Life in China 2017: A Picture A Day, January 13 – The use of dougong brackets goes back thousands of years in Chinese architecture. The word “dougong” literally means “cap and block.” They were/are a system of wooden interlocking pieces that gave the needed support because the walls were not load-bearing. They were layered under the wide eaves to support the load of the roof. The more important the building, the more layers of brackets. This system supposedly holds up very well in earthquakes, holding even when brick walls fall. They are credited as the reason so many ancient Chinese buildings lasted for so long. As time passed, methods changed some and the dougong brackets became more decorative and artistic. Today, you can still see beautiful, brightly colored dougong brackets on special buildings. These in the pictures are from the Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou. You can see more pictures of the ones used at the Po Lin Monastery in my blog post here: http://www.myownchinesebrocade.com/travel/2017/1/12/big-buddha-and-ngong-ping