Research In The Settlement Forms Of Shanxi Businessmen In Mingqing Period

This dissertation consists of six parts:introduction, four monographic study parts and and remained arguments.The first chapter is the introduction parts. It explains several concepts related to this dissertation and illustrates the significance of the research in the settlement of Shanxi businessmen from the science and technology aspect. It also includes the differences from settlement archaeology, settlement geography, settlement architecture and so on, dynamic study and problems analysis of these different subjects, the science and technology to be solved in this dissertation, research content and research methods. It formulates the research aims, research focuses and approaches as well.Chapter two discusses the historical environment of the settlement of Shanxi Businessmen in Mingqing Period. Shanxi district had a relative political environment, a fabulous natural environment rich in resources, an open social environment, a motivating humane environment and a rather mature engineering project condition. All of these laid such a solid foundation for managing and constructing the settlement of Shanxi businessmen that made the traditional settlement of shanxi reach a rather high standard in Mingqing period and become the outstanding representative for the fabulous science and technology in ancient Shanxi.Chapter three analyses the rural polices and settlement distribution of Shanxi in Mingqing period. The results proves that the geographical distribution of settlement of Shanxi businessmen was extremely vast, covering every districts in China. The settlement distribution are discussed here. According to the statistics of Shanxi businessmen in different districts, through the survey of current situation of the settlement of Shanxi businessmen and from the research of living in a compact community of big businessmen, it is determined to focus this dissertation on 113 the remaining settlement of Shanxi businessmen at present. They are not all well reserved, thus, a choice was made to deciding the dissertation targets.Chapter four researches in the space factors and types of the settlement of Shanxi businessmen. It explains the definition of space, which includes the limitation and infinity of space, homogeneousness and heterogeneousness of space. The coordinate system establishment such as settlement centers, paths and boundaries provides possibilities with people knowing settlement spaces. Some architecture and places such as houses, ancestral shrines, stores, temples made up settlement paces through the path structural system. Centers, paths and boundaries were all included in a completed settlement. Classification of businessmen settlement is a complex problem, which distributed among villages, markets, and towns. Although this is a complex process, only researching in classification can reveal all sorts of complex forms of the settlement of Shanxi businessmen. Settlement forms of businessmen are sorted into four types:dispersive spots, strips, circles, and layers. It looks somehow mechanical but indeed an effective approach to solve complex problems.Chapter five discusses the regional differentiation of the settlement architecture technology of Shanxi businessmen. The study shows ancient Shanxi architecture technology had obvious regional distinction. It was true in the same province. Thus, it cannot be simply discussed with the theories like architecture building methods or architecture examples. In general, the basic unit of single architecture settlement of Shanxi businessmen is Jianjia structure. The architecture using Jianjia structure had more regular patterns and was relatively formed in South Shanxi, while it was more complex in North Shanxi and Middle Shanxi. Affected by the regional factors, the houses had square yards, low heights, and big windows, and usually was decorated appropriately with simple architecture style in North Shanxi. The houses were more advanced and with abundant styles in West Shanxi and Middle Shanxi. From the shapes of yards, they were longer in Middle Shanxi and South Shanxi, while wider in South Shanxi, West Shanxi and Southeast Shanxi. The reason why it came to this way was because of the natural factors. Principle rooms, wing rooms, Daozuos, gates, penthouses and corridors are the main units to consist in yards. Gates, halls and principle rooms were the most important. The building methods varied greatly with different regions, which made the corresponding settlement distinctive. There were great technique differences when constructing the settlement of Shanxi businessmen. Although there were many differences of settlement forms among different regions of Shanxi, there were many similarities because of the traditional architecture thinking, which shows settlement of Shanxi businessmen were inherited from Chinese culture.Chapter six is the remained arguments. Through analyzing the practicability of the environment, selecting sites, and architectures of the settlement of Shanxi businessmen, this chapter illustrates the techniques of settlement and humane culture of Shanxi businessmen.