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The zaojing is an elaborately ornamented wooden ceiling in traditional Chinese architecture. Constructed without nails, the layered pieces of the ceiling are held together by interlocking bracket sets (dougong). The zaojing resembles an intricately carved or painted dome, coffer, cupola, or sunken ceiling. The zaojing has been found in tombs of the Han Dynasty dating the use of this architectural feature back at least 2,000 years.

The zaojing is bordered by a round, square, or polygon frame with its brackets projecting inward and upward from its base. Deeply recessed panels shaped like a well (square at the base with a rounded top) are fitted into the ceiling's wooden framework. The center panel is often decorated with water lilies or other water plants. The name, zaojing, is a combination of zǎo (aquatic plants) and jǐng (well). The relationship of the name to water stems from the ancient fear that wooden buildings would be destroyed by fire and that water from the zaojing would prevent or quell the fire's flames.

Use
In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques. Simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the lattice ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the zaojing. Because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the zaojing was reserved for the ceilings of the most important Chinese buildings such as imperial palaces and Buddhist temple altars.

The tomb of Empress Dowager Wenmind of the Northern Wei Dynasty has zaojing in the flat-topped, vaulted ceiling in the back chamber of her tomb. The Baoguo Monastery in Yuyao in Zhejiang has three zaojing in the ceiling, making it unique among surviving examples of Song architecture. Sanquing Hall (Hall of the Three Purities) is the only Yuan period structure with three zaojing in its ceiling. Zaojing are frequently found in Han Dynasty tombs.

Function


Dougong is part of the network of wooden supports essential to the timber frame structure of traditional Chinese building because the walls in these structures are not load-bearing, being made of latticework, mud or other delicate material. Walls functioned to separate and divide spaces in the structure rather than to support  weight. The function of dougong is to provide increased support for weight on the horizontal beams that span the vertical columns or pillars by transferring the weight on horizontal beams to the vertical columns. Adding multiple sets of interlocking brackets or dougong  increase the amount of weight  transferred.

Multiple interlocking bracket sets are  formed by placing a large wooden block (dou) on a column to provide a solid base for the bow-shaped brackets (gong) that add  support to the beam above it. This process can be repeated many times, and rise many stories,  increasing the amount of weight a column  can support to an almost endless degree. It also allows structures to be elastic and to withstand damage from earthquakes.

During the Ming Dynasty an innovation occurred through the invention of new wooden components that aided dougong in supporting the roof. This allowed dougong to add a decorative element to buildings in the traditional Chinese integration of artistry and function, and bracket sets  became smaller and more numerous. Brackets could be hung under eaves, giving the appearance of graceful baskets of flowers while also supporting the roof. The Bao'en Temple in Sichuan is a good example of the Ming style. It has forty-eight types and 2,200 sets of dougong to support and ornament it.