Song Dynasty Commercial and residential buildings There are three main forms. One is reconstructed from residential buildings, including street style and courtyard style, mainly courtyard style. Street facing shops often open the front side of the yard to the outside as a shop room, while simple street facing shops do not have a backyard. The frontage shops range in width from one to five, with fewer of seven and more of three. Large stores sometimes use one of the side rooms as a doorway for vehicles to enter and exit the yard. The storefront houses facing the street are generally single-layer, with double slope overhanging mountain roof. Most of the courtyard stores are large stores, and the overall layout and architectural form are similar to those of residential buildings. They are only commercially decorated, focusing on the storefront facing the street.
The second is to carry out free layout according to the street and industry personality, and the building form is also more flexible, often with the changes of plane concave and convex and body height. Most of the above two types of commercial buildings are overhanging mountain tops, but they are not far away from the mountain. This is because the commercial land is tight and the houses are closely connected. The overhanging mountain tops are easy to cross and combine, and their structures are simple,. However, Xieshan cross ridge roof is usually used at the corner of the street, which is characterized by complete architectural modeling and rich landscape.
The third kind is the houses built for commercial activities, that is, "rent official land to create houses, market with people, and collect rent". Some are also called "city corridors". Most of them are built on both sides of the road. Long houses like corridors are used as market opening places for regular business activities. This kind of building is simple, with less investment, quick rent earning and high profits. Some officials often use their power to occupy both sides of the street and build a large number of city corridors to compete with the people for profits.
