Kuai Xiang

Kuai Xiang

Kuai Xiang (1399-1481) was born in Yufan village, Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). He was a craftsman of Ming Dynasty and a hereditary craftsman. He was recognized as the designer of Tiananmen tower. He was born in the last year of Hongwu and died in the 12th year of Chenghua. Kuai Xiang's father, Kuai Fu, was highly skilled. He was elected to the capital by the Ming Dynasty and became the "Carpenter head" in charge of the construction of the imperial palace.

Kuai Xiang studied arts with his father since childhood. After Kuai's father returned home, his son became famous in woodworking skills and construction design. He inherited his father's career and became the "head of Woodworking" and later the Minister of the Ministry of industry. He once participated in or presided over a number of major royal projects. In 1456, he served as the left servant of the Ministry of industry. The main projects in charge of the construction include Beijing Imperial Palace (1417), the first three halls of the Imperial Palace, Changling (1413), Xianling (1425), longfu Temple (1425), Beijing Xiyuan (now Beihai, Zhonghai and Nanhai) Palace (1460), Yuling (1464), etc.

achievement

As far as the designers of Tiananmen Gate Tower are concerned, it is generally acknowledged that Kuai Xiang built it.

Chengtian gate

In 1417, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. He recruited craftsmen from all over the country and went to Beijing to continue the construction. Kuai Xiang, as a follower of Ming Chengzu, went north to participate in the design of the imperial palace. Because Kuai Xiang's design level is higher than others, he was appointed as the designer of the Palace major project. His first task was to design and organize the construction of Chengtian gate, which is the main gate of the palace. The project was completed by Kuai Xiang in 1421. The shape of the tower is similar to today's, but the scale is small. This is the earliest Tian'anmen Gate, formerly known as Chengtian gate. After its completion, it was praised by the civil and military officials. The Yongle Emperor Longyan Dayue called it Kuai Luban.

Kuai Xiang was in Beijing for more than 40 years. During the reign of Zhengtong (1436-1449), he was responsible for the construction of Fengtian, Jinshen and huagaidian. In July 1457, chengtianmen was destroyed by fire. Eight years later, Bai Gui, Minister of Ming Yingzong's Ministry of life and work, presided over the reconstruction. Bai asked him to rebuild the two-story wooden tower, two palaces, five prefectures and six government offices. He also personally presided over the construction of the Yuling mausoleum in 1464. Kuai Xiang made great contributions to the imperial court. He was promoted from a craftsman to a minister of the Ministry of industry. He was awarded a second-class official and enjoyed the salary of a first-class official. At the end of Ming Dynasty, Tiananmen was burned again. In 1651, it was rebuilt with 33.7 meters, 9 rooms wide and 5 rooms deep to show the emperor's dignity and was renamed Tian'anmen.

According to the evaluation of Ming history and related architectural monographs, it is believed that Kuai Xiang's architectural creation has reached the level of perfection. He is proficient in scale calculation, and has made accurate calculation before the construction of each project. After the completion of the project, the position, distance, size and size are exactly the same as the design drawings. He has a good grasp of the geometric principles, and the tenon riveting skills are unique in the architectural art. Most of ancient Chinese buildings are wooden structures, the key of which is the reasonable combination of main columns and beams.

Kuai Xiang has carefully planned the materials and construction, and the tenon and riveting framework has been combined accurately and firmly. Kuai Xiang also skillfully used the architectural art of Jiangnan in the construction of Beijing Imperial Palace. He used Suzhou color paintings, glass and gold bricks to make the halls and pavilions look magnificent.

Kuai Xiang is not only skilled in woodworking, but also has high artistic talent and aesthetic consciousness. Be made one's own as like as two peas, and the other two are the same. At that time, when building palaces and pavilions, he only needed a little calculation to draw the design drawings. After the construction, the size of the building and the design drawings were exactly the same. Even emperor Xianzong of Ming Dynasty respected him very much. In 1420, after the construction of chengtianmen was completed, he was praised by all the people and was known as "kuailuban". Later, Kuai Xiang was promoted to minister Zuo of the Ministry of industry. During his tenure, he successively carried out many construction projects, including the reconstruction of the three main halls during the reign of emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty and the construction of Yuling during the reign of emperor Tianshun of Ming Dynasty. "All kinds of buildings are auspicious." "Xianzongshilu" in this comment.

excellent in both performing skills and moral integrity

Not only that, Kuai Xiang is also praised for his character. Although his official position is very large, he is still very modest and frugal. In his later years, although he had voluntarily resigned and retired, he was still very enthusiastic in guiding construction projects whenever they asked him for advice.

Succeeding

Kuai Xiang died in March of the 12th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1481) at the age of 84. There used to be a Kuai Shilang Hutong in Beijing. It is said that he once lived here. Most of Kuai Xiang's descendants inherited his skills. Until the late Qing Dynasty, there was still a saying that all the carpenters in Jiangnan came from Xiangshan.

Return to hometown

Kuai Xiang lived to 84 years old and died in 1481, the 17th year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong of Ming Dynasty. The tomb is on the shore of his hometown Taihu Lake. On the right side of the tombstone stands the "Fengtian Gaoming" stele granted by the emperor in the second year of Tianshun in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that Kuai Xiang's tomb was rebuilt at the beginning of the 1960s. This tomb is listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Jiangsu Province, while Kuai Luban's Tiananmen building is the treasure of China and the light of the nation.

