“金瓦金銮殿，皇上不坐殿，一朝出了京门口，百姓的事儿牵着走...”
"In the Golden Tile and Golden Luan Hall, the emperor does not sit in the hall. Once he leaves the gate of the capital, the people will lead him along..."
瓦当，是中国古建筑屋顶、屋檐筒瓦顶端下垂部分。“当”为底之意，在古建筑屋檐上，瓦一块压一块，最底下的瓦带有一块瓦当，以阻住上面的瓦下滑、保护瓦下面的椽头免受破坏，装饰且实用。
Wadang is the overhanging part of the roof and eaves of ancient Chinese buildings. "Dang" means the bottom. On the eaves of ancient buildings, tiles are pressed one by one, and the lowest tile has a tile dang to prevent the upper tile from sliding down and protect the rafters below the tile from damage. It is decorative and practical.
而中国的瓦当源远流长，最有代表的自然要数北京了。远至3000年前的幽燕瓦当，到600年来明清紫禁城的瓦当，且均为皇家宫殿瓦当，自然要代表、乃至说明中国古建筑的演变。
China's tile tiles have a long history, and Beijing is the most representative. As far back as 3000 years ago, the Youyan Wadang and the Ming and Qing Forbidden City Wadang are all royal palace tiles, which naturally represent and even illustrate the evolution of Chinese ancient architecture.
瓦当早产生于西周时期，初多为半圆形，有素面瓦当及饰有重环纹的图案瓦当两种。
Wadang was born prematurely in the Western Zhou Dynasty. At the beginning, it was mostly semicircular, and there were two kinds of tiles: plain faced tiles and tiles decorated with heavy ring patterns.
春秋时期瓦当现可确认的主要有绳纹、素面和少量图案万当。战国主要的是图像纹，图案纹歹当，如燕国的饕餮纹，兽纹、云山纹、卷云纹，齐鲁的树木纹、动物纹，秦国的鹿纹、虎纹、豹纹等。
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the main identifiable tiles are rope patterns, plain surfaces and a small number of patterns. During the Warring States Period, the main patterns were graphic patterns, such as the gluttonous patterns of Yan...tree wood patterns and animal patterns of Qilu, deer patterns, tiger patterns, leopard patterns of Qin, etc.
在秦代，瓦当艺术呈现出一种清新写实的风格，图案瓦当多饰水涡纹，画像瓦当则多取材树木、树叶、动物等图案。
In the Qin Dynasty, tile art presented a fresh and realistic style. The pattern tiles were mostly decorated with water vortex patterns, while the portrait tiles were mostly made of trees, leaves, animals and other patterns.
到了汉代，四神瓦当盛极一时，万当图案以云纹和几何变形纹为主，文字歹当也繁盛起来，字数也由以两字到多字不等，且词句丰富，章法布局多样，瓦当艺术达到了其鼎盛时期。
In the Han Dynasty, the four god tile was in full bloom. The patterns of the ten thousand tiles were mainly cloud patterns and geometric deformation patterns. The characters were also prosperous. The number of characters ranged from two characters to many characters. The words were rich and the layout was diverse. The tile art reached its peak.
宋代变成兽面纹，一直沿用到明清。其中还是汉代的四神瓦当，堪称万当时代的后强音--青龙、白虎、朱雀、玄武。四神瓦当无论是图案形式，还是尺寸大小，都有严格的规定。青龙的方位是东，代表春季;白虎的方位是西，代表秋季:朱雀的方位是南，代表夏季:玄武的方位是北，代表冬季。
It became an animal face pattern in the Song Dynasty and was used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them are the four god tiles of the Han Dynasty, which can be called the post forte of the era of Wandang -- green dragon, white tiger, rosefinch and Xuanwu...
元代在瓦当中清一色的采用兽面为主的瓦当纹样，明清两代则以琉璃瓦为皇室用瓦，图案采用云龙纹为主，这一时期由干普通民居的砖雕发展起来，冲淡了瓦当作为装饰的主体地位，万当渐渐淡出了历史舞台。
In the Yuan Dynasty, the pattern of tiles with animal face as the main part was used uniformly. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, glazed tiles were used as royal tiles with cloud dragon patterns as the main part. In this period, the brick carving of ordinary folk houses developed, diluting the main position of tiles as decoration, and the Wandang gradually faded out of the historical stage.
中国传统建筑中，屋顶的瓦有仰铺和俯铺。所以前面的瓦也有两种，一种圆形或半圆形，瓦面弧形朝下，另一种三角形或如意形，瓦面弧形朝上。前者才是瓦当，后者叫“滴水”。
In traditional Chinese architecture, the tiles on the roof are laid upward and downward. Therefore, there are also two kinds of tiles in front, one is round or semicircular, with the tile surface curved downward, and the other is triangular or wishful, with the tile surface curved upward. The former is the tile, and the latter is called "dripping water".
过去的万当图案都是由工匠手绘、印板、雕刻，再烧制出来，所以每块万当的形状都不一样目万当上的字大多是书法家所写。所以不难理解，为何古代瓦当如此精美。因为古人把丰富的历史人文和审美情趣勾勒在了瓦当的方寸之间。
In the past, Wandang designs were hand-painted, printed, carved, and then fired by craftsmen, so each piece of Wandang has a different shape. Most of the characters on Wandang were written by calligraphers. So it is not difficult to understand why ancient tiles are so exquisite.
在漫长的岁月里，瓦当在不为人注意的角落里独自成长又默默老去， 它像是忠实的守护者，虽然历经千年风雨的剥蚀却依然坚守在自己的位置，向世人诉说着时光深处动人的故事。
In the long years, the tile dang has grown up alone in an unnoticed corner and has grown old silently. It seems to be a loyal guardian. Although it has been eroded by thousands of years of wind and rain, it still sticks to its position and tells the world moving stories in the depth of time.
