Chinese to English: An Architecture Description of Youguo Temple's Tower
General field: Other
Detailed field: Architecture | |
Source text - Chinese
从有宫殿遗址发现的早商时代算起，中国建筑已有3500多年的历史，而见于古代文献中的建筑，如黄帝“合宫”，则可以追溯到中华民族起源时代。古代中国人在建筑理念上的一些基本原则，如《尚书•禹贡》中提出的“正德、利用、厚生，惟和”思想，甚至影响中国建筑数千年之久。
祐国寺铁塔是一座比例高挺的砖筑琉璃饰面楼阁式塔，平面八角，高13层，约54.66米，首层较高，以上逐层减低，从下向上呈递减节奏。塔底直径约为12 米。转角用圆形倚柱，柱间墙面上有门或窗，各层塔檐下用砖筑琉璃饰面斗栱，并有飞天、降龙、麒麟等纹饰。（图21-6）各层塔檐出挑较小，整座塔身显得高 峻、挺拔、精美，颇有用金属铸造而成之感。祐国寺塔是建造时间最早，也最高大的琉璃塔。
| Translation - English
Judging from palace ruins dating back to the early Shang era, the history of Chinese architecture spans over 3500 years (evident from architecture in ancient documents such as the Yellow Emperor’s “He Palace”) and can be traced back to the origin of the Chinese ethnicity. Some of the basic principles of ancient Chinese architecture, such as “Virtue, Utility, Welfare, Harmony” mentioned in the “Book of Documents, Tribute of Yu” have influenced Chinese architecture for thousands of years.
Youguo Temple’s Iron Tower is a tall, proportional, flat octagonal pavilion-style tower constructed with glazed bricks. It is 13 stories and 54.66 meters high, and the stories grow progressively smaller from bottom to top. The tower’s base is 12 meter in diameter. Each corner has a round support column. On the walls in between the columns there is either a door or a window, and each story has glazed brick dougong under its eaves, as well as spirits, dragons, and unicorn ornamentation. (Figure 21-6) Each floor’s eaves are progressively smaller, making the tower seem steep, tall, and beautiful, and giving one the impression that it was cast from metal.
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