Early Chinese Architecture
Goddess Temple, Niuheliang
The earliest buildings known from China, from about 4000-3500 BC, are as early as the first cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt, although a few places in West Asia, like Jericho, have earlier stone buildings. These early Chinese buildings already show their relationship to much later buildings. Like later buildings, they are symmetrical.
One example is the Goddess Temple at Niuheliang, in northern China.
A statue head of a goddess from Niuheliang
The temple is gone now, but archaeologists have found the foundations so we know what shape it was. We also have some of the sculpture from the temple. You could compare this head of a goddess to the head from Warka from West Asia about the same time.
To find out more about ancient Chinese architecture, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, by Jessica Rawson and others (1996). Rawson is a curator at the British Museum, and she uses the collection of the British Museum to illustrate this book. Library Journal calls it "easily the best introductory overview of Chinese art to appear in years".
Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series), by Craig Clunas (1997). Not specifically for kids, but a good introduction to the spirit of Chinese art. Warning: this one is not arranged in chronological order. Instead, it has chapters on sculpture, calligraphy, and so on.
Shang Dynasty Chinese Architecture
Chinese Architecture
Main China page
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Science for Kids
Main China page
Main History for Kids home page
Science for Kids
