shàliǎngtóu 厦兩頭

Note

Shaliangtou 厦兩頭, literally “with a "mansion" on either end” (Kroll 2016, 492, 458), only appears as a technical term of architecture in the literature of the Tang and Song dynasties. Here it refers to a roof form used on a tingtang 廳堂 building. It is similar to the xieshan roof in the Qing dynasty, which is commonly translated as “hip-gable” or “hip-and-gable” roof, or a roof composed of four slopes and two gables in which corner beams extend at a 45 degree angle to support eaves sheltering the corner of the building. 4

In the Tang dynasty, only officials of the fifth rank or above were allowed to use shaliangtou in their houses. The same form of roof used in diantang 殿堂 buildings is called jiujidian 九脊殿 (nine-ridged hall) (Tianyige Musuem 2006, 344).5

Although usually treated as a single technical term, in translating the characters literally, shaliangtou might also be interpreted as a construction method for a roof structure. In the context of Tang-Song literature, xialiangtou may be read as a verbal phrase, meaning either “to [add a lower] set of eaves (xia 厦 here meaning a mansion or additional building) to the sides of a building (liangtou 兩頭)” or “to make a gable on both ends of the roof ridge (xia 厦, working as a verb meaning “to cut”; sha 厦 as homonym for sha 殺 or xia 下) the two ends of a hip roof at the roof ridge, or “to make into a Xia 夏 dynasty-style roof” (if Xia-style meant “gabled”). In this case, “Xia liangtou” would not be a technical term. Further research is necessary to confirm the viability of this interpretation. Textual sources indicate that in the eleventh century the pronunciation of the term was also variable (《廣韻》1008, 四庫全書本，卷六，60; 《集韻》1039, 四庫全書本，卷八，51). 7

In Song dynasty paintings one can find many images of buildings with gable roofs where shed roofs (piyan 披簷) are added to the gable ends. However, this roof form, where eaves shelter all four sides of the building without the use of corner beams to create a full hip roof sheltering the corner columns, does not appear to have been considered shaliangtou in either style or building technique.

“厦兩頭” 僅出現在唐宋時期的文獻中,是一種用於廳堂建築的，類似於清代歇山頂 的屋頂做法，即由四個坡面和兩個山面組成，四角由角梁形成轉角。

在唐代，“厦兩頭”僅允許五品以上官員使用（天一閣 2006, 344）。“厦兩頭”用於殿閣建築則稱為“九脊殿” (Li 2009, 5.6a)。 6

廳堂若用“廈兩頭”造，則稍間用角梁形成轉角。因此“厦兩頭”不完全等同於“懸山兩側加披簷”，宋畫中多見的一種兩坡建築兩側山面加披簷，但沒有角梁轉角的屋頂形式，不應稱作“厦兩頭”。7

Related concepts

歇山 xiēshān

歇山轉角 xiēshān zhuǎnjiǎo

九脊殿 jiǔjídiàn

Broad Match: roof types