blood, symbolizing
good fortune and prosperity, and window mullions painted in green – the
color of plants and vegetations, denoting living and growing.”
Red
Red
has long been important in Chinese symbolism (Mao certainly lucked out
with his choice of revolutionary hue). Traditionally, red represented
warmth and the highest amount of yang – as in yin-yang –
energy. The association of red with positive mojo and good fortune is
why the color red is prominent in weddings, New Years, and other
important celebrations. Think of the “red envelopes” (红包 hóngbāo) given
out each year to children at the Lunar New Year or posted by the drunk
guy trolling your rando WeChat group at 2 in the morning.
A red hutong door
Yellow
Yellow
was another prominent color in old Beijing, and it was associated
primarily with the emperor. Connected to the element of earth, yellow
represented the very foundations of Chinese civilization in antiquity.
The Yellow Emperor is
the mythological forefather of the Chinese nation while archaeologists
trace the earliest examples of a specifically Chinese civilization to
the Yellow River Basin. The Yellow River itself derives its name from the color of the water once the river fills with the loose loess soil of central China.
(The controversial 1980s documentary River Elegy (河殇 Héshāng),
which in part documented the decline of traditional Chinese culture,
employed the Yellow River in an extended metaphor, linking the color
yellow with China’s past and the country’s interior in contrast to the
deep blue waters of the expansive ocean and the world beyond.)
READ: Beijing Pics: A Different Side to the Forbidden City
In Beijing, yellow figures prominently in the Forbidden City and other examples of imperial architecture. The rooftops of most imperial palaces (and the Confucian Temple)
are made of glazed yellow tiles. Yellow was also the color of the
imperial robes, and the interior walls of many palace rooms were washed
with yellow clay from Hebei province. Yellow was so associated with the
emperor that by court decree, the color could only be used for imperial
palaces, temples, and tombs.
The yellow glazed tiles of the Forbidden City
Not all buildings in the Forbidden City feature the famous yellow tiles. The Hall of Literary Splendor (文华殿 wén huá diàn),
on the eastern side of the Forbidden City has a building, formerly the
imperial library, with a black roof. As with other colors, black has an elemental connection – in this case, water – a useful element for the protection of rare books in a palace where fire was a perennial problem.
Blue
The
color blue symbolized heaven and heavenly blessings with the best
example being the deep cobalt tiles adorning the rooftops of structures
at the Temple of Heaven.
This wasn’t always the case. When the Temple of Heaven was first laid
out in the Ming era (1368-1644), most of the temple structures had green
rooftops. This was changed during renovations ordered by the Qianlong Emperor in the 18th century. In fact, the famous triple-tiered Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿 qínián diàn)
was once a tri-color mash-up of symbolic colors. The first tier was
green, symbolizing the earth, the second tier yellow for the emperor,
and only the upper level, representing heaven, had the now
characteristic blue tiles. When the structure was remodeled by the
Qianlong Emperor (and then again when it was rebuilt following an 1889
fire) all the tiers were tiled a uniform blue.
Blue tiles at the Temple of Heaven
In
regards to the municipal plan to restrict future building development
to five colors, Dr. Zhang believes the plan has merit. “In Daoist
classics, Dao De Jing, the Chinese sage Laozi observed
that 'Colors blind the eye…' (verse 12); he advised that too many
colors are not good for human vision. In architectural education, we
were also suggested that no more than three main colors to be used for a
facade design; otherwise, it would look too busy and chaotic. This
philosophical view and artistic principle may help explain municipal
government’s recent decision on the primary color palette for historical
reconstruction and development in Beijing to include green, red,
yellow, white, and gray.”
Whether the regulation is enacted or not, it’s nice to know there’s more to the ‘jing than beige.
Keep reading: How Beijing Came to Be China's Capital
Photos: Uni You, Jeremiah Jenne, giphy.com
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