Lan Eucalyptus traveled to Datong and visited the Hanging Temple, a building that has been hanging in the air for 1,500 years.

At first, the eucalyptus blue thought that it relied on the pillars that stood up to support the force.

Many tourists thought so, and then some people tried to push these wooden posts by hand, and they could even shake without force at the roots. They exist only to give people a sense of visual security.

The key to why this temple, which looks like it grows out of a cliff, has survived countless earthquakes and has survived for thousands of years is the use of mortise and tenon technology. The craftsmen of the Northern Wei Dynasty did not use a single nail, but purely used the concave and convex relationship of the wood itself to connect together, and finally built a stable and elastic architectural structure.

This kind of pure natural craftsmanship is highly consistent with the philosophical idea of "the unity of nature and man" pursued by the ancients, which makes a seemingly inanimate architectural and home furnishing product have a soul, and highlights the oriental aesthetics of simplicity between the seemingly unintentional bite.

The mortise and tenon joint was the most important structural method of ancient Chinese architecture and furniture. At the junction of the parts, the protruding one is called tenon, and the concave one is the tenon. Ancient Chinese craftsmen used mortise and tenon structures to create complex buildings and furniture without nails and glue.

Representative of Chinese mortise and tenon architecture: the Forbidden City. It has experienced more than 200 earthquakes in 597 years, but it has been able to stand for a long time!

Recently, a British television station launched a series of Chinese documentaries, including "The Secret of the Forbidden City", which unveiled the mysteries of this great building, and shocked all foreign audiences.

On July 28, 1976, at 3:42 a.m., a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Tangshan, Hebei Province, and in just 23 seconds, the entire city was flattened. Even Beijing, which is more than 150 kilometers away from the epicenter, is in a state of panic. But the Forbidden City, which has experienced countless dangers, is still safe and sound.

In order to unravel the secret, British television made a special trip to Beijing and conducted an experiment under the leadership of experts from the Forbidden City.

They built a model of the Forbidden City at a scale of 1:5 and conducted seismic simulation experiments on it.

From a magnitude 4 or 4.5 to a magnitude 5 earthquake, each lasting 30 seconds. The dougong structure began to shake, and the whole model shook.

Then, after turning on the level 7.5 intensity, the wall was already crumbling, unbearable, and collapsed with a bang.

However, the building structure composed of mortise and tenon joints and bucket arches, after a short shaking, is still "unscathed". Richard, an expert from the Forbidden City and a foreign carpenter, witnessed the whole process and increased the intensity of the earthquake to 9.5, knowing that the intensity of this earthquake is equivalent to the power of explosives!

At level 10.1, it's about to collapse! But after 30 seconds, it's still standing there, with a slight shift in position.

Richard was dumbfounded and exclaimed: It's perfect!

The secret of the Forbidden City's ability to survive the destructive earthquake of magnitude 10.1 is the dougong. That is the wisdom left by our ancestors, consisting of bow-shaped and square wooden blocks.

Dougong also belongs to the mortise and tenon construction method, without an iron nail, a drop of glue, can make the wooden structure tightly fastened, to the extent of "seamless".

In this way, the whole building becomes very stable, not only can withstand the gravity from the eaves, but also avoids the possibility of the building collapsing because the structure itself is loose but not falling apart. Even if an earthquake occurs, the energy from the earthquake can be consumed.

In addition, the reason why the Forbidden City does not fall is also because of the pillars full of mysteries, the pillars of general buildings, are deeply rooted in the foundation, and they will be directly broken from it when they encounter a strong earthquake.

The pillars of the Forbidden City have a certain space for movement, which avoids the collapse of the entire building caused by breakage, even if it encounters strong vibration, it will only be slightly displaced.

Surprised, Richard summed up the Forbidden City's earthquake resistance secrets in one word: flexibility. He sighed: It is this characteristic of "softness and rigidity" that has created a miracle that the Forbidden City has been standing for 600 years!

