Beyond Revolution: Notes on Contemporary Chinese Architecture

Author(s): Jianfei Zhu

Source: AA Files , Spring 1998, No. 35 (Spring 1998), pp. 3-14
Published by: Architectural Association School of Architecture

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 Beyond Revolution:
Notes on Contemporary
Chinese Architecture

Jianfei Zhu

The dearth of research on twentieth-century Chinese the Qing dynasty and two millenniums of Chinese
architecture has left a sizeable gap in our knowledge imperial history. The May Fourth Movement of
of the architecture of the modern era.1 More 1915?27 led to a nationwide debate which sought new
importantly, it has also left unresolved two critical models for China.2 Chinese tradition and Western
issues. The first concerns the relationship of 'other' modernity were conceived of as opposites, and the
countries to the West and their relevance in a former was rejected in favour of the latter. However,
balanced historical discourse. A global map of the in this task of building a new nation the May Fourth
trajectories of Western influence is yet to be com? consciousness also involved an element of pro
pleted. How were these influences received in tradition revivalism. Such was the conceptual frame?
countries like China? How were they resisted, work by which Chinese intellectuals were bound in
adopted, reused and transformed? Did the con? the twentieth century, and many Nationalists and
frontation between tradition and modernity, so cen? Communists were in fact offspring of the movement,
tral in the West, also occur in China, and what form which formed the basis of the nation's political culture.
did it take? Is there a need for a re-evaluation of Western architects began to practise in Shanghai
modern architecture in the global context? and other cities in China during the 1870s. Chinese
The second issue concerns the historical context architects who had trained overseas, primarily in
of Chinese architecture. Unfolding on a vast scale, it America, entered the scene in the late 1910s. Of the
is a turbulent history, marked by radical change: first generation of Chinese architects Liang Sicheng
from an imperial dynasty to a republican state, then (1901-72) and Yang Tingbao (1901-82) were the most
a Maoist Communist state, and more recently a influential in establishing architectural teaching and a
modernizing 'Asia-Pacific' power. How did these design culture.3 Both were graduates of the Univers?
radical changes influence architectural thought, ity of Pennsylvania (1927 and 1924), where they had
practice and formal representation? What was the studied under the architect Paul Cret (1876-1945), an
nature of the design paradigms that developed and influential figure in America who had been trained at
evolved from these historical conditions? What have the Ecole des Beaux Arts.4 Liang founded the first
been the consequences, in the post-Mao, post-Cold architecture departments in China, at Northeast Uni?
War era, of China's opening up to and convergence versity in Shenyang (1928) and Tsinghua University
with the outside world? in Beijing (1946), where he instituted the Beaux Arts
This chronological account attempts to establish a system. In 1944 Yang joined Central University,
base for critical studies of such issues. The death of Nanjing, where an architecture department had also
Mao in 1976 and the Tiananmen Square events of been set up in 1928 along Beaux Arts lines. He
1989 are the pivotal moments which divide it into became head of the department and maintained this
three parts: before 1976, which is broadly outlined, approach for the following three decades.
and the two periods before and after 1989, which are The adoption of the Beaux Arts teaching pro?
discussed in more detail. gramme via Pennsylvania (and other schools in
America) is critical in understanding the development
Before 1976: Beaux Arts Architecture and the of Chinese architecture in the twentieth century. The
Chinese Revolution
eclectic, historicist and formalist approach of
From the mid-nineteenth century onward, China nineteenth-century European architecture, reflected
experienced a crisis unprecedented in its history: the in the Beaux Arts system, influenced Chinese archi?
direct challenge of a modernized and industrialized tecture in a variety of ways and at various times
West. The revolution of 1911 led to the rise of the during the century.5
Republic of China under Western influence, ending Architectural design in the early decades of the

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 century therefore consisted largely of revivals of a
variety of European historical styles. In response to
this and to the rapid decline of traditional Chinese
architecture, there arose in the late 1920s and the
1930s the 'Chinese Form' movement (^hongguo Guyou
zi Xingshi). Architects such as H. K. Murphy had
already experimented with incorporating Chinese
architectural features into their designs (Yenching
University, Beijing, 1926).6 This practice was further
promoted by the republican government in its
Shanghai and Nanjing (the national capital) planning
1. Dr Sun Yat-Sen's Mausoleum, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 1929. proposals in 1929, which were part of an attempt to
Architect: Lu Yanzhi. restore traditional cultural values and Confucian
learning. Chinese Form was characterized by the use
of a Chinese roof on a steel and concrete structure,
and the use of traditional decorative motifs and
sometimes of traditional spatial organization. The
best-known example is the Mausoleum of Dr Sun
Yat-sen (Nanjing, 1929) (Fig. 1), designed by Lu
Yanzhi (1894-1929), a graduate of Cornell University
in New York.7 Combining Murphy's influence, his
own studies of palace architecture in Beijing and of
the spatial organization of Chinese imperial tombs,
and the Beaux Arts principles of composition that he
had learned in America, Lu's design has been
described as Chinese Form architecture par excellence.
This building, indeed all the projects which may be
classified as Chinese Form, signalled a new Chinese
architecture arising from the particular conditions of
that time, and combined Beaux Arts with native
traditional elements. Socially and ideologically, it
offered a means of expressing aspirations for a
national revival. Aspects of the May Fourth
consciousness were present in this combination of
Western methods and traditional culture. Something
like a 'Chinese Beaux Arts' approach was developing
which, in parallel with the education programme,
formed the basis for further development in the
decades to come.
After devastating wars in the late 1930s and the
3. Cultural Palace of Nationalities, Beijing, 1959. Architect: Zhang Bo
and others. 1940s, China underwent another major transition in
1949: the founding of the People's Republic of China
under Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. Peace
and reconstruction followed, but Mao's revolution
had a high price. During the 1950s and 1960s, the
Cold War confrontation and Maoist revolutionary
ideals determined the dominant ideology of mainland
China, which became increasingly radical.
During the early and mid-1950s, there was a
second wave of Chinese Form, known as National
Form, or Socialist Realism, which was part of a surge
of national pride and optimism over the birth of the
new nation and, to some extent, over the defeat of
American imperialism in the Korean War. Mod?
ernism and the International Style were condemned
as an expression of Western imperialism, capitalism

