From the Neolithic era Longshan culture and Bronze Age era Erlitou culture, the earliest rammed earth fortifications exist, with evidence of timber architecture. The subterranean ruins of the palace at Yinxu dates back to the Shang. In historic China, architectural emphasis was laid upon the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that floats over this base, with the vertical walls not as well emphasized. This contrasts Western architecture, which tends to grow in height and depth. Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact of the width of the buildings. The deviation from this standard is the tower architecture of the Chinese tradition, which began as a native tradition and was eventually influenced by the Buddhist building for housing religious sutras—the stupa—which came from Nepal. Ancient Chinese tomb model representations of multiple story residential towers and watchtowers date to the Han. However, the earliest extant Buddhist Chinese pagoda is the Songyue Pagoda, a 40 m (131 ft) tall circular-based brick tower built in Henan in the year 523 CE From the 6th century onwards, stone-based structures become more common, while the earliest are from stone and brick arches found in Han dynasty tombs. The Zhaozhou Bridge built from 595 to 605 CEis China's oldest extant stone bridge, as well as the world's oldest fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge.
From the Neolithic era Longshan cul.ture and Bronze Age era Erlitou culture, the earliest rammed earth fortifications exist, with evidence of timber architecture. The subterranean ruins of the palace at Yinxu dates back to the Shang. In historic China, architectural emphasis was laid upon the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that floats over this base, with the vertical walls not as well emphasized. This contrasts Western architecture, which tends to grow in height and depth Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact of the width of the buildings. The deviation from this standard is the tower architecture of the Chinese tradition, which began as a native tradition and was eventually influenced by the Buddhist building for housing religious sutras—the stupa—which came from Nepal. Ancient Chinese tomb model representations of multiple story residential towers and watchtowers date to the Han. However, the earliest extant Buddhist Chinese pagoda is the Songyue Pagoda, a 40 m (131 ft) tall circular-based brick tower built in Henan in the year 523 CE From the 6t.h century onwards, stone-based structures become more common, while the earliest are from stone and brick arches found in Han dynasty tombs The Zhaozhou Bridge built from 595 to 605 CEis China's oldest extant stone bridge, as well as the world's oldest fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge.