Vernacular temple architecture and its influence on people's attitudes to new buildings: the case of Mt. Emei National Park, China*
_______________________________________________________________

Jian Qiu
Department of Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Box No. 595, Arts Tower, Sheffield S10  2TN, UK

Ian Brotherton
Department of Landscape, The University of Sheffield, Box No. 595, Arts Tower, Sheffield S10  2TN, UK

Da Qian Chen
Department of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China, 610031
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Abstract.  Mt. Emei National Park is one of the most valuable landscapes in China.  The park contains a number of temple buildings which are also highly valued.  Since the policy of reformation and open-door initiated in 1978, many new buildings serving a variety of purposes have been erected in the park.  The value of these new buildings to the park remains arguable.  This paper analyses the architectural characters of the temple buildings, considering in particular siting, in the context of Chinese thinking.  People's attitudes to the old and new buildings are also investigated.  Finally, the influence of the vernacular temples on how people value the new buildings is examined.  Three conclusions are drawn.  One is that the old temple buildings in Mt. Emei are fitted with great respect to their natural surroundings as expected if influenced by Chinese civilisation.  Another is that people like these old buildings much more than the new ones.  The last conclusion is that the vernacular architectural style of the old buildings affects people's judgements about new buildings.  These findings strongly suggest that this vernacular style should not be ignored but rather respected if new buildings are to be valued more.

Key Words.  temple architecture, value, new building, Mt. Emei National Park, vernacular

Introduction

Mt. Emei National Park lies in the transitional area between the south western margin of the Sichuan basin and the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.  The central protected area is 154 square kilometres and the buffer area is 469 square kilometres.  Its highest peak is 3,099 metres above the sea level with a relative height a difference of 2,600 metres.  This sharp vertical change in geological relief endows the mountain with diversified climate features and soils and leads to many kinds of animal and plant species and varied natural landscape.  Thus Mt. Emei is characterised by "Magnificence, Elegance, Miraculousness and Singularity" and is known as the "No. 1 Elegance of Mt. Emei Under the Sun".  In addition, for thousands of years, Mt. Emei has also been known as the Place of Buddhist Rite of Bodhisatva Samantabhadra and has been renowned world-wide as the "Buddhist Celestial Mountain".  This being the case, the Chinese government nominated Mt. Emei in August 1995 for inclusion on the World Heritage List as a natural and cultural site.  In any National Park architectural appreciation is specially important because every park is conceptually viewed as on historic sight as well as having outstanding natural beauty (Li, 1994, p.  26).

The vernacular recognition of Mt. Emei's temples is architecturally significant because it acknowledges a domestic contribution to religious architecture in China.  To be sure, as Boyd (1962, pp. 122-123) notes when he analyses Chinese religious buildings, Chinese architecture is essentially secular.  But this secular style cannot be misunderstood as the vernacular appreciation of Chinese temple architecture as a whole.  Rather, from the research conducted during the Second World War on Chinese architectural history (such as Liang Ssu-ch'eng, one of the founders of historical research in this field) to the contemporary standardised university textbook, Chinese Architectural History (1992, pp.  99-114), Chinese temple architecture is predominantly and essentially viewed as a monument (figure 1).  Cheng and Ho (1987, pp.  30-31) think that too much attention has been given to researching palaces and noble architecture rather than folk or vernacular architecture.  The lacuna in research conducted on vernacular temple architecture in China consequentially exists although some people become aware of this issue as stated above.  Thus, a real understanding of Chinese temple architecture will not be reached if the lack of research on vernacular temple architecture is not reversed.

Since the policy of reformation and open-door initiated in 1978, the numbers of pilgrims and tourists to Mt. Emei have been rapidly increased.  To house these activities, some new building projects have been erected in the park area.  At the same time, since the policy of "Stopping Farming but Afforestation", the farmers living in the area have gradually loosed their lands and alternatively been encouraged to sustain themselves by tourism.  Therefore, many new dwellings functioning as tourist services, such as hotels, have been built.  Hence, the way in which the new building should proceed in this valuable landscape becomes another urgent and practical issue.