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4. Tiananmen Square viewed from the south, Beijing, 1959.

5. Tiananmen Gate: the southern fagade decorated with red flags, slogans 6. Mausoleum of Chairman Mao, Beijing, 1977. Architect: Beijing
and a portrait of Chairman Mao. Beijing, 1949-59. Municipal Institute of Architectural Design.

7. Museum of History and Revolution, Beijing, 1959. Architect: Zhang Kaiji and others.

8. Exhibition Hall, Changsha, Hunan, early 1970s.

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 and bourgeois culture. Communist ideology stated
that art had a political purpose (Socialist Content)
and should adopt folk, regional and national forms
(National Form).9 In 1951 Liang Sicheng developed
these ideas into an architectural theory which served
as the basis for many projects of the period, including
Zhang Bo's Friendship Hotel (Beijing, 1956) (Fig. 2)
and Zhang Kaiji's Sibuyihui Office Building (Beijing,
1954).10 However, the approach to form was
essentially the same as that of the first wave under the
Nationalist Government: a Chinese roof set on a
modern structure. Despite the political changes and 9. Peace Hotel, Beijing, 1952. Architect: Yang Tingbao.
elaborate ideological theorization, the Beaux Arts
model that was introduced in the 1920s had survived Revolution of 1966-9. Out of a radical critique of
and was now serving a new political project. culture, whether Chinese or Western, feudalist or
After a brief interval of criticism and disfavour, bourgeois, a new proletarian culture was to be
National Form resurfaced, and reached its apogee at created. In the logic of revolution, the critique
the end of the 1950s. In September 1958, in the extended to violence and destruction. In the early
optimistic era of the Great Leap Forward, the central 1970s, after the political storm had subsided, a pro?
government commissioned 'Ten Grand Projects' in gramme of political symbolism emerged - a 'dis?
Beijing, to be built within a year, for the celebration course architecture' in the Foucaultian sense.13
of the tenth National Day on 1 October 1959. With Slogans, images of the red torch, star and flag,
nationwide co-operation the projects were completed portraits of Mao, and sculptures depicting the 'revo?
in time.11 Some of these buildings used Chinese roofs lutionary masses' were applied to the surface and sur?
(Beijing Railway Station and Cultural Palace of roundings of many buildings in China. Examples of
Nationalities (Fig. 3)). Others used Chinese decorat? this extreme extension of Chinese Beaux Arts to the
ive motifs within a Western classical composition, popular symbolism of the Revolution include the
with the limited though significant addition of politi? exhibition halls in Chengdu and Changsha (early
cal symbols such as stars and flags (the Great Hall of 1970s) (Fig. 8), a library at Guangzhou (1975) and the
the People and the Museum of History and Revo? railway station in Changsha (1977).14 This practice of
lution (Fig. 7)). The plans were strictly symmetrical applied imagery, prevalent across the entire ideo?
and hierarchical. The styles were a very particular logical landscape of China, had originated with the
combination of eclectic, historicist and 'classical'. decoration of Tiananmen Gate during 1949-59,
As buildings of the highest political and symbolic while the last and most prominent example was the
importance, the Ten Grand Projects dominated and mausoleum of Chairman Mao, to the south of
defined the landscape of the capital. The centre of Tiananmen Square, completed in 1977 (Fig. 6).
this landscape was Tiananmen Square, flanked to the During most of the twentieth century, high archi?
east and west by two of the ten new buildings - the tecture in China was essentially based on the Beaux
Museum of History and Revolution, and the Great Arts model. Functionalism and Bauhaus principles
Hall of the People. A monument to the south (1958) were accepted only in the design of public housing
and in the north Tiananmen Gate - which since 1949 and other functional buildings. Modernism as a for?
had been decorated with flags, slogans and a portrait mal and aesthetic approach was far more difficult.15
of Mao (Fig. 5) - completed the most ideologically In spite of Liang Sicheng's participation in the design
potent site of Communist China (Fig. 4).12 Here, of the UN buildings in New York in 1947, and a
against the background of the historical imperial city, handful of important modernist buildings such as
the legacy of the Ecole des Beaux Arts intersected Yang Tingbao's Peace Hotel (Beijing, 1952) (Fig. 9),
with the aims of the Chinese Communist Revolution: Communist resistance to capitalist expansion during
the Western classical approach, already localized and the Cold War excluded modernist architecture from
tested, was used in the representation of the revo? China in the 1950s and 1960s. During the compar?
lutionary state. In the evolution of the Chinese Beaux atively relaxed years of the early 1970s, a few
Arts model, the ten projects as a whole marked a modernist designs were built, including the 'Diplo?
transition from the tradition-based National Form to mats' Apartment Buildings' (Beijing, 1973); Dingshan
an ideologically based political symbolism. Hotel (Nanjing, 1974); and Liuhua Hotel (Guang?
Mao's agenda for a 'continuing revolution' zhou, 1974). In the more open atmosphere of the late
gathered momentum in the early and mid-1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, however, new forces emerged
reaching its climax in the Great Proletarian Cultural which again created a resistance to modernism.

