This dissertation seeks to re-discover and re-present the experience and meaning of architecture as the core of the tradition through the analysis of selected ancient poems in Shi-jing (The Book of Songs), the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry dating from eleventh to the seventh century B.C., in which the meaning and experiences of the built environment are well preserved. It is hoped that this elucidation of some key sources of China's enduring architectural tradition might provide a scholarly basis for the cultural conservation of China in the current period of its modernization.;This dissertation seeks to convey an understanding of these poems in three major contexts: the paleographical, literal, and historical context. In doing so, the architectural terminology reflected in Shi-jing has been carefully studied; conceptual themes of building inherited in the ancient Chinese characters and terms employed in the poems have been extracted and analyzed. The ensuing analysis probes the underlying meaning of the poem and presented the intended and implied experiences discussed therein regarding the meanings of architectural space as place.;The findings of this dissertation reveal some essential themes of the Chinese architectural tradition. In this tradition, building is inseparable from living; people dwell in this world to be unified with Nature by an all-embracing symbolism. The primary themes of experiencing the built environment as revealed by the poems are spatial and sequential with varying and contrasting characters that are composed in accordance with the rituals of the time.
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