Relationships between Social Classes and Honorific Arches and Their Influences on Art ———A Case Study of Bashu Region

As a kind of memorial buildings, the honorific arch is the materialized form of feudal ethics and rites. It was closely related with people either in its construction or in its final presentation. The feudal ruling class was the determiners of building such honorific arches as well as the sponsors together with arch owners, their families, squires and guilds. The ruling class and the folk people chose the themes of such arches and then they formed the artistic verbal repertoire from which the folk artisans selected deeds. And finally the form with the art preaching and both refined and popular tastes came into being.