Architectural Aesthetics In Environmental Designing Of Taoist Temple

Taoism, the native religion of China, has been prevailing in this ancient country for over centuries. As an exotic flower in Chinese culture, it has brought profound impact to Chinese philosophy, ideology, religion, culture, literature, arts, folk customs and even science and technology. As the outside expression of Taoist preaches, Taoist temple constitutes an essential part of Chinese architecture. Traditionally, Taoism attaches great importance to the spiritual connotation of its architectures and Taoist temples have been given a holy symbolic position in that they are viewed as the imitation of inhabitance of the spirits and gods in Taoist doctrine, which usually are richly decorated. ;As a researcher and practitioner of environmental art design, the author has been investigating Taoist temple for a long time. However, the author found that among the various researches in this field, few are related to the environmental art of Taoist temple. It is even more difficult to find an exemplary design of Taoist temple. As to the materials and data within the author's reach, no temple design is complete and systematic. Therefore, with the hope of preserving the essence of traditional culture and popularizing it inmodern society, it is imperative we carry out research into the exemplary design.With the pursuit of immortality, Taoists often choose secluded and quiet places, usually famous mountains and great rivers, as inhabitance for meditation and cultivation. These places are called dongtian (cave heaven) or fudi (blessed land). In Taoist doctrines, there are ten big dongtian, thirty-six small dongtian and seventy-two fudi. Qingcheng mountain, located in Sichuan province, is one of these cave heaven and viewed as the fifth dongtian, named fairyland of nine spirits. Being the center of Taoism in ba and shu region since Southern and Northern dynasty, it has not only gestated the local Taoism, but also merged the Taoism from the Central Plains. Jianfu palace, the first temple of this group of well-distributed architectures, is the subject this research. With the analysis of Jianfu palace, this essay is to explore the aesthetics in Taoist architecture, especially in the Taoist temples with mountainous environment.This essay begins with the introduction of the Taoist aesthetics and Taoist architectures. After an interpretation of the Taoist origin and development, the author examines basic concepts of Taoist aesthetics and Taoist architectures in Sichuan area--specifically Jianfu palace. Following the examination, the author analyzes factors contribute to the formation of these characteristics, mainly from religious function, historical influence, geographic position and physiognomy. In the end, the essay brings visual impact of the Taoist temple into consideration and explores it from the perspective of environmental art. The author strives to find a more feasible and practical environmental designing project, which is, at the same time, aesthetically more valuable.