ABSTRACT
Similar to the Vitruvian principles of strength, utility, and beauty in the West, Chinese traditional architecture builds upon three ideas in balanced harmony – virtue, convenience, and welfare. Inspired by John Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture, his treatise that expands on Vitruvian thought in nineteenth-century England, this chapter identifies ten lamps of architecture in Chinese culture. They can be grouped into five thematic topics that are essential to Chinese social and cultural history. It is hoped that this classification may serve as a tool to better understand the architectural culture of ancient China and a Chinese perception of space past and present.
