which I want to try to give about the arrangements of an ordinary Chinese house; although I fear that my intention to give a realistic picture of such a building will be rather incomplete. Let me say at first that a friend at Home could not get a better idea of a Chinese house than by imagining a picture of a barn. Of the buildings at Home, it is these sorts of structure which most resemble a Chinese house. Chinese houses have three walls, that is, two side walls and one cross wall, and an entrance door, plus a roof [i.e. the door with its jambs occupies the whole of the fourth side of the building]. The buildings are single storeyed, with no windows, and no openings apart from the door. The foundations are made out of stone.
The walls at the two gables [i.e. the two side walls] are made out of baked brick, and are very narrow. The height of the house up to the roof is 25 to 30 feet. The roof itself rests on cross-beams which are placed onto the two gable walls. These beams have to fulfill the same purpose in Chinese houses which in European houses is fulfilled by the rafters. Across the beams are placed thin narrow boards, which take the place of laths. On this foundation are placed very thin, curved tiles. The roof consists of two layers. On the boards a row of tiles is placed, with the hollow part turned up so that it forms a sort of guttering, so that it can conduct the rain away. Where two rows of these tiles meet, they put another row of tiles, but this time the other way up, i.e. with the hollow part turned down. By having done this, the rain is trapped within the tiles and conducted away. Through this system, the roof is made weather-proof. The Chinese have to build roofs this way because they do not have any ceilings, but live directly under the roof, and therefore they have to be well protected against the rain.
If they build their houses out of wood, tightly-woven mats of grass will be placed between the upright posts which carry the roof. These mats are then covered with mud and whitewashed. Sometimes they prepare from lime, which they get from shells, and sand, with a bit of oil, a very firm mixture which they put between the posts, or this mixture is formed into blocks which they stack up.
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which I want to try to give about the arrangements of an ordinary Chinese house; although I fear that my intention to give a realistic picture of such a building will be rather incomplete. Let me say at first that a friend at Home could not get a better idea of a Chinese house than by imagining a picture of a barn. Of the buildings at Home. it is these sorts of structure which most resemble a Chinese house. Chinese houses have three walls, that is, two side walls and one cross wall, and an entrance door, plus at roof |i.e. the door with its jambs occupies the whole of the fourth side of the building]. The buildings are single storeyed, with no windows, and no openings apart from the door. The foundations are made out of stone.
The walls at the two gables [i.e. the two side walls] are made out of baked brick, and are very narrow. The height of the house up to the roof is 25 to 30 feet. The roof itself rests on cross-beams which are placed onto the two gable walls. These beams have to fulfill the same purpose in Chinese houses which in European houses is fulfilled by the rafters. Across the beams are placed thin narrow boards. which take the place of laths. On this foundation are placed very thin, curved tiles. The roof consists of two layers. On the boards a row of tiles is placed, with the hollow part turned up so that it forms a sort of guttering, so that it can conduct the rain away. Where two rows of these tiles meet. they put another row of tiles, but this time the other way up, i.e. with the hollow part turned down. By having done this, the rain is trapped within the tiles and conducted away. Through this system, the roof is made weather-proof. The Chinese have to build roofs this way because they do not have any ceilings, but live directly under the roof, and therefore they have to be well protected against the rain.
If they build their houses out of wood, tightly-woven mats of grass will be placed between the upright posts which carry the roof. These mats are then covered with mud and whitewashed. Sometimes they prepare from lime, which they get from shells, and sand, with a bit of oil, a very firm mixture which they put between the posts, or this mixture is formed into blocks which they stack up
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