Development In China Of Pagoda Building

The pagoda comes of far-back India.It is called Stoup in Sanskrit and translated into "dupo"in Chinese. At first the Hindus built pagodas in order to bury the Buddhist relics,then Pagodas evolve to be a most important.symbol of Buddhism.After"dupo" was introduced to CHINA,they syncretized Chinese traditional culture gradually. At last,they became the high cenotaph of China.Along with Buddhism Pagodas are introduced to china in Han dynasty,which were influenced by Chinese culture.In the period of west Han and east Han dynasty, the indian Pagodas wre grafted onto Chinese pavilions.During the period of south and north dynasty ,the format and the meaning of Pagodas had great changed,and had much Chinese features.Chinese Pagodas had a variety of kinds.Classified by the shape and structure,pagodas are divided into all directions pagodas,hexangular pagodas, eight-square pagodas, dodecagonal Pagodas and so on. Classified by the floors, pagodas are divided into one floor pagodas,three floors Pagodas,five floors Pagodas,seven floors Pagodas,nine floors pagodas and so on.Sorted by the materials of the Pagodas, pagodas are divided into xylary pagodas in Han dynasty,stone pagodas in Tang dynasty which is the maintream of the pagodas,the golden pagodas,the silvern pagodas, ferric pagodas, cupreous pagodas ,the pagodas of ivory, the coloured glaze pagodas,the porcelain pagodas, and the potterypagodas ctc.sorted by the form ,there are pavilion- Pagodas , kiosk-Pagodas, twig-Pagodas, flower-Pagodas, throne-Pagodas and so on.Sorted by symbolic meanings,the evolvement of the pagodas goes along two roads,one is the representative of Buddhism which are introduced to China,the other is the building which plays certain function in using,such as watchtower, lighthouse,the geomantic configuration of tower. Though pagodas variety a lot,they all have some common parts,such as the palaces under the ground,the base of tower,the body of tower and top of the tower.Since the pagodas are introduced to CHINA,in the almost bimillennium,the form,the material ,the structure,even the function of pagodas had changed a lot. Some pagodas are even totolly deviated from Buddhism,becoming the new structures.The varity and majesty of pagodas,not only make the CHINA more beautiful,but also glory for our country in the architectural history of the world.