Research On Tibetan Buddhist Architecture During The Qianhong Period Under The Multicultural Influence

The thesis is a part of Dr. Niu Tingting’s National Natural Science Fund Research Project(No.51308003). Tibetan ancient culture was prosperous during the imperial period. While Tibetan people inherted native traditional architectural culture, they also introduced advanced architectural culture actively and openly from nearby countries such as India, Tang dynasty, Nepal and Khotan where Buddhism were commonly accepted. With the spread and development of Buddhism, Buddhist architecture began to take root in plateau, what opened the precedent of the perfect integration of foreign architectural culture and local traditional architecture, and laid a solid foundation for the formation, development and prosperity of the localization of the Tibetan Buddhist temple architecture during Houhong period.In this thesis, the study focuses on the early Tibetan Buddhist Architecture. The Qianhong period was just corresponding to the Tubo Dynasty in terms of time, So the development of Buddhist Architecture was accompanied by multicultural influence. The author’s research is based on the historical documents and factual investigation. It combines the related theories of both Cultural Communication and Sociology. The research focuses on aspects of architectural siting, layout, form, building, decoration etc. to summarize the unique regional features of Tibetan Buddhist Architecture during the Qianhong period in the circumstance of the multicultural influence.First, It describes the source of the research, research content, research status and research methods, and defines the core concepts. Then, It summarizes the natural conditions, primitive worship and Bon religion in Tibet, the development status of Buddhism in neighboring countries and the development of Buddhism in Tibet. It analyzes the influence to Buddhist architecture in Qianhong period from Tibetan traditional architectural culture and foreign architectural culture: From the Tibetan traditional culture, analyzes the localization features of Buddhist architecture in Qianhong period on the basis of Tibetan architectural structure, form and decoration; From foreign architectural culture, analyzes the study and absorption to foreign architectural culture in Qianhong period from the layout of Indian Buddhist architecture, location theory and construction of the Tang dynasty, decorative style of India or Nepal and statuary style of Khotan. Finally, It summarizes the typical regional features of Tibetan Buddhist architecture in Qianhong period and its profound influence to Tibetan Buddhist architecture since Houhong period under the pluralistic culture.Buddhist architecture in Qianhong period is age-old, and the quality of the remains is not high, so there are less research results. Research of this thesis can provide beneficial enlightenment for maintenance and protection of Tibetan ancient architecture and contemporary Tibetan regional architecture design.