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Table 1 Module sizes in the three halls
Hall name Date Number of façade bays Module (doukou) width in cm/cun
Zixiaodian 20 1412 5 10.5cm/3.3 cun
Ling’engdian 21 1416 9 9.5–10cm/3–3.15 cun
Longguodian 22 1427 7 11cm/3.5 cun

Table 2 Module sizes in other Ming buildings
Hall name Date Number of façade bays Module (doukou) width in cm/cun

Yuzhengong main hall 遇真宮大殿 23 1417 3 10cm/3.15 cun
Shenwumen chenglou 神武門城樓 24 1420 7 12.5–13cm/3.9–4.1 cun
Shejitan front hall 社稷壇前殿 25 1425 5 12.5cm/3.9 cun
Fahaisi main hall 法海寺大殿 26 1439 5 9cm/2.83 cun
Zhihuasi Wanfoge 智化寺萬佛閣 27 1444 5 8cm/2.5 cun
Taimiao front hall 太廟前殿 28 1545 11 12.5cm/3.9 cun
Taimiao middle hall 太廟中殿 29 1545 9 12.5cm/3.9 cun
Taimiao rear hall 太廟後殿 30 1545 9 12.5cm/3.9 cun

smaller, even, than those used in the non-imperial Buddhist the large and complex bracket-set types that we see in the
18
and Daoist temples that survive from the Yuan period. Tang and Song dynasties had become unnecessary
Therefore, we can conclude that beginning in early Ming structurally. By creating smaller and less complicated
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there was indeed a significant weakening of the link between bracket-sets, carpenters could save considerable amounts of
the size of the module and the overall rank of a building, a time in the construction process. Furthermore, timber
trend that persisted in the Qing. 19 materials could be better economised and costs reduced.
What significance lies in the shrinking of the module? As The issue of saving wood during the Yongle reign is
I have explained above the size of the module corresponded somewhat tricky. On one hand, for the construction of his
to the cross-section of the bracket-set arm. Therefore, much capital, the Yongle emperor seemed to gather old-growth
smaller modules meant much smaller bracket-sets. By the nan 楠 timbers from the southwest of his empire without any
early Ming dynasty carpenters had figured out ways to reservations whatsoever regarding cost or environmental
support the roof eaves more efficiently by using beams that waste. At the same time, textual records document the
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projected past the façade of the building. This meant that immense difficulties involved in obtaining these woods,
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which took four or five years to reach the capital and

a) b)

Plate 21.6a–c: a) Ling’endian top (left) and bottom (right) bracket-
sets; b) Zixiaodian top (left) and bottom (right) bracket-sets;
c) Longguodian top (left) and bottom (right) bracket-sets
c)

192 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450