Glossary · F
Fen
One fifteenth of the height of a cai: the unit in which every member of a Song building is dimensioned. Its absolute size depends on the grade of cai chosen, from 0.6 to 0.3 cun.
See also: Cai
Rules that use the word
Everything is measured in cai and fen. Take the section of the standard timber, the cai, as the module of the building: it is 15 fen high and 10 fen wide, and every member is dimensioned in fen.
A full timber is a cai and a zhi: 21 fen. Between two stacked arms leave a spacer of 6 fen, the zhi; a cai plus a zhi, 21 fen, is a “full timber” (zucai) and the vertical step of each tier of a bracket set.
The bracket set steps out 30 fen a tier. Build the bracket set (puzuo) of blocks (dou) and arms (gong) crossing at right angles, each tier projecting no more than 30 fen beyond the one below; a set of n projecting tiers is called an (n + 3)-puzuo, from four to eight.
Cejiao: lean the columns inward. Set the heads of the outer columns inward: on the front and back by 1 fen for every chi of height (1/100), on the ends by 8 li per chi (8/1000); the corner columns lean both ways.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters China, Japan and Korea.
A feature of Chinese architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Fan vault · Fanlight · Fascia · Fauces · Ferme ornée · Fillet · Finial · Five points