In Chinese architecture a Northern style represents the power of the ruler; a Southern style, freedom from government interference. The latter was probably developed by painters during Southern Sung, when North China was under the rule of "barbarians". When, in the 16th century, the Chinese from the Southern coastal provinces began to immigrate to Taiwan, they took with them their architecture with its elaborately curved and decorated roofs, as a symbol of their cultural superiority. After 1947, the mainland Chinese used the so-called Renaissance, pat- terned after the Northern style, for government buildings. These two poles of architecture on Taiwan, the Peking Palace style and the uniquely consistent variant of the Southern style preserved on the island, sugges- supported by Sung buildings - that architectural styles arise from historical situations, to which they, in turn, give visual and lasting expl'ession. Resume Dans l'architecture chincoise, un style du nord represente la puissance du despote et un style du sud la liberte de l'esprit. II fut vraissemblablement forme par les peintres de l'epoque Sung du sud, alors qu'en Chine sep- tentrionale regnaient les barbares. Lorsqu'au XVI" siede, les Chinois des provinces littorales du sud commencer, ent d'emigrer vers Formose, il em- porterent avec eux leur architecture aux toits richement arques et orne- comme symbole de leur superiorite culturelle.