Small-scale dotted buildings around traditional buildings in China were used for people to stay and watch, and also for ceremonies, commonly known as pavilions, which appeared in the middle and late Northern and Southern Dynasties. "Museum" also refers to the ancient grass-roots administrative institutions, which also has the form of guest houses. Generally, pavilions and pavilions are set in scenic places where people can stop and watch, such as hills, watersides, city heads, bridges and gardens. There are also some special-purpose pavilions, such as stele pavilions, well pavilions, sacrificial pavilions and bell pavilions. Besides square, rectangle, circle and polygon, there are many forms such as cross, chain, plum blossom and fan-shaped pavilion. The roof of the exhibition hall has complex points, hills, cones and other forms. A large pavilion can be built with double eaves or surrounded by buildings. Monuments and kiosks in tombs and ancestral temples can be made solemn, such as those in the Ming Changling mausoleum. Large pavilions can be magnificent, such as Wanchun Pavilion in Jingshan, Beijing. Small pavilions can be made light and elegant, such as the triangle pavilion in Hangzhou. Different forms of exhibition halls can produce different artistic effects. Structural practice, the pavilion structure is mostly wood, but also masonry structure. Pavilions are mostly composed of pyramidal roofs and conical roofs. The pyramid with four corners appeared in Han Dynasty, and the pyramid with eight corners appeared in Tang Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. The "pavilion bucket tip" contained in "Architectural Style" in Song Dynasty is similar to the umbrella frame structure. This practice can be seen in the gardens in the south of Qing Dynasty. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the square pavilion used corner beams, and the polygonal pavilion used baked beams, which were layered on top of each other. The structure of the rectangular pavilion is basically the same as that of the building.

Pavilions are large and small, and they are not fixed.