Commoner or popular
As for commoners, whether bureaucrats, merchants or farmers, their houses tended to follow a pattern: the center of the building would be a sanctuary for deities and ancestors, which would be used during celebrations as well. On its two sides were the bedrooms for the elderly; The two wings of the building (known as "the guardian dragons" by the Chinese) were for the younger members of the family, as were the living room, dining room, and kitchen (although sometimes the living room could be very close to the center).
Sometimes extended families grew so large that they had to add additional wings, resulting in a U-shaped building, with a yard suitable for farm work; Merchants and bureaucrats, however, preferred to close the front with an imposing main door. All buildings were legally regulated, and the law indicated the number of floors, the length of the building and the colors of use according to the class of the owner.
Imperial
There were certain special architectural features that were reserved only for the Emperor of China. An example is the use of yellow ceiling tiles, this having been the imperial color; Yellow roof tiles still adorn most of the buildings within the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven, however, has blue ceiling tiles that symbolize, precisely, heaven. The roofs are almost supported by "dougong" (also called brackets) which is a feature shared only with the largest religious buildings. The wooden columns of the buildings and the surface of the walls are red. Black is also a color often used in pagodas, as it was believed that the gods were motivated by the color black to come down to Earth.
The five-clawed Chinese dragon, an emblem adopted by the first Ming emperor for his personal use, was used extensively on imperial architecture - on roofs, on beams and pillars, and on gates, although not on roofs.
Only buildings used by the imperial family could have nine jian (the space between two columns, which we previously alluded to when talking about bilateral symmetry). Only gates used by the Emperor could have five arches, with the center of one, of course, reserved for the Emperor himself. The ancient Chinese were very fond of the color red in the buildings of the Empire, and they used to look towards the south because the north had a cold wind, which, in any case, was vox populi and was also taken into account by private homes.
Beijing became the capital of China after the 19th century Mongol invasion, completing the eastward transfer of the Chinese capital begun since the Jin dynasty.
The Ming uprising in 1368 reaffirmed Chinese authority and established Beijing as the seat of imperial power for the next five centuries. The Emperor and Empress lived in palaces on the central axis of the Forbidden City, the Crown Prince in the eastern part, and the concubines in the back (which due to their abundant number was often called "the courtyard of three thousand"). However, in the middle of the Qing dynasty, the Emperor's residence was moved to the western side of the complex. It must be noted that it is misleading to speak of an "axis" in the Western sense of the term, which seems to ask for a visual perspective of something similar to a façade, since the Chinese axis is more understandable as a privilege, generally expressed by restricting access to the different areas of the building - there is no open and free panorama that allows identifying a continuous axis of naves or buildings, but rather a series of doors and pavilions that give rise to the phases of construction.
Numerology influenced imperial architecture, hence the excessive use of nine (the largest single-digit number) in much of the construction. The importance of the East (the direction of the rising sun) in orienting and locating imperial constructions is an expression of solar worship found in many ancient cultures, where the notion of the ruler is affiliated with the sun.
Tombs and mausoleums of members of the imperial family, such as the century-old Tang Dynasty tombs at Qianling Mausoleum, can also be counted as part of the imperial architectural tradition.
These above-ground mounds and pyramids had underground vaulted and fortified structures that were lined with brick walls from at least the time of the Warring States (481 – 221 BC).
Religious
In general terms, Buddhist architecture follows the imperial style. A large Buddhist monastery has a hall first, housing the statue of a Buddhist, followed by a large hall, usually housing statues of Buddhas. The accommodations for the monks and nuns are located on the two sides. Some of the greatest examples of this come from the century-old Puning and Putuo Zongcheng temples. Buddhist monasteries sometimes also have pagodas, which may house the relics of Gautama Buddha; Older pagodas usually have four sides, while later pagodas generally have eight sides.
Daoist architecture, on the other hand, follows the style of commoners generally. The main entrance is, however, on the side, because of superstition about demons who may try to enter (see feng shui). In contrast to Buddhists, in a Daoist temple the main deity is located in the main hall at the front, and the lesser deities in the back hall and on the sides.
"In China we do not find the opposition between the divine and the human, between man and nature, so characteristic in the West since the Greeks, nor the vision of the world as a creation born of and sustained by ritual, nor the indifference to the temporality of the Indian mental universe."[21].
The tallest premodern building in China was built for mixed religious and military use. The Liaodi Pagoda", dating from 1055 AD, has a height of 84 m, and although it served as the coronation pagoda of Kaiyuan Monastery in old Dingzhou, Hebei, it also served as a military watchtower for soldiers of the Song Dynasty.
Mosque architecture in China and Gongbei often combines traditional Chinese styles with Middle Eastern influences.