Die Architektur Taiwans

In Chinese architecture a Northern style represents the power of the ruler; a Southern style freedom from government interference. The latter was probably developed by painters during Southern Sung when North China was under the rule of barbarians. When in the 16th century the Chinese from the Southern coastal provinces began to immigrate to Taiwan they took with them their architecture with its elaborately curved and decorated roofs as a symbol of their cultural superiority. After 1947 the mainland Chinese used the so-called Renaissance pat­ terned after the Northern style for government buildings. These two poles of architecture on Taiwan the Peking Palace style and the uniquely consistent variant of the Southern style preserved on the island sugges- supported by Sung buildings - that architectural styles arise from historical situations to which they in turn give visual and lasting explession. Resume Dans larchitecture chincoise un style du nord represente la puissance du despote et un style du sud la liberte de lesprit. II fut vraissemblablement forme par les peintres de lepoque Sung du sud alors quen Chine sep­ tentrionale regnaient les «barbares». Lorsquau XVI siede les Chinois des provinces littorales du sud commencerent demigrer vers Formose il em­ porterent avec eux leur architecture aux toits richement arques et orne- comme symbole de leur superiorite culturelle.