ABSTRACT
Architecture stands across the nearly ten million square kilometres of land on the eastern side of the Asian continent that today comprises China. Above ground, buildings remain from the earliest centuries ce; the archaeological record of Chinese architecture is more than five millennia older. China’s major building materials through the entire period have been wood, brick, and stone. From group settlements to multiple-walled urban centres, whether royal or vernacular, religious or secular, public or private, China’s built environment has been erected almost exclusively by craftsmen and artisans. Chinese architecture is distinguished from buildings worldwide by the length and consistency of its building tradition and so few architects whose names are associated with it.