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 igy6-ig8g: Modernization, the Return of environment the situation was changeable, modern?
Culture, and the Revival of National Form ism continued for some time to be excluded in favour
of a Beaux Arts-based historicism.
As part of a global effort to bring an end to the Cold
A third wave of National Form occurred in the
War and in response to changing domestic con?
ditions, China moved towards a more pragmatic 1980s. Looser and more pluralistic, it was encouraged
position, joining the United Nations in 1971 and though not controlled by the government, and had
resuming diplomatic dialogues with the USA after no strong ideological articulation. The revival of
Richard Nixon's visit to China in the following year. interest in tradition and in conservation (in 1982 and
Within the Communist Party, struggles between the 1986 a number of cities were listed as being of his?
radical and the pragmatic factions continued until torical cultural significance), and the increasing com?
mercialization of'tradition', contributed to and were
1976, the year of Mao's death and of the radicals'
removal from power. The pragmatists' victory was in fact part of this development. Many buildings were
marked by the return of Deng Xiaoping, who designed as literal imitations of traditional styles.
became the supreme leader in 1978. The agenda now 'Cultural streets' incorporating replicas of traditional
shifted from revolution to economic reconstruction shops were established in cities (Liulichang 'cultural
and modernization. In contrast to Mao's radical street', Beijing, 1985), and replicas of temples and
ideals, Deng's ideologically conservative position led, pagodas were erected on historic and tourist sites
in practice, to a more liberal approach in politics, the (Huanghelou Pagoda, Wuhan, 1985). In some cities,
economy, and social and cultural life. A new open especially Beijing, Chinese roofs were used on
door policy attracted not only foreign investment but
modern structures, often high-rises (New Beijing
an influx of ideas and information, which led in the Library, 1987; Wangfu Fandian Hotel, Beijing, 1989).
1980s to a degree of economic success and the blos? Compared with those of the 1920s?30s and the 1950s,
soming of cultural life. However, this modernizing formal compositions were looser and less integrated.
Eclectic and historicist features remained, but were
programme entailed problems and contradictions that
would surface in time. now assembled in open and sometimes disjunctive
The retreat of radical Communist ideology made compositions, reflecting the more dynamic and tran?
sient contemporary conditions.
possible a renewal of interest in both traditional and
early modern Chinese culture as well as Western Apart from commercial replicas and Chinese
culture.1 The confluence of these two great currents roofed high-rises, a few fine buildings, skilfully
proved dynamic. designed by eminent architects in a revival of tra?
There was a parallel change in architecture, a ditional styles, were erected on major historic sites.
One of the most remarkable, and controversial, of
surprising but essentially logical convergence of the
Chinese Beaux Arts tradition with the historicist post? these was Quelibinshe Guest House (Queli, Shan?
modernism that entered the country in the early dong, 1985) (Fig. 10), designed by Dai Nianci, then
1980s. The development of the first through time and the secretary general of the Architectural Society of
of the second across space intersected, at this point, China. The Guest House is traditional in style and is
to define a major element of the current scene. A situated in the centre of the historic city of Queli,
shared interest in history and tradition, and a resist? adjacent to a famous compound of buildings which
includes the house of Confucius. In the face of
ance to modernism, which was viewed as the
common opposition, resulted in a mutual reinforce? modernist experiments and an increasingly pluralistic
ment and, although in this open and competitive scene, Dai's building was applauded by senior archi?
tects in the capital,17 for whom it represented a model
sanctioned by tradition, an exemplary fusion of the
Beaux Arts and post-modern historicist ideas which
provided an alternative to novelty and modernity.
The Guest House provoked heated debates in the
architectural press during 1986-7.18
The Beaux Arts-post-modern hybrid was not the
only significant product of the confluence of Chinese
and Western cultures. After Richard Nixon's visit to
China in 1972, the Chinese-American architect I. M.
Pei and other American architects began to establish
connections there. At the invitation of the Chinese
government in 1979, Pei and his office undertook the
10. Quelibinshe Guest House, Queli, Shandong, 1985. design of the Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing which,
Architect: Dai Nianci. not without cross-cultural difficulties, was completed

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 -r t jp Mr* ^^r^"""^^^^!

11. Fragrant Hill Hotel, Beijing, 1982. Architect: I. M. Pei.

12. China International Exhibition Centre, Beijing, 1985. Architect: Ci Feiyi. 13. Duyiju Restaurant, Beijing, 1985. Architect: Bu Zhengwei.

14. Memorial Museum to the Victims of the Nanking Massacre, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 1985. Architect: Qi Kang.

