周代宫室考述

周代士、卿大夫、诸侯、天子等不同爵位者在住宅上存在着不可逾越的等级制度:贫苦人民只有一间房子,一室、一门;无宗庙.士是一室一房一堂,有正寝无燕寝而有下室,二门(外门、寝门);宗庙有一.卿大夫是一室二房一堂,有正寝又有燕寝一,二门(外门、寝门);宗庙有三.诸侯有正(路)寝,又有燕寝三,三门(皋门、应门、路门)三朝(燕朝、内朝、外朝),设二观;宗庙有五.天子有正(路)寝,又有燕寝五,五门(皋门、雉门、库门、应门、路门)三朝,设二观;宗庙有五,别有二祧庙.

Studies of the Imperial Palace of the Zhou Dynasty

Under the Zhou Dynasty the shi (an official rank in ancient China or social stratum between senior officials and the common people), senior officials, dukes and Son of Heaven were hierarchically different in housing. For the common people, their type of housing was generally a house containing 1 room and 1 gate with no ancestral temple. For the shi, it was a house with 1 room and 1 hall (tang in Chinese), which contains 1 main bedroom with 1 door, no inner bedroom but 1 minor room, 1 gate to the house, as well as 1 ancestral temple. For the senior officials, it was generally a house with 2 rooms and 1 hall, which refer to 1 main bedroom and 1 inner bedroom with 2 doors and 1 external gate, besides 3 ancestral temples. For the dukes, the house generally had 1 main bedroom, 3 inner bedrooms, 3 gates (the outermost gate, the outer main gate, and the innermost main gate) and three courts (the outer court, the inner court for regular daily affairs, and the inner court for the emperor's audience, etc) with 2 stone carvings erected in front, as well as 5 ancestral temples. In terms of his house, Son of Heaven has 1 main bedroom, 5 inner bedrooms, 5 gates (the outermost gate, the second gate with two erected stone carvings in front, the housing gate, the outer main gate and the innermost gate) and 3 courts, in addition to 5 ancestral temples and 2 memorial ones for remote ancestors