In the history of architecture, both grand and domestic Chinese buildings have used the courtyard plan almost universally since the Bronze Age (c. 1700 BC). Temples and palaces consisted of a series of linked courtyards and even the smallest domestic buildings had a single walled courtyard. In domestic architecture the courtyard was important since it protected the family’s property and enclosed its women (who were not supposed to venture beyond the home according to the rules of Confucian morality). It also symbolized the inward-looking nature of family worship, based on the ancestral shrine in the central bay of the main, northern wing of the building.

From the very earliest period in the history of architecture, demonstrated by the excavated timber remains at Hemudu dating from C. 5000 BC, Chinese architecture relied upon timber as its major structural material. The characteristic stepped post-and-lintel form of building developed quickly. Miniature ceramic house-models, made to place in tombs, and stone carved pillars (que) of the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) indicate that the bracketing that was to characterize later building was already developed. To protect the timbers from the rain, the roof eaves projected beyond the pillars and were supported on brackets placed on top of the columns, as can be seen in the late 7th-century AD Nan chan Temple. Subsequent subtle changes in style were limited, mainly affecting roof forms and decoration and the size and number of brackets. In 1103, the Ying zao fa shi (Building Standards) were published by the Imperial Ministry of Public Works. This set out the proportions of Song brackets; derived from one part of the bracket these determined a building’s relative size.

The buildings within the walled enclosures were erected on a stone or brick platform. The columns supporting the brackets and timbers of the double-pitched roofs were set in carved stone bases and determined the number of bays in each wing (always uneven, from three to nine). The major areas of decoration were the lattice windows of the facade and the roof tiles. The roof was considered vulnerable to evil spirits so ceramic figures of frightening dragon-heads were set at either end. Sumptuary laws dictated the use of colour: imperial buildings were roofed with yellow glazed tiles, temples and the homes of nobles with green glazed tiles and the roofs of ordinary houses had grey unglazed tiled roofs. The use of scarlet doors and columns was restricted to the nobility while ordinary houses had timbers painted dark red or brown.

Regional variation in architectural style is most noticeable in domestic buildings. The simple grey-roofed courtyards of Peking contrast with the elaborate house-garden complexes of Suzhou which include garden pavilions, pools and mock mountains. Whitewashed southern Chinese courtyard houses are almost completely enclosed, with only a small opening in the roof to ventilate the halls and stone- flagged court below. Their gable-end walls were stepped and curved and some southern buildings, like the North temple pagoda, Suzhou, have elaborately up-turned eaves.