The timber building framework in China generally includes columns, beams, fangs, backing plates, truss purlins (truss purlins), bucket arches, rafters, lookout boards and other basic components. These components are independent of each other and need to be connected in a certain way to form a house. In Chinese architecture, in principle, mortise and tenon joints are used, and iron nails are also used if necessary.

The "mortise and tenon" method of connecting various parts of Chinese furniture is the main structural method of furniture modeling. The various mortise and tenon joints have different practices and different application ranges, but they have the role of "joints" of the shape and structure on each piece of furniture.

If the mortise and tenon joints are used properly, the two wooden structures can be tightly fastened to the extent that they are "seamless". It is the basic skill that ancient carpenters must have, and the level of craftsmanship of the craftsman can be clearly reflected through the structure of the mortise and tenon joint.

There are dozens of different types of "mortise and tenon joints", which can be roughly divided into three main types:

The first type is mainly the joint of surfaces and surfaces, the combination of two edges, and the junction of surfaces and edges. Such as notch tenon, tongue tenon, dovetail tenon, belt tenon, tie tenon, etc.

The other type is the structural approach as a "point". It is mainly used for horizontal and vertical T-joint, angular combination, cross combination, as well as extension joint of straight and arc materials. Such as lattice shoulder tenon, double tenon, double clamp tenon, hook tenon, wedge tenon, half tenon, through tenon and so on.

There is also a construction method that combines three components together and connects them with each other, which is more complex and special in addition to the use of some of the above mortise and tenon joint structures. For example, the common ones are supporting angle tenons, long and short tenons, shoulder tenons, zongjiao tenons, etc.

Mortise and tenon is called the "soul" of mahogany furniture, the protruding tenon and the concave hole on the wood components, simply bite, the wood components are combined, due to the different forms of the connecting components, which derives a kaleidoscopic combination of ways, so that the mahogany furniture to achieve the perfect unity of function and structure.

The long and short tenon is to chisel out two tenons of different lengths in the upper part of the leg, which are connected with the socket on the surface, because the height of the two tenons is different, which can make the connection more stable.

Long and short tenons can be used alone, or they can be part of other mortise and tenon joints, such as chuck tenons, shoulder tenons, and hanging tenons will be connected to the surface using long and short tenons. Long and short tenons are common mortise and tenon structures in the connection between panels and wires.

Wedge mortise and tenon is a commonly used mortise and tenon structure for connecting arc materials. It cuts the arc wood and embeds it with two upper and lower tenons, and the small tongue on the tenon is inserted into the groove so that it cannot move up and down.

Then cut a square hole in the middle of the lap, and insert a wedge nail with a square cross-section, a slightly thicker side and a slightly thinner wedge through the past, so that it can not move left and right. It is commonly found in the armrests, round sides, circular mud and other parts of the circle chair. Wedge tenon is a common wire connection structure.

Dovetail tenon is a kind of right-angle connection node of flat wood, two flat plates are connected at right angles, in order to prevent detachment when subjected to tensile force, the tenon is made into a ladder shape, so it is called "dovetail tenon". Dovetails are very common in wooden furniture and are often found in the vertical joints of panels.

The shoulder tenon is one of the mortise and tenon structures commonly used in the furniture of the girdle structure, in the upper part of the leg and foot to bear the waist and the tooth plate, cut out the 45 ° oblique shoulder, and chisel out the triangle hole in the oblique shoulder, the corresponding tooth strip also makes a 45 ° oblique shoulder, and leaves a triangular tenon, the two are interlocked, and the seam is tightly sealed.

Straps are common on chair seats, etc. The adjacent thin plate is opened out of the large and small notches at the bottom, and the two plates are put together by the method of pushing and inserting, so that they can not be pulled away from the horizontal direction.