Accordingly, the aim of this paper is threefold.  First of all, the vernacular characteristics of the original temple buildings will be analysed to counterbalance the lack of previous research.  Then people's overall attitudes to both the old buildings, mainly original temples, and new projects will be comparatively investigated.  Finally, the impacts of the vernacular temple style on people's values will be explored.

The siting of temples

There used to be 105 religious temples in the core preservation areas (Tian, 1990, p. 130) although only 25 of them remain now according to the Speciality Planning for Master Plan of the Emei Mountain Scenic Area and the authors' field survey.  These religious buildings were macroscopically sited as a whole in the light of the natural conditions and the pilgrims' convenience.  They made sense in the context of Feng-shui principles and fitted well into the outer surroundings.

The whole scenery is usually divided into 3 levels on the basis of elevation.  The lowest part is from the height 500 metres above see level, at the bottom of the mountain, to the height 1000 metres; the middle part from 700 meters to 2000 metres; and the highest from 2000 metres to 3100 metres.  Mt. Emei is basically a subtropical zone while it actually poses a "multiple climate" from subtropical at the bottom, through warm temperate zone and temperate zone to cold zone at the top.  The climate is obviously affected by the topography as well as the general circulation of atmosphere or the weather system.  The average, highest and lowest atmospheric temperatures during a year are 16.6Co, 25.5Co and 6.4Co in the low part, 10.9Co, 20.9Co and 1.2Co in the middle, and 3Co, 17.7Co and -6Co in the upper.  These natural conditions lead to a decrease of the days of pilgrimage, from all days a year at the bottom, 200 days in the middle, 150 days at the top.  Consequently, the number of temples reduces with increase in height.  Thus, the distance between two temples is usually 1 kilometre or more in the lower part extending to 3 to 5 kilometres in the middle and to 8 to 15 kilometres in the upper (figure 2).

A tourist can hardly attain the loftiest realm of pilgrim unless (s)he arrives at the Golden Summit, the top of the mountain.  For the sake of fulfilling these people's dedication, the temples were mainly arranged along the pilgrim routes.  As shown in figure 2, there are mainly two routes to reach the Golden Summit.  One is from Baoguo Temple through Qingyin Temple and Elephant Bathing Pool Temple to the top being 60.5 kilometres long.  Another is from Baoguo Temple through Qingyin Temple and Wannian Temple and then Elephant Bathing Pool Temple to the summit being 44 kilometres long.  Even if the remaining temples are examined, it can be found that they are located considerately according to one's physical strength for mountain-climbing.  The distance between two temples is not more than 7.5 kilometres (table 1).  Every temple supplies people with accommodation as well as with Buddhist rites.  Thus the temples' siting makes it possible for travellers freely to make their pilgrimages to any temple in the areas.

Table 1.  Distances between the temples
Departures	Destinations	Distances (kilometre)	
Baoguo Temple*	Foho Temple*	1	
Foho Temple*	Leiyin Temple	1.5	
Leiyin Temple	Chunyang Temple	2.5	
Chunyang Temple	Shengshui Pavilion	3.5	
Shengshui Pavilion	Zhongfeng Temple	1	
Zhongfeng Temple	Qingyin Temple*	2.5	
Qingyin Temple*	Hong Chunping Temple*	6	
Hong Chunping Temple*	Xian Feng Temple*	15	
Xian Feng Temple*	Yuxian Temple	7.5	
Yuxian Temple	Elephant Bathing Pool Temple*	5	
Elephant Bathing Pool Temple*	Leidongping Temple	7.5	
Leidongping Temple	Jieyin Temple	1.5	
Jieyin Temple	Taizi Terrace Temple	3.5	
Taizi Terrace Temple	Huangzhang Temple*	2.5	
Another Route from Qingyin Temple to	Elephant Bathing Pool Temple		
Qingyin Temple*	Bailongdong Temple	1.5	
Bailongdong Temple	Wannian Temple*	1.5	
Wannian Temple*	Xinxinso Temple	5	
Xinxinso Temple	Chu Temple	4	
Chu Temple	Huayanding Temple	1	
Huayanding Temple	Elephant Bathing Pool Temple*	4	
Note:  * denotes larger temples

