All guides · Roofs and structures
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Roofs and structures
Why Are the Forbidden City Roofs Yellow?
The Forbidden City's yellow roofs are glazed ceramic markers of imperial rank, while black, green, and mixed roofs identify special functions.
Roofs and structures
Why Do Traditional Chinese Roofs Curve Upward?
Chinese roof curves come from raising the main slope, shaping the eaves, and lifting the corners—not from one universal symbolic reason.
Roofs and structures
How to Tell Four Chinese Roof Types Apart
Identify hip, hip-and-gable, overhanging-gable and flush-gable Chinese roofs by their slopes, gables and eaves.
Roofs and structures
Why Chinese Roofs Have Different Numbers of Ridge Beasts
Learn which figures count as Chinese roof ridge beasts, why Qing official buildings used different odd-numbered rows, and why the Hall of Supreme Harmony has ten.
Roofs and structures
How Dougong Carries a Chinese Roof
See how interlocking dougong brackets transfer roof loads, extend deep eaves, and change from structural systems to architectural motifs.