Xiangshan Gang

Xiangshan Group of architectural craftsmen

Kuai Xiang's architectural attainments were highly praised at that time. His colleagues lamented that his skills were like uncanny workmanship. In the capital, "those who disobey his teachings are not always called the purpose", and the emperor "always called them Kuai Luban.".

In his later years, Kuai Xiang also built Yuling, one of the Ming Tombs. By the time of Xianzong's Chenghua reign, he was over 80 years old and still held the title of "Kuai Luban". He is a representative of the level of architectural technology of an era, and can be called the leader of the architectural craftsmen of Xiangshan gang.

Xiangshan Group of construction craftsmen not only has complete types of work, but also has fine division of labor, which can meet the needs of high difficulty construction technology. For example, carpenters are divided into "big wood" and "small wood". Damu is engaged in the construction of house beams, beams, purlins, rafters, Dougong, cornice, angle, etc. Small wood door, hanging, window pane, floor cover, railing, partition and other architectural decoration. Some of the small trees are specialized in carving technology (after the Qing Dynasty, there were special carvers in Woodworking).

The technological process of wood carving includes: overall planning, design lofting, contour line drawing, layering, detailed carving, polishing and painting. In addition to the detailed division of labor, Xiangshan gang tools are also very advanced. For example, there are five kinds of chisels used by carpenters: chisel, round chisel, chisel with raised head, butterfly chisel and triangle chisel, and each has several chisels of different sizes or angles.

The architecture of xiangshanbang has the characteristics of harmonious tone, compact structure, exquisite manufacture and changeable layout. It can be said that the technology is exquisite, the name enjoys the world, passed down from generation to generation.

Hometown

Tiananmen, with its perfect shape and supreme honor, is familiar to the whole world. The name of Kuai Xiang, the designer of Tiananmen Square, began to be known to the world.

Wu county is the hometown of Kuai Xiang, a great master of architecture. Kuai Xiang's tomb is located in Yufan village, Xukou Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Up to now, there are still many descendants of Kuai Xiang in Yufan village. Kuai Xiang's tomb is decorated with stone beast, Mountain Gate, memorial hall and other buildings, which are solemn and solemn. According to the inscription, Kuai Xiang, a native of Xiangshan County (now Xukou Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City), was born in 1398 and died in 1481. His name is Tingrui. He is the builder of Beijing's Forbidden City, Wufu Liubu Yamen and Changling. Now the tomb has been listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Jiangsu Province, and has been used as a youth moral education base.

Wan Jinsheng, deputy head of Wu County Shanghai Opera Troupe. In the early 1980s, he wrote the Xi opera play red wall spring and autumn, which praises Kuai Xiang, and thus became a real expert of Kuai Xiang. Wan Jinsheng said that Kuai Xiang's design of Tian'anmen is a historical opportunity. When Zhu Di moved to Beijing, he recruited a large number of skilled craftsmen from Jiangsu. He was called to Beijing in his prime.

After entering the city, Kuai Xiang won the appreciation of the governor Qian Shi who was in charge of the construction of the Imperial Palace at that time, so he was entrusted with the important task of designing a number of important imperial palace buildings, such as the three main halls and Tiananmen Square. Kuai Xiang became famous for a while, and the emperor also called him "living Luban". At last, Kuai Xiang went to the Ministry of industry and became the general leader of all kinds of workers in the world. According to the research, Kuai Xiang had studied in a private school for several years and had a certain degree of cultural accomplishment. His skills were excellent, including carpenters, masons, masons, painters and bamboo craftsmen. According to Wu county annals, he is good at building construction, "with a ruler (huaixia plus ten degrees) It's the same as the original place. In Wu County, there are many folklores about Kuai Xiang, the center of which is how Kuai Xiang works.

Wan Jinsheng's introduction is basically consistent with the research results of ancient architects. The newly published book Tian'anmen is the first one to be published. The picture of Ming Palace collected by Nanjing Museum is very rare to retain the portrait of Kuai Xiang. He was dressed as a red robed official. Behind him was the magnificent Forbidden City building. There are two paintings in total. The other one is hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing, with the words "Minister of industry Kuai Xiang" beside it.

According to Gu Jiegang, a historian, paintings with inscriptions are dedicated to the emperor, while paintings without inscriptions are left to posterity. Professor Lu Bingjie, the author of Tian'anmen men and an ancient architect, believes that the painting is a real as built drawing of the new palace with extremely fine and accurate pictures.

At that time, the Chengtian gate (renamed Tiananmen Gate after the completion of the Qing Dynasty) was decorated with yellow tiles and Zhu columns. On the top was a five room gate tower with a wide face, on the bottom was a city platform with five holes, and on the outside were five corresponding Jinshui bridges, with stone lions and Huabiao on both sides, basically the same as today. Lu Bingjie even thinks that the author of the Ming palace city is Kuai Xiang himself.

In Xukou Township, Kuai Xiang is well known to all women and children

Chinese PinYin : Kuai Xiang