The awareness of harmony with the natural surroundings in siting the temples can well be appreciated in association with Feng-shui theory because this theory holds the real meaning and context of traditional Chinese domestic architecture, as a system of culture (Lee, 1986, pp. 1-2 and p. 338).  Lee (p. 110) thinks that many Buddhist monasteries in China are sited according to the principles of Feng-shui.  As a cultural landscape, the selection of temple siting in Mt. Emei National Park seems difficult to avoid the Feng-shui consideration.  Before identifying these realities, a brief introduction of Feng-shui theory in relation to Chinese thinking is necessary.

Ronan (1978, p. 164) summarises Chinese thought into two key words, "order" and "pattern", and then into one key word, "organism".  Why any thing in the universe behaves in a particular way is not necessarily because of the prior action of other things.  Rather it is because its "position in ever-changing cyclical universe was such" and that it was "endowed with intrinsic natures which made such behaviour natural for them".  This leads to a conclusion that the existence of all things depends upon "the whole world-organism...."

Lee (1986, pp. 68-69) relates the concept of parallelism to Chinese architectural design and planning in the context of Feng-shui theory as cosmic structure.  According to him, the Chinese think that the celestial sphere consists of twenty-eight asterisms which are subdivided into four heavenly quadrants.  These four quadrants are the Azure Dragon, the Red Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Turtle which protect and surround the central palace of the heavens.  Taking a map as an example, if the human dwellings are sited in the north and face the south, the site should have the Azure Dragon to the left or east, the White Tiger to the right or west, the Black Turtle to the back or north and the Red Bird to the front or south.  These constructs can be both natural and architectural structures which are given iconographic representation as protective architectural symbols (figure 3).

According to Feng-shui theory, a mountain range is called as Mountain Dragon which functions to transfer Qi, the vital energy, into the Feng-shui spot to protect the Qi from loss by calming wind in the site.  At the same time, a watercourse is named as Water Dragon which mainly functions to keep the Qi against its diffusion.  Therefore, as shown in figure 3, an ideal Feng-shui site is always an "armchair"-like hill formation which is basically and topographically surrounded by three sides of mountains in the left, the right, and the back and by an open space with a watercourse in the front.

It is required that the dragon of the Black Turtle must radiate from the backbone of the world.  The main dragon (Zu Shan or Ancestral Mountain) oncoming from the backbone of the world to the site is usually described as the form of large scale and situated far behind the location.  The oncoming dragon from a branch of the Zu Shan to the site is Zhu Shan (Main Mountain or Host Mountain) and is identified as the Black Turtle.  The Feng-shui spot is located at the foot of Zhu Shan.

The Red Bird is situated in the far front of the Host Mountain, the Feng-shui spot and beyond the open space.  Parallel to the Host Mountain, the Red Bird is also named as Guest Mountain which is categorised into two kinds: An Shan (Table Mountain) in the front and the Chao Shan (Facing Mountain or Reflected Mountain) in the behind.  These requirements of Feng-shui's selection of siting can be figured in more detail as figure 4.

As expected, according to the field survey, as many Feng-shui considerations as possible have been taken account in all the temples' sitings in Mt. Emei (figure 5).  As shown in this figure, the outer topography of Qingyin temple, as sited in Feng-shui spot, basically meets all the requirements although the height of Azure Dragon seems too low.  This physical defect was relieved through a natural adjust and a man's shaping.  On the one hand, the weight of the protective mountain of Azure Dragon is obviously more than that of White Tiger.  On the other hand, a building, Lingguan Building, was exactly built in the site of Azure Dragon to compensate the for natural lack.  These efforts indeed make the site compositionally balanced and visibly harmonious.

