Traditional Chinese Door Culture

In the Chinese architectural culture, the door is an indispensable element. As an entrance to a building,it is the turning point of indoor and outdoor space;The door is a kind of safety facility, which can effectively resist intrusion from outside,so it plays an important role in protection; In the Chinese traditional ideas, the door is the symbol of homeowners'identity and status and its form, color, amount,size, etc all reflect political patterns, thus forming the far-reaching idea of social status; The door itself is the object for people's sacrifice and it can exorcise a demon and impetrate fortune.Besides, people create the image of"Door Gods"to express their wishes; Door decoration implies the deep traditional concepts and it's also a sign to convey social status.Through a presentation about the architectural form and decorative art of the Chinese classical doors,we probe into their formation and how they develope.We try to fine out the difference between Chinese and western doors and the reason for the difference.We analyse and conclude the culturally connotative meanings of Chinese classical doors.As culture teaching has been an indispensable part of teaching foreigners Chinese as a second language, studying Chinese traditional culture through the image"door"will provide teaching materials and reference.Moreover,the research into Chinese tradition through"door"will be helpful for foreign students especially for someone having a higher proficiency in Chinese to understand Chinese and Chinese culture better.This paper consists of three parts:Chapter One:We study the generation and development of"door culture",emphatically compare the differences between Chinese and western doors and summarize the main reasons for these differences.Chapter Two:According to culturally connotative meanings of words, we explore the culturally connotative meanings of doors in its process of development,which mainly include simple dialectics,negative concepts and symbolic meanings. Chapter Three: The decroration arts of doors is mainly studied through the main components of the door.