長江和黃河分別位於中國的南方和北方，是孕育中華文明的兩個源頭。幾千年來，兩個流域的文化互相影響，互相交融，從而形成了中華民族的五千年文明。兩種文化在長期的融合的過程中，也又都保持了各自的鮮明個性。民居建築也不例外。
本文以長江和黃河兩個流域的傳統民居建築裝飾為研究对象，經過多年的田野考察，從兩個區域總共選出 705 例（包括運河沿線民居 397 例）傳統民居，其中 484 例位於長江流域，221 例位於黃河流域。
本文在研究南、北方民居特點的時候，重點選擇了京杭大運河沿線的民居（這些案例同時分別屬於長江流域和黃河流域），在這其中又重點研究了大運河裡運河段的民居。原因如下：
秦嶺--淮河一線是中國大陸南方與北方的界線。淮安、揚州兩地（裡運河地區）處於長江、淮河之間，淮河橫穿整個淮安市的腹地，而揚州緊緊依靠著長江北岸而生，兩個城市處在長江和淮河之間，在整個中國大陸南北分界帶上，這裡是南北地理、氣候的分界處。處於南北文化的交匯處，南北文化在這裡相互衝擊並充分交融。南北貫通的京杭大運河成為文化交融的重要的媒介。民居建築同時受到南北民居風格影響。民居建築同時具有南方、北方民居的很多特點。在研究過程中，把京杭大運河分為三段，即江淮之間的裡運河段、淮河以北的運河北段、長江以南的江南運河段。在這三段中本文共選取了 397 個典型民居作為研究對象。其中北段 99 個，裡運河段 156 個，江南段 142 個。本文從平面佈局、結構形式、構造做法幾個方面充分研究淮安、揚州兩地（裡運河地區）的民居建築在南北建築文化的夾擊下所同時具有的南、北風格特點，並在此基礎上形成了自己獨特的建築風格，文章論證產生這種風格特點的深層次原因，主要在於氣候、禮儀和區域文化。同時，文章通過對比身處裡運河地區的淮安、揚州兩地民居由於地理上的些微差別而具有的一些不同特點，進一步論證了這個觀點。
本文在進一步研究南、北方民居細節特點——建築裝飾時，從磚雕、木雕、石雕、油飾彩畫幾個方面充分研究這些傳統民居的建築裝飾，研究的重點是在這兩個流域的區域文化影響下，傳統民居建築裝飾表現出來的不同之處，並試圖找到產生這些不同的原因，主要在於地理、氣候、政治、技術和民俗。

The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are located in the south and north of China respectively. They are considered the two sources of Chinese civilization. For thousands of years, the cultures of the two basins have influenced and blended with each other, thus forming the five thousand years of Chinese civilization. Despite this long integration, the two cultures have maintained their distinct personality. Vernacular dwellings aren’t an exception.
This paper researches the architectural style characteristics of traditional vernacular dwellings in these two basins (the Yangtze River and the Yellow River). After field investigations, a total of 705 examples (including 397 examples in the Li Canal Reach of the Grand Canal)of traditional vernacular dwellings have been selected from the two regions. 484 examples are located in the Yangtze River basin and 221 examples in the Yellow River basin.
In the study of the characteristics of the southern and northern dwellings, this paper focuses on the dwellings along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (These examples belong to the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin respectively.). Among them, it focuses on the dwellings in the Li Canal Reach of the Grand Canal .The reasons are as follows:
The Qinling Mountains--Huaihe River Line is the geographical line that divides Mainland China into the north and south.The Li Canal has a reach that extends from Huai'an to Yangzhou, lying between the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. Moreover, this region divides China geographically and climatically into north and south. It can also be considered as an intersection where cultures from the north and south meet and integrate. Running through the north and south of China, the Grand Canal has become an important channel of cultural integration. Vernacular buildings aren’t an exception, as they are simultaneously affected by architectural styles from the north and south. As the Huaihe River and Yangtze River are the geographical and climatic dividing lines of north-south China, this paper divides the Grand Canal into three segments– the Li Canal reach (stretching between Huaihe River and Yangtze River), the north segment of the Canal (north of Huaihe River), and the Jiangnan Canal segment (south of Yangtze River). Totally, 397 cases of typical vernacular dwellings were selected in three segments as the study subjects. Among them, there were 99 samples from the north segment, 156 from the Li Canal reach, and 142 from the Jiangnan segment .This paper exhaustively studies the characteristics of the vernacular dwellings in the Li Canal reach across Huai'an and Yangzhou, from the perspective of layout, structural style and construction approach. Influenced by architectural cultures of the north and south, dwellings at both these places possess features of the north and south, and have created their own unique architectural styles. This paper attributes climatic conditions, customs, and regional culture as the fundamental reasons for these styles. Meanwhile, the paper further proves this conclusion by comparing features of vernacular dwellings in Huai'an and Yangzhou based on geographical nuances.
In the further study of the detailed characteristics of the southern and northern dwellings -- architectural decoration, The architectural decoration of these traditional vernacular dwellings is examined from the aspects of brick carvings, wood carvings, stone carvings, oil paintings and color paintings. The focus of this study is the identification of decorative variances in the architectural decoration of these traditional vernacular dwellings due to regional influences. Attempts were made to ascertain the reasons for these differences, in terms of geography, climate, politics, technology and folk customs.

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