Moreover, the shapes of the Host mountain and the Guest Mountain in figure 5 are very significant in the context of Feng-shui.  According to Lee (pp. 181-182), the Feng-shui theory analogically illustrates that the Black Turtle's shape should bend forward corresponding to the Yang symbol (the"" form as a male) and the Red Bird's shape to the Yin symbol (the"" as a female).  The implication here is that the status of the host is waiting for the Yin.  This sexual analogy of the mating between Yin and Yang suggests that the Feng-shui spot is the most vital and productive and therefore is the auspicious spot site.  It becomes evident from the figure that the site of Qingyin Temple should be propitious and that of the main Hall in front of it should be enjoyable as an open space (plates 1 and 2).

The considerations of immediate outer circumstances surrounded the temples were also taken into the temples' siting.  This can be understood according to ancient Chinese natural outlook.  The history of ancient Chinese coping with nature reveals considerable understanding of the need for ecological balance, evidenced in the efforts of people to survive and prosper in agrarian and pastoral societies many centuries ago.  The concept of nature and nature protection particularly embodies the Taoist philosophy.  According to Taoism, 

	"Man models himself on earth,
	Earth on heaven,
	Heaven on the Way (Tao),
	And the way on that which is naturally so."

This attitude towards nature has led to a Chinese mode of thinking of how to perceive the environment and then how to deal with the relationship between nature and people.  This involves venerating nature and conforming to the environment (Qiu & Brotherton, 1996, p. 13).  Thus, naturalness comes to the fundamental law of reality.  The perspective has influenced to a great extent the siting of Mt. Emei temples.

As indicated in figure 6, for instance, the Leiying Temple's siting is remarkably challenged by the narrow topography where it seems impossible to locate a building according to the main road without a great modification of the site.  The temple was placed in a field where it is comparatively flat and is to the side of the main road.  Whilst climbing up steep steps, Jieto Slope, people can hardly sense the existence of a building ahead as they usually can until they arrive at an interval spot where a corner of the temple comes into view and then a side step road implies the direction to the entrance of the temple.  The site arrangement of not pushing the building forward but giving way to the natural surroundings, embodying ancient Chinese environmental awareness, not only avoids technically going for large-scale construction through reducing the extent of earth and stone moving but also aesthetically coincides with Chinese preferences of indirect fulfilment in architectural and landscape aesthetics as a consequence.  This is what Dr. Wu (1992, pp. 217-219) meant by "the Zigzag Way".

The layout of temples

As the temples' layout and following structure and details are analysed, great account should be taken into selecting the case temples which have been modified by people as little as possible.  The authors surveyed all 25 existing temples and asked for help with identification from some informants.  Finally one temple, Chunyang Temple, was selected, this being little modified and therefore remaining the most original.

The vernacular characteristics of the layout of Chunyang Temple can be well comprehended according to its domestic arrangement of different functional spaces and deep-rooted utilisation of natural surroundings.

As presented in figure 7, two main quadrangles clearly distinguish the temple plan into four functional parts, including religious pilgrim space, religious living space (for Buddhist nuns), visitor's accommodation space and service space.  In order to reach a wholly solemn and divine atmosphere, the entrance and two main halls are exactly organised on the axis.  The other three parts are freely placed on the outer areas and connected with corridors.  This way of using a quadrangle to divide different functional spaces is taken from the local dwellings in the Mt. Emei area (figure 8).

Some intelligent techniques can be detected in the organic way of the layout which fits in with the challenging topography.  Great effort has been made to create the characteristic interior space singularities as a consequence of the limited terrain.  As manifested in figure 9, for the sake of decreasing the extent of earth and stone moving, the entrance and two main halls are set at three different heights.  When they arrive in front of the temple, people are led to the temple's gate by the usual big out-door steps.  When getting in the gate, they cannot see the Buddha as they regularly can but view another stair inserted into the interior in front.  Climbing up these steps, they can then behold the Buddha, gradually from the feet to the head, in the Main Hall ahead.  It seems to the visitors as if it is indeed hard to reach the Buddha without unremitting efforts as the pious adherents.  Here the distinct space sequences designed under the disadvantageous terrain conditions have positively enhanced the religiously ritual effects (plate 3).