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in 1982 (Fig. 11).19 Set in a former imperial hunting attempted a survey of buildings which were fast dis?
ground in a northwest suburb of the capital, the appearing, and which also involved reflections of a
building combined a purist modernism with elements period that had much in common with the current
of southern Chinese houses and gardens (off-white situation. In the fields of theory and design, the most
walls, lattice screens, ornament, intricate spaces, etc.), significant topic was the debate on tradition versus
in a scenographic composition which has also been modernity, largely generated by Dai's work. In a
described as post-modern. Not a revivalist work, it wider context, this debate, which resurfaced in
uses traditional elements distilled and rearranged to various intellectual circles in the mid- and late 1980s,
create a new form which is perceived as both modern signalled deep concern and anxiety about the
and Chinese, and represents a significant break with nation's development.23
the Beaux Arts and National Form approach in The 1980s was a vibrant but increasingly turbu?
mainland China. lent decade. Ideas and new practices flooded into the
Despite the alliance between Beaux Arts and post? country, joining the rush towards the great national
modernism, and the general tendency towards tradi? goal: modernization. This goal, however, was in an
tionalism, some modernist buildings were erected increasingly untenable contradiction with political
during the 1980s.20 With the influx of investment and realities.24 One of the artists taking part in the China:
the opening-up of markets, hotels and office buildings Avant-Garde exhibition in Beijing in February of 1989,
became a major vehicle for the International Style. Xiao Lu, completed her installation by shooting it,
Architects struggled to develop modern formal com? causing chaos and the temporary closure of the
positions capable of transcending the popular exhibition. Also included in this exhibition was a
commercial image. The most prominent of these series of performances known as 'suicide projects'
experiments include the White Swan Hotel by Mo
Bozhi (Guangzhou, 1983) and the China Inter? 15. 'Suicide Project
No.1\ photo/
national Exhibition Centre by Ci Feiyi (Beijing, 1985) performance,
(Fig. 12). More expressive works with a thematic Beijing, 1989.
Artists: Wei
'meaning' adopted an adventurous approach to form: Guangqing and
the Longbo Hotel by Zhang Yaozeng and others others.

(Shanghai, 1982) incorporated vernacular features;

the Duyiju Restaurant by Bu Zhengwei (Beijing,
1985) (Fig. 13) used dramatic imagery and unusual
materials to express its regionalist theme. The
museum built in memory of the victims of the Nan?
king Massacre by Qi Kang (Nanjing, 1985) (Fig. 14) is (Fig. 15). In March a well-known poet and visionary,
perhaps the most impressive of all: expansive hori? Hai Zi, committed suicide on a railway track, in an
zontal volumes set in extremely austere dry gardens, attempt to demonstrate 'the impossibility of language
creating a solemn and meditative atmosphere.21 Such and the world'.25 In May and June of 1989, in a
unorthodox works, together with the buildings by culmination of a movement of the late 1980s, tens of
I. M. Pei, became more influential in China. thousands of students gathered in Tiananmen
During the 1980s both Western and Japanese Square, an event that led to violent confrontation
writings were translated into Chinese. Two nation? and tragedy on an epic scale. At an architectural and
wide groups were established: the Modern Chinese spatial level the unexpected use of the Square by the
Architectural Design and Research Group in 1984 students, and the ensuing confrontation, transformed
and the Salon of Contemporary Architecture and the nature of this symbolic landscape. At a social
Culture in 1986. A symposium on creativity and political level, the event dramatically exposed the
design in architecture was held in Guangzhou in deep contradictions of the country's development
1985, followed by seminars and workshops, the aim of programme.
which was to recover the cultural and aesthetic The most immediate of the contradictions lay in
qualities of architecture that had been stripped away Deng Xiaoping's reforms and his open-door policy:
by the revolutionary campaigns of the 1950s and between the new open approach which encouraged a
1960s. 'Architectural culture' emerged as a key market economy and Western-style liberalism, and
phrase in the academic journals in 1986. A pro? the existing Communist centralist state. A related
gramme of research into colonial and early modern contradiction was that between liberalism, and the
architecture, initiated by Professor Wan Tan of traditional Chinese political culture which to some
Tsinghua University in Beijing, and supported by extent supported Mao's Communist rule as well as
Japan, was undertaken throughout the country.22 A Deng's position. But behind these conflicts was a
reaction to the revolutionary decades, this project more fundamental one concerning modernization

