Shikumenlilongjianzhu Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The earliest shikumen was Xingren Lane on Ningbo Road in Shanghai, built in the eleventh year of the Tongzhi reign (1872), and it has a history of 130 years to this day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The shikumen lane dwelling gets its name both because its black-lacquered thick wooden gate is tightly framed by a door surround made of granite slabs, and because it resembles a government warehouse. Shikumen was the basic dwelling of 70% of Shanghai's modern citizens. Its architectural layout inherits the central-axis form of Jiangnan folk houses: the outer walls are unplastered fair-faced brick, and the roof is covered with grey tiles, in a clean and unpretentious style. The shikumen gate stands at the centre of the starting point of the central axis; going inward in sequence are the courtyard (tianjing), the main hall (ketang) and the east and west side rooms, the stairwell, the kitchen (commonly called the "zaopijian"), and the back door. At the turn of the staircase to the second floor is the "tingzijian" (small attic room). On the second floor at the front are the upper main hall and the upper east and west side rooms. The layout is compact and comfortable to live in, and its structural method is the traditional Jiangnan "chuandou" (post-and-tie) frame. The shikumen is a microcosm of modern Shanghai history. In artistic terms, besides architecture, it also involves stone carving (the gate lintel), wood carving (doors, windows, and railings), calligraphy (the lane-name "door plaque"), and metalwork (the main-lane iron gate and bronze door knockers), all of which hold high artistic value. Many shikumen, while preserving their original exterior appearance, have also had their interior living facilities renovated. Xintiandi and Tianzifang on Taikang Road have been developed from traditional shikumen into modern cultural-creative and leisure-entertainment districts, becoming famous current landmarks of Shanghai.
Black-lacquered gate in a stone-slab frame
A thick black-lacquered timber door held in a granite slab frame gave the shikumen its name, likening it to an official warehouse.
The chuan-dou timber frame
Inherited from Jiangnan houses, the pierced-column timber frame ties the rooms along the axis together while the walls serve as infill.
The kitchen lean-to and rear gate
Beyond the stair hall lie the kitchen lean-to and the rear gate, keeping cooking apart from the entrance within one house.
The pavilion room
At the turn of the stairs on the upper floor this low room sits under the sloping roof and is the coolest, best-ventilated space in the lane.
Carved lintels and calligraphic door plaques
Beyond the building itself come carved lintels, woodwork on doors and railings, calligraphic lane plaques and iron gates with bronze rings.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The construction of shikumen follows the spread of Shanghai's lane (longtang) layout into the neighbourhoods: the earliest one was at Xingren Lane on Ningbo Road, completed in the eleventh year of the Tongzhi reign (1872); thereafter lanes spread across Shanghai in contiguous tracts, and the unit scale of one gate per lane was carried forward. The central axis of the layout runs from the gate, passing through the courtyard, the main hall, the east and west side rooms, the stairwell, and the kitchen, all the way to the back door; upstairs and downstairs divide into separate households, and the chuandou-style timber frame supports this string of rooms into an integral dwelling unit.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The shikumen lane building construction technique holds high artistic value in architecture. It touches upon the fields of modern history, politics, economy, culture, and folklore, accumulating profound historical and cultural connotations and possessing very high historical value. With social development, the improvement of people's lives, and the acceleration of urban construction, the traditional and outdated shikumen have gradually been replaced by high-rise residences, and its construction technique also faces endangerment. Therefore, protecting and transmitting this precious and unique cultural heritage—the shikumen lane building construction technique—has become an urgent priority.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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