liūjīn dǒukē

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Scope note
Liujin douke is one of the bracket set (dougong 斗栱 or douke 斗科) types used in Ming and Qing dynasty official architecture. According to the Gongcheng zuofa (1734) the term liujin douke refers to a bracket set that connects the eaves purlin (yanheng 檐桁) to the interior purlin (jinheng 金桁) via one or more slanted timbers (chenggan 秤桿). Literally meaning “flowing gold bracket set,” it can be used in any of the three eaves bracket sets types, i.e. the inter-columnar bracket set (pingshenke 平身科), the corner bracket set (jiaoke 角科), and the pillar-top bracket set (zhutouke 柱头科). Here the word jin 金 refers to the interior purlin (xiajinheng 下金桁), while liu 溜 can be understood as a verb meaning “to slide”. It might also be understood as “a row" (pai 排). The slanted timber bar echoes the form of the Song dynasty ang 昂, but it functions less for roof load transfer and more as a stabilizing component locking the eaves to the interior structure. Modern scholars have used the term liujin dougong 溜金斗栱 to refer both to the liujin douke and tiaojin douke 挑金斗科.
liūjīn dǒukē
Accepted term: 01-Dec-2025