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 itself: between modernization as Westernization, and Asian cultures for their constructive potential in the
the survival of Chinese culture in the process of modern world and, more important perhaps, for the
modernization. This has been the central problem for theoretical resonance between classical East Asian
the Chinese intelligentsia throughout the century, as thought (on relativity and nothingness) and Western
first manifested in the May Fourth Movement. post-modern theories (of difference and deconstruc
tion), a link revealed in the late twentieth century,
1989-1990s: The Neo-Conservative and the Late which indicates another potential convergence.30
Modern
d) Two spheres of association that were suppresse
Given the developments and undercurrents of previ?
during the Cold War are now taking shape: on th
ous decades, China in the 1990s faces a new environ?
one hand an association between mainland China
ment with a different set of circumstances and
and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and on the
perceptions. The grand narrative of 'modernization'other the countries of East Asia. The survival of
with all its dreams and anxieties is gradually being
cultural traditions, along with successful economi
replaced by a more pragmatic and increasingly more
development in its neighbours, must stimulate main?
confident perception of the country and its position land China to view its own ancient civilization in
in the world. Comparison with some of the formerly
more favourable light and, with economic growth, to
Communist countries, and observation of East Asian
project itself as the chief cultural force within th
countries and of China itself, suggest the possibility of
region.
a new model of development.26 The gradual intro?
duction of a market economy under governmentAt a social-political level the centralist state is
adopting a new approach. While fostering moderniz?
guidance has been a staggering success in the social
and economic modernization of China and other ation, it is also repositioning itself within the frame?
countries in the region. As many have observed, itworkis of the Confucian political tradition, which
a form of political-economic practice which is rootedentails a degree of resistance to Western liberalism.
in the cultural traditions of the region and, after At
itsthe cultural and intellectual level, a new attitude is
development in neighbouring countries, is now emerging
an which may be characterized as neo
conservative.31 The conceptual frameworks and
accepted reality in mainland China.27 A new path of
oppositions of the 1980s and of the May Fourth
development is beginning to take shape, in which
cultural traditions are no longer seen as external Movement
and are rearranged, offering a new way out of
contradictory to the process of modernization.28 Thethe contradictions of the past: essentially there is no
longer an equation between modernization and
most significant aspects of this new development
include the following: Westernization, and this is opening up possibilities
for a new approach to modernization which involves
a) In ideological terms the open and liberal policy of
aspects of Chinese tradition. It offers not only new
Deng Xiaoping and Chinese Communists since the
solutions but also a new frame of reference that
1970s has been conservative. This pragmatic and con? fundamentally differs from that of the May Fourth
servative 'liberalism', in its reconstruction of a social
movement. After a century of struggles, China is
cultural hierarchy and in the current revival of tra?moving on to a new plane of consciousness.
ditional culture, is joining forces with the centralizingIn the realm of art and cultural practice, the
Confucian tradition which is rooted in Chinese
'modern' and the 'Chinese' have become inter?
history. twined, resulting in a more confident projection of
ideas involving both modern and traditional form
b) What is coming into China from the West has
been not only architectural post-modernism, but also
a broader post-modern conservative culture developed 16. A Book from the Sky",
installation, Beijing/Madison,
since the 1970s, emphasizing cultural relativism, 1987-93. Artist: Xu Bing.
regionalism and traditionalism, which is in turn
associated with a theoretical critique of 'modernity',
the Enlightenment project, and ideas of universalism,
rationalism and progress.29 Conservatism in China
and in the West have begun to flow together - a
narrative very different from the Utopian fiction of
universal 'modernization', in which China is caught
up in a progressive Western force.

c) In intellectual circles in the region as well as in the

West, there is a rise in studies of Confucian and East

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and content. This new confidence is apparent in
Chinese art, which is now reaching a wide inter?
national public. Zhang Yimou in his film Raise the Red
Lantern of 1991, and Chen Kaige in Farewell, My
Concubine, 1993, exemplify this phenomenon. In form
and language, although not necessarily in ideology,
their cinematic work reflects the mingling of Chinese
with modern. In the visual arts, artists such as Gu
Wenda and Xu Bing are internationally known for
works which are both modern and Chinese in theme
and form. Xu Bing's installation A Book from the Sky
(Beijing/Madison, 1987-93) (Fig. 16), in which 17. Architecture building at Tianjin University, Tianjin, 1990.
thousands of artificially created and thus meaningless Architect: Peng Yigang.

Chinese characters were meticulously printed on to

scrolls and books, has been recognized as a major
work of Chinese modernism.32
There have been no comparable polemical and
theoretical developments in the field of architecture.
But new patterns are emerging. As the old dichotomy
of traditional and modernist retreats, and cultural
traditionalism fuses with modernization, new work
can be influenced by a variety of approaches:
regional, contextual or late modern-formal. The
buildings of Pei and modernist experiments of the
1980s such as Qi Kang's Memorial Museum to the
Victims of the Nanking Massacre have helped to
inspire a new interest in pure form. In fact, this grow?
ing awareness of form is beginning to take a central
position, linking contextual regionalism on the one
hand and formal expressionism on the other; that is,
the vanguard of current Chinese architecture is
entering the realm of the late modern.33 Four princi?
pal currents may be identified:

a) There are buildings which employ abstract forms

and are determined by a closed language of geo?
metrical relationship. Wang Tianxi, a follower of Pei,
has designed buildings in this mode in Beijing,
including the Specimen Exhibition Hall and the
Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1994). 19. Liuyuan Hotel, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 1994. Architect: Qi Kang.

Peng Yigang's Architecture building at Tianjin Uni?

versity (Tianjin, 1990) is another formalist work in
which Pei's influence may be discerned (Fig. 17).
There are also buildings which may be described as
both formal and semantic. Liu Li's Yenhuang Art
Gallery (Beijing, 1991), Mo Bozhi's Museum of
Southern Wu King (Guangzhou, 1993), Xing
Tonghe's Shanghai Museum (1994) (Fig. 18), and Qi
Kang's Liuyuan Hotel (Nanjing, 1994) (Fig. 19) all use
abstract forms to project cultural themes or regional
characteristics.

b) Other works, in which abstract forms are em?

ployed but are no longer conspicuous, are more
expressive of regional, contextual or traditional char?
acteristics: Qi Kang's Meiyuan Museum (Nanjing,
1988) is moving in this direction (Fig. 20). Guan

