shàliǎngtóu en

Shaliangtou 厦兩頭, usually understood as “with a mansion on either end”(Kroll 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 (mansion hall) 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. 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).