Street Lives in Ancient Chinese Capital City. Based on the Painting of Along the River During the Qingming Festival

Abstract

Street is a key public space in the city, representing and being influenced at the same time by different history and culture of a country, city or region. This research is inside the team of “Transitional Morphologies Research Unit” (Politecnico di Torino and Southeast University Nanjing), by introducing local languages and customs from the perspective of Chinese, tries to explain the effect to the streets in an ancient Chinese capital city by residents’ daily life, especially the conception and behaviour. Analyses are not only based on iconology, typology and morphology, but also cultural anthropology and ethnography, aiming to provide a different view of Chinese urban streets. Facing the contemporary identity crisis of Chinese traditional settlements, the work contributes to take the edge of cultural gaps in urban heritage and planning.