Misplaced Pages

#161838

12-659: Formerly known as Dangqu ( 宕渠 ), the county is best known for historic monuments. Namely, a partially preserved mausoleum complex, featuring gate towers, or que , belonging to the Shen ( 沈 ) family, which dates back to the Han dynasty . From 2014 to 2018, the Han dynasty site of Chengba (城坝遗址) near Tuxi in Qu county was excavated. A number of eave tiles with Chinese characters "dangqu" (宕渠) have been found, leading archaeologists to believe that this

24-459: A component of an architectural ensemble (a spirit way , shendao ) at the graves of high officials during China's Han dynasty. There are also some que found in front of temples. Richly decorated, they are among the most valuable surviving relics of the sculpture and architecture of that period. It is thought that the que familiar to us are stone reproductions of the free-standing wooden and/or earthen towers which were placed in pairs in front of

36-507: Is a freestanding, ceremonial gate tower in traditional Chinese architecture . First developed in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC), que towers were used to form ceremonial gateways to tombs, palaces and temples throughout pre-modern China down to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The use of que gateways reached its peak during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), and today they can often be seen as

48-690: The Meridian Gates , the southern and main entrances to the imperial palaces of Nanjing and Beijing built during the Ming dynasty . The que s in Nanjing were demolished in 1924 to make way for the construction of the Ming palace airfield. The gate in Beijing survives intact. Despite being a single structure, the que is identified distinctly from the gate. Two que pavilions with pyramidal roofs mark out

60-571: The que constructed there did not have a chance to survive. Many of the Sichuan que were first made known to the international scholarship by Victor Segalen , who described them during his 1914 expedition. The use of que in tomb architecture and other contexts declined after the Han dynasty but did not disappear. For example, imperial tombs of the Tang dynasty usually featured que , and remnants can still be seen today. The Qianling Mausoleum ,

72-543: The que in front of a palace and building. Here, it would symbolize the passage of the soul into the world of the spirits. A tall vertical structure, que would at the same time symbolize a link with heaven. The use of que on spirit ways declined after the fall of the Eastern Han. Some que from the 3rd and 4th century have been found in Sichuan, but, as Ann Paludan notes, only in the province's more remote and presumably culturally conservative parts. Generally, after

84-526: The Eastern Han era, the role of que on the spirit way was assumed by huabiao pillars. Around 30 que have survived to the present day. Most of them are in Sichuan ; a few in Henan and Shandong . According to Ann Paludan , this distribution may be explained by two reasons. First, there may have been more stone que produced in these regions in the first place, due to the ready availability of stone and

96-530: The best preserved example, features three sets of que towers arranged sequentially along the spirit way. They also remained in use in front of temples and bridges. In gateways to the imperial palaces, they remained in use down to the end of the imperial era. Ultimately, they were combined with a more conventional gateway to form a single U-shaped structure, where a conventional gate would be connected, via two "arms" extending outwards, to two que towers. The final two examples of such combined que gates were found as

108-546: The entrances to the palaces, temples, and government buildings of the period (already known during the Qin dynasty ). Such free-standing towers, serving as markers of the symbolic boundary of a palace's or temple's premises, had developed from gate towers that were an integral part of a building or a city wall. None of such que in front of buildings have survived, but images of buildings with such towers in front of them can be seen on extant brick reliefs in Han dynasty tombs, such as

120-546: The one in Yinan tombs in Yinan County , Shandong). At the spirit roads, the que also appeared in pairs, one on each side of the road. During the time of their popularity, the que were usually the largest and most expensive component of the spirit way; such a tower could cost 4 times as much as a stone lion , or 10 times as much as a memorial stele. The symbolic meaning of a tomb que may have been based on that of

132-443: The tradition of stone-working craft; meanwhile elsewhere wooden que were built, which have not survived. Second, Sichuan has more remote, hard to access areas, which is exactly where many of the Han dynasty que have managed to survive. The locations around the imperial capitals, where the Eastern Han imperial mausolea were located, saw more intensive level of destruction over the almost 2000 years that have elapsed since that era, and

SECTION 10

#1732773225162

144-434: Was the site of the Han dynasty city of Dangqu. Qu County comprises 3 subdistricts, 28 towns and 6 townships: Qu County has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa ). This Sichuan location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Que (tower) The que ( simplified Chinese : 阙 ; traditional Chinese : 闕 ; pinyin : què ; Jyutping : kyut3 )

#161838