Yangshuo tour-Yellow Tiles and Vermillion Walls (Hotels in China, Li River)

The imperial palaces in Beijing are graced with yellow-glazed tiles and vermilion walls because they looked pleasant and reflected the wealth, dignity and authority of the emperors.

The tiles are generally glazed yellow, green, blue and black. Yellow-glazed tiles were for the exclusive use of roofs of palaces, mausoleums, gardens, temples and other imperial structures. Yellow was chosen as the royal colour and a symbol of dignity because in the "five elements" theory (gold, wood, water, fire and earth), yellow earth is in the centre of universe. In the imperial garden, such as the Summer Palace, however, roofs are covered with tiles of different colours. Only the houses in which the emperor lived or administered state affairs are covered with yellow-glazed roofs, while the houses for officials feature green-glazed roofs, and scenic buildings and commoners' dwellings are covered with black-glazed tiles. However, non-imperial buildings sometimes also featured yellow-glazed roofs, such as the Confucian Temple and the Lord Guan's Temple, because of the fact that the Chinese emperors had worshiped Confucius as Duke for the Propagation of Culture and the Qing emperors decorated Lord Guan as "Emperor Guan". All the buildings in the Imperial Palace are supposed to have their roofs covered with yellow-glazed tiles. The exception, however, is the national library (Chamber of Literary Profundity), whose roof is deco- rated with black-glazed files because black is the colour of water. As the library is prone to fire hazard, the use of black tiles was meant to subdue fire with water. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven is covered with a blue-tiled roof to symbolize the colour of the sky. It is clear that the colours adopted for the Chinese ancient structures have symbolic meanings.

The appeal of the yellow-glazed roofs is supplemented with the vermilion (darkish red) colour of the walls. By Chinese tradition red is the colour for festivities, and that is why even today the lanterns and streamers used during holidays and festivals are mostly red in colour. The imperial buildings are decorated with yellow files and vermilion walls to imply the emperor's wish for happiness. Many Buddhist temples in this country also featured yellow-glazed roofs and vermilion walls with the mandate of the royal family. During the Ming and Qing, yellow-glazed tiles could be used for imperial palaces, the mausoleums for emperors and those temples and altars built in compliance with the order of the emperors. Those who violated the rule could be sentenced to death.

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