Dancheong

Dancheong refers to Korean decorative colouring applied to wooden buildings and artifacts, adapted from the Chinese practice of danqing. Based on five basic colours, blue, white, red, black and yellow, representing the cardinal directions and centre and reflecting yin and yang and five-element philosophy, it symbolizes stability, peace and a rewarding afterlife and is used mainly on important buildings such as temples and palaces, often with animal patterns on eaves. Beyond decoration, dancheong protects building surfaces from temperature and insects and conceals the crudeness of materials, and the artisans who apply it, called dancheongjang, are recognized in South Korea as part of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/