Another native feature is characterised by the use of a suspension house in some sections of the site where the terrain is too challenging to be functionally utilised or to be effectively exploited.  This is a characteristic building form in the local dwellings of the mountainous areas.  This style therefore makes the temple more vernacular (plate 4).

The structure and details of temples

With a very few exceptions, the structural pattern of temples in Mt. Emei is the Chuan Dou system of wood structure.  This system is characterised by the dense columns which directly support the purlins.  The columns include the long columns which are supported by the ground and the short columns which are supported by small beams.  The small beams are joined to the columns and then horizontally connect all of them (plate 5).  The structural character is small in size and easy to piece together.

The Chuan Dou system is ideal in arranging the building to conform to the complexes of topography.  This structural certainty contributes to the possibility for the Mt. Emei temples to becoming vernacular, because this structural system is the dominant form applied in the local old dwellings, rather than to following the official system, Die Lian system of wood structure (figure 1).

The vernacular architecture of the temple can also be acknowledged according to its detailed design.  Since the structural characters, like their applications in local dwellings, quite a lot of architectural ornaments are just decorated through carving some structural elements, the ends of exposed beams and columns for example.  These details together with other decorations, such as those of the windows, are assembled much more domestically than religiously (figure 10, plate 6).

Another structural consequence is the temples' roofs which are thought by some scholars as "the vivid roofs" (Deng, 1985, p. 27).  In fact, the roofs of the temples are little more illustrative or particular than those of the dwellings (plate 7).

Most of the other details are also domestic.  For example, Mei Ren Kao, a long chair with curved back which is attached by two columns and the representative detail form in the local area, has commonly been domiciled in the temple.

To sum up, the temple architecture in Mt. Emei National Park shows a great extent to fit into and pay a great respect to the existing natural complex, in which the ideas are deeply rooted in ancient Chinese insights into the relationship between man and nature.  As for the technical commitment, the local building techniques have essentially been domiciled in the temples.  These fulfilments as a whole have endowed the temple architecture with a vernacular style rather than a monumental elegance.

People's attitudes to the old and new buildings

In order to reach a fuller understanding of temple architecture, people's views need to be investigated.  To avoid a biased result, both old buildings including temple buildings and new buildings were surveyed.

This part of the study was included in a research project on buildings in National Parks of China carried out from November 1995 to February 1996.  293 questionnaires were personally distributed to the leaders in all the units whose staffs were directly involved in Mt. Emei's administration, organisation, planning, architectural design, education and building development as intermediaries.  As a result, 168 completed questionnaires, with a response rate of 57%, were collected.  The analysis content in this paper basically follows question number 2 of the questionnaire.  This question is designed to explore what, if anything, the respondents like and/or dislike about Mt. Emei buildings.  To fulfil this, the old and new buildings are firstly differentiated from each other.  Then two spaces, one for likes and another for dislikes, are created for each kind of building.  From this, a general view as to what is liked and what is not liked is achieved and comparatively addressed as follows.

The detail results are summarised in table 2.  When the question as to whether or not anything about the buildings is worth liking is raised, as high as 82% of the positive answers from the respondents go to the old buildings, while only 39% go to the new ones.  Correspondingly, nearly the same percentage (38%) express their dislike of the new buildings but this figure for the old buildings decreases down to 7%.

Table 2.  Details of likes and dislikes of Mt. Emei buildings
	Old Building		New Building		
	Number	%	Number	%	
Like	138	82	66	39	
NR and NA to Like	30	18	102	61	
Total	168	100	168	100	
Dislike	12	7	63	38	
NR and NA to Dislike	156	93	105	63	
Total	168	100	168	100	
Note:	NR stands for no response and NA for not applicable.