After the combination is glued, open a small and large notch on it, which is embedded with a wooden strip that is a trapezoidal long tenon on one side, that is, the trapezoidal tenon of the belt, the trapezoidal tenon of the belt is slightly wider on one side and slightly narrower on the other, in order to make it wear tightly, the long tenon is pushed from the wide side to the narrow side.

Zongjiao tenon is mostly used in four-sided flat furniture, and is commonly used in the combination of three square wood lattice corners to form a lattice angle similar to zongzi corners, and each corner is combined to form six 45° lattice angle obliques.

In the production, the mortise and tenon of the three materials is more concentrated, in order to be firm, on the one hand, open the long and short tenons, the use of tenon avoidance production, on the other hand, should consider the appropriate thickness of the material, so as not to affect the strength of the structure.

Chuck tenon is a group of mortise and tenon structures that connect the legs, teeth and corners of the table case, the combination of the legs and the surface of the case-shaped knot furniture is not at the four corners, but at some positions where the two ends of the long side are closed, the upper end of the leg and foot opens a long mouth, clamps the tooth strip and the tooth head, and uses the long and short tenon in the upper part to combine with the case surface.

Technical requirements of traditional mortise and tenon structure: the thickness of the tenon is less than the width of the mortise, when the thickness of the tenon is greater than the width of the mortise, the glue loss due to extrusion will reduce the glue strength, and the mortise will easily crack during assembly.

The width of the tenon is 0.5-1mm larger than the length of the mortise, 0.5mm for hard materials and 1mm for soft materials. The length of the tenon is 2-3mm smaller than the depth of the mortise and greater than half the thickness of the mortise part. The thickness of the right-angled tenon: the single tenon is close to 0.4-0.5 of the thickness of the square, and the total thickness of the double tenon needs to be close to this value. The end of the tenon is often chamfered to facilitate the insertion of the mortise.

Its origin predates Chinese characters. 7,000 years ago, in the Hemudu culture, mortise and tenon technology has appeared in the wooden houses where the primitive ancestors lived.

Legend has it that in the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to test whether his son was smart, Lu Ban made a toy that could be assembled and detached with 6 wooden strips and asked his son to open it. The son was busy all night and finally took it apart. This kind of toy is called Luban lock by later generations, also known as Kong Ming lock, don't stuffy stick, Liuzi Lianfang, Mo Naihe, difficult wood, etc.

In ancient China, as long as wood was used, whether it was a house, a door or window or a piece of furniture, no metal nails were used at all, and all the mortise and tenon joints could be connected up and down, left and right, and the thickness of the oblique and straight was reasonable, and all aspects were comprehensive.

The precision of the process and the tightness of the fastening are seamless.

It is widely used in columns, beams, bucket arches, etc. in traditional buildings, and is also applied to various joints of furniture.

In the process of historical development, in the hands and minds of craftsmen, through thinking and practice, the wood of various characteristic colors has been colored, resulting in different forms and structures, which give the object color and beauty in form.

The texture and color of the wood bring the most natural decoration to the home, coupled with the charm of the log itself, the beauty is born naturally.

The mortise and tenon structure is rich in types, and its different connection methods have caused the richness of the shape, size and state of the tenon at the joint, and the connection, occlusion and staggering have formed the beauty of the form.

The pursuit of beauty is endless, and craftsmen who only want to be craftsmen are rare, and artist is a more attractive title. Sometimes, if you put a lot of thought into the details, such as the mortise and tenon joints, you may be able to create a wonderful work of art.

Kintaro Yazawa is an example of this, who took a simple dovetail and made it more aesthetically pleasing with a slight touch:

In the eyes of the artist, the mortise and tenon joint is full of magic. This magic comes from their artistic interpretation of ideas through the artwork framed by mortise and tenon structures.

The beauty of art lies in expression, it can be whimsical, it can be bizarre, it can be intense, but when you indulge in the beauty of the visual, don't forget that the mystery lies in the expression itself.

The breakthrough and innovation of the way of expression express the beauty of form, which is the only way to create art.

