Built To Last - The Story of Yangshi Lei

It seems strangely fitting in a country that has historically undervalued the work of the architect that in March this year the tombs of ten generations of the Lei family, imperial "architect" designers to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), were mistakenly flattened.

Strangely fitting because it is only now that architects in China are accorded status equal to the celebratory status they receive in Europe and the US, and the result of the news of the levelling of this family history has brought much needed attention to the subject.

So far, the cult of Yangshilei has had an academic following and is more in the nature of an open secret if a somewhat subdued rather than closely guarded secret. Ask people knowledgeable about China's history and it doesn't get the response you would think.

The reasons for this are not clear. Reluctance, outside of academia, to distinguish details from China's past may well contribute to Yangshilei's lack of prominence. Until China's current building boom, the architect -- even a significant imperial architect -- was considered a craftsman with a status worthy of mention but not of acclaim.

In the course of China's troubled 20th century history, this historic family's legacy might have been lost. The chaos that accompanied the arts during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976) led to property belonging to the family being thoroughly ransacked. 

The importance of the family was recognised when Chinese architects Liang Sicheng and Zhu Qiling managed to amass over 1,000 architectural blueprints, as well as models and building instructions written in tasteful script, and brought them to the attention of historians.

Items from Yangshilei were recently displayed at the National Library of China in the Haidian District of Beijing.

The Lei family's work as imperial architects began during the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722), the dynasty's third emperor, coinciding with the most prosperous period of the dynasty 1(654-1795).  Their work included building and restoration work on the Forbidden City, the Ruins of Yuanmingyuan (the Old Summer Palace), the Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park and the Palace of Prince Gong. It also included the tombs of the imperial family, including that of the redoubtable Empress Dowager Cixi.

Lei Jinyu (1659-1729), of the second generation of the Lei family, was the first to be associated with the design and building of China's imperial architecture.

The Qing Dynasty "Architect"

It was during the Qing Dynasty that the "architect" first emerged in China cast in a multifaceted role that incorporated design, planning and building and that used a system of practical and spiritual consideration including feng shui.

Feng shui or "wind water" is a system of guiding principles that bring man together with his environment. It was a central feature of the master planning of Qing Dynasty projects.

A complex combination of astrology, numerology, geography and geomancy, feng shui involves the "auspicious" positioning of buildings within a landscape. Spirit walls or "mirrors" fend off evil spirits and inharmonious energies around buildings, and gardens and water are provided in or around lived-in or occupied spaces. Today, in many cases, practical considerations of climate militate against the overall theoretical effect and intentions of feng shui. However, Qing architects, such as the Yangshilei, were "holistic" designers who used the techniques of feng shui to great effect.

As with today's architects, these "masters of style," were a combination master craftsmen and project managers, who worked on imperial building projects under the supervision of government ministries and the Imperial Household Agency. The system they worked within evolved from an imperial bureaucracy that brought together, and controlled, imperial planners, government supervisors and master craftsmen.

Although imperial projects were subject to budgets and supervised with the aid of endless ritual, construction was basically determined by the men, means and knowledge available in the craftsmen's workshops.

A project usually involved many stages of drawing and model building. These products were circulated between the Design Office (yangfang) and the Management Office (suanfang). Yangshilei, as the Lei Family Design Office, would have submitted plans and models for approval many times over the course of a building project, and some of these still exist.

Lei Family History

According to family folklore, in 1683 Lei Fada and his brother Lei Faxuan travelled from the South China's Nanjing Province to Beijing's Haidian District at the request of the Imperial Household Agency, which often searched all of China for imperial designers. Once in the capital, Lei Fada's reputation grew, and, in time, he became a builder for the Imperial Household.

Lei Fada's son, Lei Jinyu, followed in his father's footsteps. As was the traditional practice with master craftsman, Lei Jinyu absorbed his father's values, learned his father's techniques and inherited his position. Between 1725 and 1735 he was the chief designer of the rebuilding of the summer imperial residence at Yuanmingyuan (Summer Palace) under Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735). For this and other achievements, the emperor honoured him with the title chief imperial designer and erected a stele celebrating his 70th birthday.

Two further generations of the Lei family passed without prominence, reflecting perhaps, a lull in imperial spending and opulent building.

The 60-year reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99), from 1736 to 1796, was an exceptionally rich period of the Qing Dynasty, and Lei Jinyu's grandsons were to become the most-accomplished members in the family's history.

It was during this time that the fourth generation of the Lei family, brothers, Lei Jiaxi, Lei Jiawei and Lei Jiarui designed and built signature buildings of the Qing Dynasty.

On the death of Lei Jiaxi, the position of imperial architect passed out of the family for the first time because his son, Lei Jingxiu, was too young to succeed Lei Jiaxi. It returned to the family and to Lei Jingxiu some years later after the death of Guo Jiu, who held the title.

Taking over as chief imperial designer in 1849, Lei Jingxiu recognized the important contributions the family had made. He collected all architectural drawings, models and building instructions and assembled them in a number of specially prepared rooms. Careful to preserve the legend and status of his family, he also built the recently flattened family tombs and catalogued the family genealogy.

Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Generations

Sixth, seventh and eighth generations of the family continued to work on the restoration and repair of the Yuanmingyuan, but in 1860 an invasion by the Anglo-French Allied Forces burnt the palace down again. In the period 1856-75, the Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to rebuild Yuanmingyuan, but, out of favour with her officials, a decision to rebuild and extend the Imperial Palaces of Zhongnanhai was made instead. Yangshilei worked on the restoration.

Zhongnanhai is now China's official seat of power, comparable to the Russian Federation's Kremlin or the United States' White House.

The final member of the family to work as imperial architect was Lei Xiancai, who worked on the rebuilding of Yuanmingyuan and the Empress Dowager's tomb between 1871 and 1908.

The family has survived the passage of time, spread across in Henan, Hubei, Xinjiang and Jiangxi provinces. The last member of the family living in Beijing is a physical education teacher named Lei Zhangbao, who works at a normal middle school.

As the true extent of the contribution of Yangshilei to design, architecture and imperial life in China becomes more widely known, the more the role and significance of building practices in China's history are likely to be reassessed.

This was the case with the exhibition "Masterpieces of Architectural Conceptions of Ancient China Exhibition of Yangshilei Architectural Archives of the Qing Dynasty" at the National Library of China in Haidian District which ran from July 30 to August 20.

For further information about viewing the archive, please contact the Library at:  +86 10 6871 6449