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 Zhaoye's new library for Tsinghua University
(Beijing, 1991), adjacent to the old library and tra?
ditional in texture, scale and form, has enriched the
academic culture of the campus (Fig. 21). In Cui
Kai's Fongzeyuan Restaurant (Beijing, 1994), tra?
ditional window patterns are enlarged and re?
arranged on the fagade, creating a manneristic work
that is both modern and 'ethnic', with echoes of Pei's
Fragrant Hill Hotel.

c) Regional and contextual approaches are also

20. Meiyuan Museum, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 1988. Architect: Qi Kang.
emerging in urban design practice. The best example
of this development is Wu Liangyong's scheme for
the Juer Houtong district (Beijing, 1992) (Fig. 22).34
Intended to preserve Beijing's centuries-old urban
fabric, this project adopts the spatial relations and
formal features of traditional courtyard houses and
reinscribes them in the design of new residential
areas, in a process of 'organic renewal'. The design
also responds to contemporary conditions, for in?
stance in substituting neighbourhood units for tra?
ditional extended-family units. Wu's work, which is
receiving international acclaim (World Habitat
Award, 1993), has a theoretical basis: informed by
21. New Library, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 1991.
research on old Beijing and Chinese planning history,
Architect: Guan Zhaoye.
it seeks a generic approach to urban design.

d) In the regionalist-late-modernist continuum,

there is also an expressionist tendency, in which Bu
Zhengwei is the best-known practitioner.35 Following
his early work on the Duyiju Restaurant in the mid
1980s, he has designed several air terminals
(including Jiangbei Terminal, Chongqing, 1991, and
Liashan Airport, Yantai, 1993 (Fig. 23)) in which local
materials and dramatic signs and shapes are used to
express the character of the cities. Bu Zhengwei's
approach emphasizes the designer's subjective re?
sponse to the site and its culture. His recent theory of
22. Project for the Juer Houtong neighbourhood, Beijing, 1992. 'free formation' (^izailun), intended as a compre?
Architect: Wu Liangyong.
hensive design philosophy, is formulated in Taoist
23. Liashan Airport, Yantai, terms. When further developed in practice this may
Shandong, 1993. Architect:
Bu Zhengwei.
well become a highly articulated and self-conscious
polemic.

Apart from these more prominent approaches,

there are certain characteristics which are common
to architectural practice as a whole. The Inter?
national Style and post-modern neo-classicism can be
found in city centres across the country, most notably
in the high-rises and superblocks of Beijing, Shanghai
and Shenzhen. These are often of an over-large scale,
determined by the size of the functional programme,
heavy investment, the tradition of socialist planning,
and a new spirit of optimism. The National Form
approach, as was already evident in the 1980s, is
fragmenting, and increasingly is characterized by
loose compositions, gross simplification, and straight

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revivalism. Commercialization of the cultural tra? x979)> PP- 3~9> 152?64; and Jonathan Spence, The Search for
Modern China (London, 1990), pp. 310-19.
dition in a fast-developing economy has contributed
3. Zhenjian, 'Zhongguo jianzhushi de fengdai wenti ji qita'
to disconcerting, often crude collages of traditional
('On Defining Generations of Chinese Architects, and
elements mingled with the ultra-modern and with Other Issues'), Jianzhushi {Architect) 67 (Beijing, December
commercial signs and screens. Floating on the surface 1995)5 PP- 85-93; Zhu Lin, Koukai Luban de Damen: ^hongguo
of the city, they create a reality which is as artificial as Tingzao Xueshe Shilue [Entering Luban's World: A Brief History of