If all the likes and dislikes that respondents indicated are included, as tabulated in table 3, the result becomes much more obvious.  As shown in this table, the difference in the number of likes and dislikes people have between the old and new buildings is marked and highly significant (p=0.00000<0.01).  Delineated by this table, in spite of the fact that likes account for nearly three quarters of the total number of likes and dislikes, these numbers are very uneven in distribution between the two kinds of buildings.  It is clear that like makes up 92% of all 150 responses about the old building, and dislike only 8% of them.  However, this ratio of responses for new buildings is nearly half to half (51% to 49%).

Table 3.  Likes and dislikes of Mt. Emei buildings
	Likes	Dislikes	
 Old Building (n=150)	138 (92%)	12 (8%)	
New Building (n=129)	66 (51%)	63 (49%)	
Total (n=279)	204 (73%)	75 (27%)	
DF: 1		Total Chi-Square: 58.84450		p=0.00000

To state succinctly, there is no doubt that people give far more likes than dislikes for old buildings whereas there is a near balance between likes and dislikes for new buildings.

Grounds for likes and dislikes

Apart from showing their likes and dislikes with regards to the old and new buildings, 99 and 41 respondents in each case explain what they like about these buildings, and 12 and 48 put down why they dislike them respectively.  They either list some names of buildings or give some other reasons, with a range as wide as nearly every aspect with which one may be concerned, or both, to support their choices.  The given buildings are firstly analysed and then other data are discussed.  These are classified into 8 categories, basically covering all considerations involved in building structure, as well as an other category for those beyond the 8 aspects.

Table 4 and table 5 are the breakdowns of the names of both the old buildings and new buildings illustrating the respondents' likes and dislikes.

It is seen from table 4 that all but one of the old buildings named, which is both favoured and disfavoured, are used to evidence the likes.  All but 2 respondents gave temple buildings to exemplify the old buildings they like.  It presumes that people basically image the temple architecture as old building in Mt. Emei.

It is apparent from table 5 that fewer people give the names of new buildings to illustrate their likes.  Nevertheless, it can still be seen that the building New Gateway is liked by the most, and meantime, both Huazhang Temple (renewed) and Cableway Building are disliked by the most people despite the fact that an attitude towards Huazhang Temple is not agreed.

Table 4.  Respondents who like and dislike named old buildings
	Names of Old Buildings	Like		Dislike		
No.		Number	%	Number	%	
1	Wannian Temple	15	9	0	0	
2	Foho Temple	8	5	0	0	
3	Qingyin Temple	8	5	0	0	
4	Baoguo Temple	5	3	0	0	
5	Hong Chunping Temple	4	2	0	0	
6	Chunyang Temple	4	2	0	0	
7	Woyun Temple	3	2	2	1	
8	Leiyin Temple	3	2	0	0	
9	Elephant Bathing Pool Temple	2	1	0	0	
10	Any Old Dwelling	2	1	0	0	
11	Xian Feng Temple	1	1	0	0	
12	Niuxin Temple	1	1	0	0	
13	Jieyin Temple	1	1	0	0	
	Total	57		2		
Note:	Percentage is based on the number of total respondents (168).

Table 5.  Respondents who like and dislike named old buildings
		Like		Dislike		
No.	Names of New Buildings	Number	%	Number	%	
1	The New Gateway	5	3	0	0	
2	Building 8 (Hongzhushan)	3	2	0	0	
3	Huazhang Temple (renewed)	2	1	7	4	
4	Emei Hotel	2	1	1	1	
5	The Museum of Mt Emei	2	1	0	0	
6	Any Renewed Temple	1	1	1	1	
7	Fuyun Hotel	1	1	0	0	
8	New Management Building	1	1	0	0	
9	Cableway Building	0	0	7	4	
10	Jinye Hotel	0	0	2	1	
11	Youdian Hotel	0	0	2	1	
12	Baoguo New Dwelling	0	0	1	1	
Total		17		21		
Note:	Percentage is based on the number of total respondents (168).

