The first stage is the hedgerow-this is a very primitive and simple house. There is a wind fence on the ground, a crypt underground and a tree house with a nest in the tree. The windbreak is a saddle-shaped shack made of branches, bark, etc. This shelter was built in the late Paleolithic period. Similar buildings can be seen in the mountainous branch of Gaoshan nationality forty or fifty years ago, among Hezhe fishermen in Heilongjiang basin, and among Oroqen and Ewenki nationalities in Daxing 'anling. The houses of Gaoshan people are mostly thatched wooden houses. In some areas, the floor of the house is several feet below. The floor is paved with stones or pebbles, and the eaves are very low. The underground pits of Hezhe nationality are covered with thatch, and the ground is dug into a semi-cave shape, mainly to prevent snow and wind. The cone-shaped immortal columns of Ewenki and Oroqen nationalities are made of wooden poles and covered with bark or animal skins, which is convenient for moving.

The second stage is dome tent-this is the creation of nomadic people, including Mongolian yurts, Tibetan tents, Kazakh, Tajik, Kirgiz and other ethnic yurts. Tents have sloping roofs and herringbone shapes. The lower part of the yurt and felt house is a reticulated round wall made of wood strips, and a wooden door frame is left on the wall to hang the door curtain; The upper part of yurts and yurts is an umbrella dome, commonly known as dome, with an openable canopy at the top. It is estimated that before weaving and felt rolling technology appeared, yurts, felt houses and tents were all covered with cattle and sheep skins. After the felt is rolled, cover it with felt or strong waterproof cloth and fix it with wool rope. The nomadic life without a fixed place has enabled workers to create this kind of residence that is easy to move and build. Of course, there are more and more permanent and durable buildings in the residential areas after settlement.

The third stage is the house with earth-rock brick and wood structure-the residential buildings in this stage have walls and roofs, which are becoming more and more solid, spacious and beautiful. Due to the different climate and economic conditions in different places, different characteristics have been formed in architectural forms and styles. Generally speaking, a permanent building fixed in a certain place is the product of the development of agricultural economy.

Architectural classification

According to the use function, it can be generally divided into secular buildings and religious buildings. Secular architecture can be divided into official use and civil use. Official use can be divided into court and place; In civil use, it can be divided into residential buildings and public places, tombs, bridges and so on. Religious buildings can be divided according to different religious types, such as Islam and Buddhism. There are also Mahayana, Hinayana and Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) in Buddhism, and there are also Lingta and Cave Temple in religious buildings. Can be divided into various ethnic groups according to their ethnic affiliation; According to historical stages, it can be divided into ancient, modern and modern; Regionally, it can be divided into south, north, northeast, northwest, southwest, southeast and other regions; According to urban and rural areas, it can be divided into urban and rural areas; According to the shape, it can be divided into bungalows, buildings, large roofs and flat roofs. According to building materials, it can be divided into stone structure, wood structure, bamboo structure and dry paving. These division methods can basically be carried out after the building has developed into a shape with walls and roofs.

Here is mainly in the form of residential buildings, roughly classified.

The folk houses in the northern grassland mainly include Inner Mongolia, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tajik and Yugur, with yurts and yurts in their pastoral areas as typical buildings. Animal husbandry and ethnic dwellings in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Tibetan people, including some Naxi people, often use tents when grazing. Most agricultural areas in Tibetan areas are flat-roofed houses with civil and stone structures, and most Naxi farmers' houses in Zhongdian, Southwest China are made of wood.

Residential areas in Northeast Inner Mongolia, such as Mongolian agricultural areas, Korea, Manchuria, Xibo (distributed in Northeast China and Xinjiang), Hezhe, Oroqen, Ewenki and Daur, are basically brick houses after settlement. Manchu has quadrangles. Many newly-built houses in Korean villages are arranged in rows, with neat layout and fenced yards. The roof is "boat" or "space, hall and pavilion" with four inclined planes. According to the plan, a rectangular room takes a rectangle as its basic shape. Most houses have front eaves gallery, including central gallery room, inclined gallery room and full gallery room. A full gallery room refers to a house with a corridor at the front or back end. A big kang in the room is divided into several rooms. When you enter the room, you can get on the kang and take off your shoes at the entrance.

Dwellings in northwest China, such as the arid areas of Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang, and villages and towns of Hui, Dongxiang, Baoan, Salar, Tu, Uygur, Uzbek and tatar people, are mainly flat-topped earthen houses with civil structures, with dry-built courtyard walls and flower beds in the courtyard. Some are quadrangles. In the past, most of the walls of houses were coated with mud on the outside of adobe foundations. Now there are some houses with brick walls and tile roofs in towns and villages, but in rural areas, most of them are mud roofs with gentle slopes (almost flat slopes), which are very solid, warm in winter and cool in summer, and resistant to sandstorms. Take Uygur folk houses as an example, Turpan and Kashgar are the most typical places. Houses in Turpan have thick walls and flat roofs, and most of them have front porches and semi-underground roof houses to avoid heat. There are tall grape vines or trees in the courtyard, and the drainage water flows through the courtyard. The courtyard is open, with tall doors, almost no windows and big small skylights on the walls. The characteristic of residential buildings in Kashgar is to save land and build two or three-storey buildings. The streets in residential areas are narrow and there are many arcades. The windows of the houses around the yard are all inward, and the yard is very small. The buildings in Yining and Tacheng in the west of northern Xinjiang are the most distinctive. Most of the houses are bungalows with sloping roofs, brick and wood structures, wide doors and windows, and prominent courtyard greening. Residents often use a small porch instead of a balcony. The newly-built houses, porches, railings and columns are beautifully painted. The raisin house in Turpan area is an adobe house with many "windows and holes", which is cool and ventilated.

The houses in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau mainly include Tibetans, Menba, Barrow and Qiang. Menba, Barrow and some Tibetans are mainly two-story wooden buildings, some of which are built according to the mountain situation. The roof on the first floor is the terrace courtyard on the second floor, which is very distinctive. Typical are Qiang and some Tibetan tower houses with wood and stone structures. The most unique is the Qiang people's stone bunker, which is called "Denglong".

The folk houses in the southwest mountainous areas mainly include Tuzhang houses of Yi and Hani, wooden houses of Lisu, Nu and Dulong, tile houses of Bai and Naxi, wooden houses with Pumi characteristics, stone houses, board houses and gelao houses of Buyi. The wooden tile house built by Yi people is a house with wooden boards as "tiles" to drain rainwater and cover the roof. Wooden houses are built with logs as walls. Bai nationality's "three squares and one wall" folk houses can be called the artistic masterpiece of folk houses. As early as Nanzhao period, Bai wood and stone craftsmen were famous for their exquisite skills in the surrounding areas. Pebble, block stone and marble are mostly used as building materials in residential buildings represented by Dali City and Jianchuan County. The connection of wooden frames is often buckled with cable ties to strengthen the integrity and cold-proof ability. The protruding part of the hard rock is windproof. Doors, windows, gatehouses and zhaobi are luxuriantly decorated, elegant and solemn, with rich classical beauty and book fragrance.