Chinese Dijiao (Cellar) Courtyard

The Dijiao Courtyard, located in Pinglu County, Yuncheng Prefecture, Shanxi Province, China. It is a unique residence on a loess plateau. The courtyard was built below ground level, on average 10 meters deep. Dotted by trees, it remains warm in winter and cool in summer. The courtyard is seen as a legacy of history. There are still quite a lot of older people living in the courtyard.

There is a Chinese proverb to describe the characteristic of the cellar:

     There is no mountain when raise the mountain

     There is no courtyard when get into the courtyard

Smoke spiral from the ground

Suddenly you can hear the cockcrow

The reason why people built the Dijiao Courtyard was due to the height above the sea level is around 1000meters (where London is 12meters only) in Shanxi Province and has the strong sand storm years ago, as there is a short supply of stone block, people have to dig big holes from the ground to became an underground architecture and people still keeping in use today.

(Some of the cellar were more than a hundred meter square, but it also has small one which only occupied around 20 meter square.)

After a big hole dig from the ground, people needed to dig the "main room" and the other rooms they need.(Sizes and numbers of the rooms varied by the size of the cellar.) At the corner of the cellar, a long hole horizontally needed use as the pathway connect to the ground(entrance) and the courtyard.

Room which faced to the sun where people usually built at the center used for living, the other rooms on two side used for storage and private livestock. 

                        

                        

         

          

People used the main room for all the indoor activities, for example: cook, eat, sleep and receive visitors all in one room. Newspaper and fabric were use for prevent the dust from the wall. 

The reason why I researched about the Chinese Dijiao Courtyard was due this kind of architecture is undercover. It is hard to realize it from outside unless you already stand at the edge of the hole or drop into it accidentally. And this problem can protect people who live inside. With fill with full food storage, have all facilities for living etc.