it is heterogeneous ? a reflection of the dynamic and the Chinese Architecture Research Society) (Beijing, 1995),
pp. 142-3; Lai Delin, 'Liang Sicheng jianzhu jiaoyu
globalized market economy.
The internationalization of the architectural scene sixiang de xingcheng ji tese' ('Liang Sicheng's Thought on
Architectural Education: Its Formation and Charac?
is another feature. Following Pei, architects from teristics'), Jianzhu Xuebao (Architectural Journal) 6 (1996),
China, from the region, and from overseas (Ronald pp. 26-9.
Poon, Tao Ho, Rocco Yim and C. Y. Lee) are active 4. Theo B. White, Paul Philippe Cret: Architect and Teacher
alongside Japanese and Western architects (Kisho (Philadelphia, 1973). Both Yang and Liang were con?
temporaries of Louis Kahn (1901-74), and all three studied
Kurokawa, Shimizu, Kenzo Tange, Toyo Ito, John under Paul Cret.
Portman, Richard Rogers, Skidmore Owings Merrill, 5. On the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and its approach to
Charpentier Arte). The presence of international teaching and design, see The Architecture of the Ecole des Beaux
architects is contributing to the demystification of Arts, edited by Arthur Drexler (Cambridge, Mass., 1977);
international 'isms' and to exchanges with local The Beaux Arts and Nineteenth-Century French Architecture, edited
by Robin Middleton (Cambridge, Mass., 1982); and H.-W.
architects on formal possibilities and design stra?
Kruft, A History of Architectural Theory (London, 1994),
tegies. Critical discourse on design and theory (such pp. 272-89 ('Nineteenth-Century France and the Ecole
as the AA Asia Workshops in China under William des Beaux Arts').
Lim and Wu Liangyong) is also on the rise. 6. In their efforts to adapt to local conditions, Christian
In conclusion, we may observe how, as a conse? missionaries in the late nineteenth century advocated the
use of Chinese architectural features in the design of their
quence of the open and dynamic socio-economic
churches, colleges, libraries and hospitals, a practice which
developments, and the convergence of ideas and
began in 1870s and was especially prevalent in the 1910s
approaches, the Chinese Beaux Arts model is losing and 1920s. Their relation to later developments in Chinese
its hold. At the end of this arduous and turbulent Form was, however, essentially formal rather than ideo?
century, China is leaving behind not only its revo? logical. See: Fu Chao-Ching, pp. 91?115.
lution but also the hybrid modern tradition of archi? 7. Fu Chao-Ching, pp. 116-20; Liu Fan, 'Lu Yanzhi yu
Nanjing Zhongshanling' ('Lu Yanzhi and His Nanjing
tecture in which the revolution was bound for so long
Mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-sen'), Jianzhushi (Architect) 3
to express itself.
(Taipei, 1994), pp. 115-25.
8. Although Beaux Arts influences in China of the 1920s and
I am grateful to Zou Denong and Fu Chao-Ching for the 1930s have been noted, the existence of a Chinese Beaux
material they generously offered on the Republican period Arts approach as an integrated, domesticated and pre?
and the 1950s. I would also like to thank Peng Yigang, Nie dominant paradigm in twentieth-century Chinese archi?
Lanshen, Qi Kang, Wang Jianguo, Zheng Xin, Wu Liang? tecture has been hitherto unacknowledged. A preliminary
yong, Bu Zhengwei, Zhang Fuhe, Zhang Jie, Dai Fudong, definition of this concept should include the following: the
Ronald Poon and Jeffrey Cody for their generous sharing of education system, the emergence of a Chinese version of
information and critical observations on the subject. I would eclectic historicism in the 1920S-30S, the incorporation of
also like to thank Mark Cousins, Mohsen Mostafavi and Mary traditional Chinese elements, the cultural ideological con?
Wall for their encouragement of this research, and William text of the time, and the subsequent survival of the
Lim, Chin Pai, Chu Joe Hsia, Jon Lang, Rory Spence and approach in different political conditions - in the Socialist
Mirjana Lozanovska for discussions on aspects of the research. Realism of the 1950s and in the post-modern historicism of
the 1980s.
9. William Craft Brumfield, A History of Russian Architecture
Notes (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 485-92; Catherine Cooke, Avant
1. I refer here to international academic circles based largely Garde Russian Architecture in the Twenties (London, 1991), p. 9;
on Western languages. However, it must be acknowledged Gong Deshun and others, pp. 23-4; and Chen Zhihua,
that some new efforts have been made recently to fill the 'Zhongguo dangdai jianzhushi lungang' ('A Critical Out?
gap. See, for example, Wu Guang-zu, 'China', Chapter 53 line of Contemporary Chinese Architecture'), in ^hongguo
of Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture (London, Jianzhu Pinglun yu ^hangwan (Chinese Architecture: Comment,
1996), pp. 1550-71. In Chinese-language publications, Analysis and Outlook), edited by Gu Menchao and Zhang
there have been two important books on the subject: Gong Zaiyuan (Tianjin, 1989), pp. 55-73.
Deshun, Zou Denong and Dou Yide, ^hongguo Xiandai 10. Gong Deshun and others, pp. 42-62; Chen Zhihua,
Jianzhu Shigang [An Outline of the History of Modern Chinese pp. 57-9; Fu Chao-Ching, pp. 165-84.
Architecture) (Tianjin, 1989), and Fu Chao-Ching, ^hongguo 11. Gong Deshun and others, pp. 77-81; Qhen Zhihua,
Gudian Shiyan Xingjainzhu (New Classicism in Chinese Architecture: pp. 62-4; Fu Chao-Ching, pp. 185-96.
A Historical Study of New 'Imperial' Chinese Architecture of the 12. Wu Hung, 'Tiananmen Square: A Political History of
Twentieth Century) (Taipei, 1993). Monuments', Representations 35 (Summer 1991), pp. 84-117.
2. Lin Yu-Sheng, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness (Madison, 13. For a discussion of architecture as 'statements' and

