University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 2015 An Investigation of Chinese Historical Grey Bricks of Soochow, Jiangsu and the Effect of Tung Oil Treatment Wenwen Xia University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Architectural History and Criticism Commons, Chinese Studies Commons, and the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Xia, Wenwen, "An Investigation of Chinese Historical Grey Bricks of Soochow, Jiangsu and the Effect of Tung Oil Treatment" (2015). Theses (Historic Preservation). 592. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/592 Suggested Citation: Xia, Wenwen (2015). An Investigation of Chinese Historical Grey Bricks of Soochow, Jiangsu and the Effect of Tung Oil Treatment. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/592 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. An Investigation of Chinese Historical Grey Bricks of Soochow, Jiangsu and the Effect of Tung Oil Treatment Abstract The grey brick is one of the key materials to Chinese traditional architecture. While brick-making in Europe and North America is well documented in sufficient literature, the kiln, firing and properties of the Chinese grey brick is to be explored more in detail. The process gives the bricks a different character and color. Bunches of Chinese literature and informal records show the outstanding character of Chinese grey bricks. And it is why historical grey bricks were commonly used in architectural buildings, city walls, mausoleum. This thesis is aimed to verify the good properties of Chinese grey brick through experiments, and investigate the effect of Tung oil in the treatment of brick materials, especially grey bricks.