Table 6 presents what aspects involved in building structure the respondents like and dislike.

Overall, the ratio of total likes to dislikes for old buildings is 100 to 13 while this ratio for the new buildings is 35 to 45.  More importantly, there is no doubt that the most favourable aspect of the old buildings are their outer surroundings (23%) and although there is one dislike, the same percentage of the respondents like the buildings from an aesthetic point of view.  It is probable that these two factors are contributing most to what people like about the old buildings.  As for the new buildings, attitudes are less clear.  The table indicates that new buildings' aesthetics is both liked (by 10% of respondents) and disliked (by 15%).  Unlike the situation with the old buildings, fewer people like new buildings' outer surroundings (2%) than those who dislike them (7%).

Table 6.  Aspects of the buildings that are liked and disliked
BUILDINGS	Old				New				
	Like		Dislike		Like		Dislike		
ASPECTS	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	
Aesthetics	38	23	1	1	17	10	26	15	
Outer Surroundings	38	23	0	0	3	2	11	7	
Traditional Values	11	7	0	0	5	3	2	1	
Technique & Materials	8	5	7	4	4	2	4	2	
Modern Values	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	
Functions & Utilisation	2	1	3	2	5	3	0	0	
Others	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	
Organisation & Management	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	1	
Costs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	
Total	100		13		35		45		
Note:	Percentage is based on the number of total respondents (168).

The results become clearer if table 6 is represented as the balance of the likes and dislikes as shown in table 7.

Table 7.  Balance of the aspects of the buildings that are liked
ASPECTS	Old Buildings	New Buildings	
Outer Surroundings	38	-8	
Aesthetics	37	-9	
Traditional Values	11	3	
Modern Values	3	0	
Technique & Materials	1	0	
Costs	0	0	
Others	0	0	
Functions & Utilisation	-1	5	
Organisation & Management	-2	-1	
Total	87	-10	

From this table, people's likes and dislikes are different for the old and new buildings without any doubt.  Despite an exception that none dislikes but five respondents like new buildings' functions and utilisation, the result is that the old buildings are much more highly appreciated with a balance of 87 than the new ones with a balance of -10.  After examining the grounds which the respondents give, in relation to old buildings, outer surrounding and aesthetics are identified as the most liked aspects.  As far as new building is concerned, the dislikes are mainly contributed by the same two aspects although again attitudes are debatable.  It is probable that what is most liked about old buildings is most disliked about new ones.  These findings will become more clear when the authors summarise the interview results in more detail.

A representative sample was interviewed, including people engaged in all aspects of the planning, design, management and use of the buildings.

As a whole, and regardless of their particular involvement, the over-whelming majority of the people interviewed regarded old buildings as much better than new buildings.  They were moreover able to diagnose the insufficiency in ancient technical provisions, such as the poor in fireproofing.  Further some officials maintained that some new buildings are also good if they have been assessed and approved by the authorities concerned.

A local person involving his life in the mountain said for instance.

"The old buildings are good (because) Mt. Emei together with the old temples are of long history.  (While) the new buildings are almost just so so."

A local official who has officially and professionally been involved in Mt. Emei for 16 years, expressed the view.

"Generally speaking, the work that people nowadays do on buildings (here) is worse than that the ancient people did.  The new buildings (therefore) are not as good as the old buildings"

As for why they think this, most of them explained their judgement according to the buildings' style, result of adaptability to local circumstances.  On the one hand, they clearly identified and liked the old buildings' style as vernacular.  A technical leader in Mt. Emei Authority said.

"The original temple buildings in the low, middle and high parts of the mountain have basically represented the architectural style which is admirable and decisive.  The building materials used in (the roofs of) these buildings are different in order to match the different climatic circumstances at different altitudes.  These buildings are built against the hillside (to save the original topography).  They are characterised not by making a show of themselves but by concealing themselves in their environment."

