Secret of Ancient Village Surviving Earthquake 2/3

The first reason was, the difficulty in defending the valley. However, they gradually discovered there were other advantages associated with their choice, and the tradition developed among the ancient Qiang people of living in stone houses located beside mountains. Traditional Qiang villages were often built on a steep mountainside or at the mountains top, instead of on the flood plains beside a river. Because of this, the Qiang Nationality were popularly known as the people above the clouds.
Taoping ancient Qiang Village is located on a mountainside. The Zagunao River, the main tributary of the Minjiang, runs eastward across the village. Thanks to its location, the village is protected from the northerly wind in the winter and receives adequate sunshine. More importantly, the broad and gentle terraces mitigate the effects of the major earthquakes that strike the area once every few decades.
When seismic waves move forward along the mountain range, the valley and the mountain top receive the impact first. The valley, with its broad expanse of soft and flat land, absorbs the force of the earthquake and deadens its power, which significantly reduces the impact on the mountainside.
Even buildings made of reinforced concrete collapsed during the earthquake. So, was there something miraculous about the construction materials used in the Taoping ancient Qiang Village?
The Qiang people, like other ancient nationalities, knew how to take advantage of nature to satisfy their need to survive. The two mountains beside the village are a source of common but nevertheless priceless, construction materials.
One mountain has abundant rubble, of a kind grey, broad and thin that is highly durable. Used in construction, it is capable of altering its shape in accordance with changes in the forces it is subjected to, which serves to make the building more stable.
The other mountain is abundant in loess. The miraculous village was built of rubble mixed with loess and mud.
67-year-old Wang Jiajun is the only person in the village with a university degree. Hes a skilled architect, and also an expert on the construction theories of the Qiang village and watch tower.
Potassium nitrate is commonly referred to as niter or saltpeter. Niter varies, according to the amount of potassium nitrate it contains, but the proportion is usually less than 10%. So the loess in Taoping Qiang Village, which contains 20% potassium nitrate, is very rare. Its used in construction because of its outstanding ability to resist light, heat and corrosion.
Good nitre, if placed on burning charcoal, will sparkle.
Wang Jiajun picks up a handful of nitre from the wall and lights it with burning ash. The niter really sparkles.
The experiment shows how rich in potassium nitrate the rubble and loess here are.
Potassium nitrate is high-tensile and a powerful coagulant. Its use as a building material has been a key factor in the Taoping ancient Qiang Villages survival of 2,000 years of earthquakes.
So Qiang people use the locally-available rubble and loess as their construction materials.
Qiang people long ago became experienced in mitigating the effects of earthquakes. The techniques they developed are an intangible cultural heritage, which they incorporated into the construction of the ancient village.
Construction starts with digging the foundation, which can be square, hexagonal or octagonal, and must be three or four meters deep. The foundation must stand on bare rock. The foundation stones are large pieces of rubble.
In the wall, the pieces of rubble fit one another naturally. Evidently, there is nothing random abut this arrangement.
The builders first select good quality rubble and hammer the irregular pieces to get rid of any fragments. They then put the various pieces into place, adjusting their positions constantly so as to maximize the cohesion between rubble and loess. The adjustment can be repeated anything up to fifty times.
Experienced engineers made precise calculations concerning the bases of the walls and the walls themselves. Every piece of rubble and every handful of loess was carefully placed, the first layer lengthways and the second, sideways, so as to maximize the cohesion. Both sides of the walls had to be properly arranged, centred on large stones in the middle.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• China
• Architecture