The colours of this enormous archway against the clear blue sky are stunning!
These ornate archways are found throughout China and are called pailou or paifang.
The archways are placed at the entry of temples, government offices, parks, villages, towns and sections of Hutongs to delineate sub-branches of urban administration. Constructed of wood, brick or stone, pailou have anywhere upwards of two columns holding a multi-tiered decorative roof. The larger and more ornate the pailou the more important the building or area that lay beyond it.
You may have noticed one of these structures standing at the entrance to Chinatown in your city!
This pailou stands at the northern gate of the Forbidden City, the former Chinese Imperial Palace, in Beijing.
Find it on Jingshan Front Street, Dongcheng.
Stunning, indeed! I like how intricate the designs are.
Oh that’s what these archways are for. Thanks for explaining, I love learning things like that. Yes, we do have one at the entrance of our Chinatown.