A senior religious leader in the Buddhist Association of Emei Mountain shared this view.

"Our temples are not very big in scale because they were built in harmony with the original mountain ranges.  Functionally, our ancient monks and nuns had already (organically) arranged pilgrim routes and accommodation when siting the temples."

Although he could not exactly give an example to explain the temples' application of Feng-shui theory, he also showed the awareness.

"Our temple buildings were concerned the most with Feng-shui.  This was not a superstitious basis, rather the buildings paid particular attention to the lie and the range of the mountains and to wind directions."

An official, who used to serve as a leader in a building construction institution in the Mt. Emei area, expressed the following view.

"The character of the old buildings (in Mt. Emei) reflects the style of domestic dwellings in the west Sichuan.  It is exemplified architecturally by the adoption of Feng-shui theory, the courtyard (quadrangle) and suspension house method, structurally by Chuan Dou system of wood structure and the small black tiles and decoratively by Mei Ren Kao and Chui Hua Meng (the decorated ends of beams in front of the doors)."

On the other hand, interestingly, people related what they disliked about the new buildings to the lack of a vernacular character.  For example, a local official elucidated his attitudes as follows.

"It is essentially the absence of environmental fitting into the surroundings that makes the new buildings less valuable than the old ones."

Some others complained about the new buildings fashionable style and said.

"Jinye Hotel is unsuccessful because it imports a style of old Japanese fortress to Mt. Emei" (plate 8).

It is possibly the most meaningful and reliable to cite people's comments on Huazhang Temple (plate 9) because this building, as a new building, is identified as one of the two most disliked new buildings although it functions for the same religious purpose as other old temples.  Huazhang Temple is a renewed temple built from 1985 to 1989 on the original site of the old Huazhang Temple (plate 10) which was ruined in 1972 by fire.

While some officials claimed its characters as being both modern and in harmony with the whole mountain, more people criticised Huazhang Temple for its failure to take possession of its original identity.  A religious figure who was responsible for religious structure in Mt. Emei complained

"This temple all in all has failed.  The architect failed to understand our Buddhist functional requirements, failed to know the micro-climatic conditions which are sharply changeable and failed to appreciate the vernacular style of architecture in Mt. Emei.  These failures have already caused the building to religiously offend the Buddhist spirit by designing a visiting platform on the Buddha's head.  Technically they have led to the breaking-down of the water conduits and in style they have become monumental."

A monk who served and lived in this building also showed his objection about this temple.

"This northern style of architecture should not be erected here."

A senior architect who claimed that he came to know the designer very well made a point.

"Though I am a friend of the architect, I earlier absolutely challenged him to employ this official style in Mt. Emei."

He then suggested.

"This is possibly because he (the architect) acquired his professional higher education in Beijing (northern China) and was more familiar with the official style rather than the vernacular style in Mt. Emei."

In short, with few exceptions, people associate their likes for the old buildings and dislikes for the new ones with the vernacular characters of the old temple buildings.  Moreover, the failure to inherit the vernacular qualities contributes to people's negative attitudes to the new buildings.  This result helps to explain why people like the old buildings' aesthetics and outer surroundings the most and conversely disliked the new buildings' same two aspects the most.

Conclusion

In the end, three conclusions may be drawn as follows.

1.  The temple architecture shows a great awareness to fit into and pay a great respect to the existing natural complex, in which ideas are deeply rooted in ancient Chinese insights into the relationship between man and nature.  These temple buildings have inherited the local building techniques and have therefore been endowed with vernacular style rather than with monumental elegance.

2.  People like these old buildings much more than the new ones.

3.  People place lower values on the new buildings because they fail to take into account the vernacular architectural style of the old buildings.

These findings strongly lead to applications for architectural design: the vernacular style of temple architecture should not be ignored but rather respected and inherited in designing new buildings in Mt. Emei if they too are to be highly valued.


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