Also, in the end, the content and purpose of this artistic handwriting and expression is the content and purpose of the expression. There's a deeper artistic connotation hidden in it. So don't take every real work of art lightly.

Through the creation of mortise and tenon art, the sculptor Fu Zhongwang expresses his artistic thinking about himself, society and the times.

He carries out visual storytelling through mortise and tenon joints, constantly reflecting on himself and his relationship with society. The mortise and tenon joints under his pen bring people a multi-dimensional cognition, imagining and exploring the relationship between people, people and society, and the situation of people in the new social form.

In some works, no matter what the two parts look like, they become "together" through mortise and tenon joints. Isn't the mortise and tenon structure a philosophical and aesthetic embodiment of "harmony"?

The two parts of the mortise and tenon joint, combined in their own individual forms, although different, but so firm, coexist in contradictions and conflicts, just like the yin and yang fish of Taiji, intertwining and opposing, flowing endlessly.

The mortise and tenon joint is also a link, mending the cracks, and "dividing into combinations".

This concept of "harmony" is further enlarged and put into the building, so that the "harmony" of the form is displayed through the power of mortise and tenon, and the idea of "harmony" is expressed.

Therefore, the mortise and tenon joint has been obsessed with Fu Zhongwang for decades, and it has also been favored by many modern architects and home furniture designers, including the master workshop who is interested in reviving the modern Chinese style, and has to be inclined to it, taking the mortise and tenon joint process as one of the important elements and characteristics of his works.

A concave and convex connection mode adopted on two timber members. The protruding part is called tenon (or tenon); The recessed part is called the mortise (or mortise and tenon), and the tenon and the tenon are occluded to play a connecting role.

This is the main way in which ancient Chinese architecture, furniture, and other wooden instruments were structured. The mortise and tenon joint structure is a combination of tenon and tenon, which is an ingenious combination between more and less, high and low, long and short between wood pieces, which can effectively limit the twisting of wood pieces in all directions.

The most basic mortise and tenon structure consists of two members, one of which is inserted into the socket of the other, so that the two members are connected and fixed. The part of the tenon that protrudes into the mortise is called the tongue, and the rest is called the shoulder.

As early as 7,000 years ago, the Hemudu culture, full of wisdom, the Chinese ancestors had invented the mortise and tenon structure, and built a home with it, so as to live in the wood and multiply, and opened the splendid Chinese civilization.

Therefore, as the origin of Chinese wood culture, the mortise and tenon joint, its history far surpasses Chinese characters, and it is not only the fifth major invention of the Chinese nation to contribute to the world, but also the most distinctive symbol of the exchange between Chinese civilization and the world.

In the vast history of more than 70 centuries, China's craftsmen have continued to develop and innovate again, giving full play to the charm of mortise and tenon technology, and producing brilliant masterpieces such as "The Book of Wood" and "Building the French Style". Around the 7th century AD, mortise and tenon technology began to be introduced from China to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, and today it still plays a central role in the national treasure buildings of these countries, and has a profound impact on the development of their construction industry and home furnishing industry.

Since then, the mortise and tenon joint has also spread to the world through the Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture, which can be called an artistic treasure, making it used in high-end wooden furniture in the West, and making outstanding contributions to the world's human settlements. Therefore, wood art with mortise and tenon as the core has become the only field in which China continues to lead in the history of world architecture.

The mortise and tenon technology reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, and the thousands of components of a large palace could be tightly fastened together without a single nail, which is really remarkable.

Whenever the mortise and tenon member is subjected to more pressure, it becomes stronger. Old wooden buildings can survive many earthquakes and remain unharmed, in addition to the strong ductility of the wood, there are also mortise and tenon joints holding hands together.

Mortise and tenon is the soul of classical furniture, between a tenon and a tenon, a turn and a turn, condensing the essence of thousands of years of traditional Chinese furniture culture, precipitating the composite inheritance of classic furniture styles in the streamer rotation.