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 'discourses' per se, in the Foucaultian sense, see Paul Hirst, Deutsch (Honolulu, 1991), and David L. Hall and Roger
'Foucault and Architecture', AA Files 26 (1993), pp. 52-60, T. Ames's Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of
and Jian Fei Zhu, 'A Celestial Battlefield', AA Files 28 Chinese and Western Culture (New York, 1995) all indicate that
(1994), pp. 48-60. the link has been discovered. Writings by Kisho Kurokawa
14. Chen Zhihua, p. 68; Gong Deshun and others, pp. 121-4. and Botond Bognar on Japanese architecture reveal a
15. Chen Zhihua, pp. 56, 57, 69. Chen, an advocate of degree of such awareness. On the link and its relation to
modernism, has drawn attention to the continuing absence current Japanese architecture, see Jian Fei Zhu, Japan
of modernist architecture in China. and the Convergence of Eastern and Post-Humanist
16. Li Xianting, 'Major Trends in the Development of Con? Paradigms', Artifice 2 (1995), pp. 106-19, and 'Between
temporary Chinese Art', in Mao Goes Pop: China Post-ig8g Postmodernism and Buddhism', Regenerating Cities 7 (1994),
(Sydney, 1993), pp. 7, 5-12; Tu Wei-ming, China in Trans? pp. 44-9.
formation (Cambridge, Mass., 1994), pp. xxii, xi-xxv. 31. This term, which I have borrowed from Zhang Yiwu
17. Wang Mingxian , '85 Nianlai Zhongguo Jianzhu Wenhua (pp. 17-9), is, as I intend to suggest here, parallel to the
Sichaojishi' ('A Record of Cultural Ideas of Architecture term as it is used in the West (Habermas, 1983, p. 14; 1987,
in China since 1985'), in ^hongguo Dangdai Wenhua Tishi PP- 3-4)
{Cultural Consciousness in Contemporary China), edited by Gan 32. Linda Jaivin, 'Tao and the Art of Aesthetic Line Main?
Yan (Hong Kong, 1989), pp. 98-121. tenance', and Christina Davidson, 'Words from Heaven',
18. Wang Mingxian, pp. 99-102. The confrontation between in Art and Asia Pacific, vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1994), pp. 42-7,
tradition and modernity was not confined to architecture, 48-55. See also Li Xianting, pp. 8-9.
but was an issue in many intellectual and academic circles. 33. I use the term 'late modern' in its most generic sense,
See: Gan Yan, pp. i-vi, 1-35, and Tu Wei-ming, p. xxii. referring to a tendency in modern architecture that ex?
19. Carter Wiseman, /. M. Pei: A Profile in American Architecture plores self-consciously abstract and often geometric forms.
(New York, 1990), pp. 185-207. See also the special section Its rich extensions into contemporary ideological and the?
on Pei and his Fragrant Hill Hotel in Jianzhu Xuebao oretical positions in the Western world are not discussed
(ArchitecturalJournal) 3 (1983), pp. 57-79. here.
20. Chen Zhihua, pp. 70-71. 34. This is based on the author's interview with Wu Liang
21. The information on Qi Kang in this article is based on an yong as well as on Wu's book, Beijing Juchengyujuer Hutong
interview with him by the author, and on his writings, (The Old City of Beijing and its Juer Hutong Neighbourhood)
including: 'Jianzhu yishi guan' ('Consciousness in (Beijing, 1994).
Architecture'), Jianzhu Xuebao (Architectural Journal) 1 (1995), 35. This information was obtained from the author's interview
PP- 34-7 with Bu Zhengwei and Bu's writings, including: Jianzhu
22. Information about this was obtained from Zhang Fuhe of de neihan yu waixian: zizai shengcheng de wenhua
Tsinghua University in Beijing and from Jeffrey Cody of lungang' ('Content and Expression in Architecture: An
the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Outline of a Cultural Theory of Free-Formation'), Jianzhu
23. Gan Yan, pp. i-vi, 1-35. Xuebao (Architectural Journal) 3 (1996), pp. 28-30.
24. Zhang Yiwu, 'Miandui Kunhuo he Tiaozhan: 90 Niandai
Wenhua yu Wenxue de Xuanze' ('In the Face of Un?
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22: Jianfei Zhu
certainty and Challenge: Paths of Development for Fig. 6: from Jianzhu Xuebao, no. 9/10, 1959
Culture and Literature in the 1990s in China'), Jianzhushi Fig. 7: from Zhongguo Xiandai Jianzhu Shigang, by Deshun Gong
(Architect) 63 (Beijing, April 1995), pp. 14-28. and others, 1989
25. Zhang Yiwu, p. 17. Fig. 10: from Zhongguo Dangdai Wenhua Yishi, by Yan Gan, 1989
Figs. 13, 23: Bu Zhengwei
26. In Search of an East Asian Development Model, edited by Peter
Fig. 15: Institute of Fine Arts, Academy of Literature and Arts, Beijing
Berger and others (New Brunswick, N. J., 1988), and Fig. 16: from Art & Asia Pacific, vol. 1, no. 2, April 1994
William Overholt, China: The Next Economic Superpower Fig. 20: Qi Kang
(London, 1993).
27. Zhang Yiwu's writings are a clear representation of this
conscious awareness (see note 24 above). A similar obser?
vation, but from another angle, can be found in Ray
Huang, China: A Macro History (New York, 1997).
28. R. L. George, The East-West Pendulum (Cambridge, 1992);
and Tu Wei-ming, China in Transformation (Cambridge,
Mass., 1994), and The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary
Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia (Honolulu, 1992).
29. J?rgen Habermas, 'Modernity - An Incomplete Project',
in The Anti-Aesthetic, edited by H. Foster (Seattle, 1983),
pp. 3-15; J?rgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of
Modernity, translated by F. Lawrence (Cambridge, 1987),
pp. vii-xvii; and Jean-Franc^ois Lyotard, The Postmodern
Condition: A Report on Knowledge, translated by G. Bennington
and B. Massumi (Manchester, 1984), pp. vii-xxv, 37-41;
David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Cambridge,
Mass., 1989), pp. 3-65.
30. Tu Wei-ming's The Confucian World Observed is an example
of neo-Confucian research, and R. Magliola's Derrida on the
Mend (Indiana, 1984), David L. Hall's 'Modern China and
the Postmodern West', in Culture and Modernity, edited by E.

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