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Liao architecture is a study of Buddhist halls, tombs, and pagodas built primarily through the patronage of Northern Asian warlords of Qidan nationality from the mid-10th through the first decades of the 12th century.
during those years, North China was part of a larger Quidan Empire, known as and the Liao dynasty. The Qidan, in the ninth century, where a semi-nomadic tribe living along China's northern and northeastern borders. Less than 50 years later, by the early years of the 10th century, they and other North Asia groups were confederated under the leadership of a Qidan chieftain named Abaoji.
In 947 Abaoji's son established a Chinese style dynasty named Liao. the owl territory stretched from the Gobi Desert, across Mongolia, into China's northeast provinces ( former Manchuria), and into Korea. it also included 16 prefectures of North China.
There is little evidence of wooden or brick architecture Qidan territory prior to contact with sedentary peoples. yet immediately upon contact, even before the formation of their dynasty, the Qidan built walled cities, Buddhist monasteries, and multi-chamber tombs with a variety of floor plans.
In this first study of Liao architecture, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt argues that architecture played a fundamental role in empire formation for the Liao. According to Steinhardt, in spite of the lack of a native tradition of permanent structures, Liao architecture rivaled and even surpassed earlier or contemporary Chinese buildings in wood or brick. Through unique manipulations of the timber building frame, recasting of traditional Chinese building parts in original, more complex and more creative formations, and, most important, conscientious employment of religious and funerary space for symbolic purposes, the greatest architectural achievement in 10th and 11th century East Asia occurred on the Liao soil, not in Northern Song (960 - 1126) China.
Condition: Hardcover with Dust Jacket, new from publisher not remaindered, light wear to dust jacket from shelving only, 1997 University of Hawaii press, 497 pages including index. Illustrated with b&w photos of buildings and building plan schematics.
Table of Contents:
List of Maps and Tables ix
Preface xi
1. Introduction
Part I : The Timber Frame Tradition
2. Dulesi
3. Chinese Architecture before Dulesi
4. Fengguosi
5. Yingxian Timber Pagoda
6. Liao Monasteries in the Western Capital
7. Other Liao Buddhist Halls
8. Song Wooden Halls at the Time of Liao
9. Jin Architecture : A Liao Legacy?
Part II : The Funerary Tradition
10. The Imperial Qidan Funerary Tradition
11. Chinese Funerary Architecture before Qingling
12. Liao Tombs beyond Qingling
13. The Funerary Traditions of North and Northeast Asia
Part III : The Architectural Legacy of Liao
14. Conclusion
Notes / Glossary / Bibliography / Index
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