Yang Tingbao, who produced predominantly eclectic buildings in twentieth-century China, should be regarded as a modern architect. In 1983 a monograph of Yang’s architectural works and projects was published by the China Architecture and Building Press, the first such publication on an individual architect in the history of China.¹ Sadly, Yang did not see his own monograph; he died just a few days before it was printed. Although he was one of China’s most renowned architects, Yang has not merited even a footnote in the canonical discourse of twentieth-century modern architecture published in the West: he is, up to this...

Dong Dayou, also known as Doon Dayu, (1899–1973), is best remembered today for his Beaux-Arts-influenced plans and buildings for the Greater Shanghai Civic Center, which he carried out between 1929 and 1937 (fig. 8.1). Much less known are a series of modernist houses, including his own home, which he designed during the same period. Despite the paucity of studies about him, Dong was a significant member of what is commonly referred to as China’s First Generation of modern architects and ran one of Shanghai’s most prolific practices before World War II. His career illustrates the complex ways in which...

Liang Sicheng (1901–1972), founder of the modern study of Chinese architecture in China, was one of China’s most influential modern architects and China’s leading architectural historian from the late 1920s and even posthumously.¹ Liang’s most influential work before the year 1949 was accomplished when he was the pivotal member of the Zhongguo Yingzao Xueshe (Society for Research in Chinese Architecture).² Beginning in the 1950s he was a leader in the redesign of Beijing and the establishment of architectural policy for the People’s Republic as well as the most renowned Chinese architect internationally. Whether as textual researcher and teacher, or...

In 1936 a Chinese scientist writing about the impact of young Chinese engineers and architects returning from the United States to China observed that “the introduction into China of railways, telegraphs, telephones, the new types of buildings and architecture, etc. which are distinctively inventions and achievements of the West, [has been] slow and generally improperly handled at the beginning” (fig. 10.1).¹ The writer then observed that, despite its dilatory nature and “ improper handling,” there were “many new types of architectural design, which generally exhibit balance with a touch of dignity in the structural composition.”² These kinds of general appraisals...

The founding of the Republic of China in 1911 meant the end of a ritual continuum tracing back two millennia and stretching from the court’s ceremonies to the marriages, births, and deaths of the common people. It had included ritual signals and arrangements ranging from a mandatory hair style for men—the queue—to the legitimate cut, fabric, and colors of clothing people of different classes were permitted to wear, to the means of transport they were allowed to use, and finally to the imperial calendar that defined time. When the court’s ritual hegemony ended with the fall of Qing,...

In his pioneering work,A History of Building Types, Nikolaus Pevsner interprets the rapid increase and evolution of different building types in the nineteenth century as the response to the modern transformation of Western society.¹ The book uses structures such as monuments, libraries, theaters, hospitals, prisons, hotels, and factories as examples. However, it overlooks two other important types—the classroom and auditorium. Serving as both facilities for mass education as well as lecturing spaces, these two building types, which I here call “preaching space,” have played significant roles in China’s modern transformation, especially for nation-state building during the Republican period...

Zhang Bo and Zhang Kaiji were prominent figures in the field of architecture in China, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. Although not related, the two Zhangs shared more than a family name. Zhang Bo (1911–1999) was born a year earlier than Zhang Kaiji (1912–2006), and both received their architectural education at National Central University in Nanjing, today Southeast University, where the curriculum was based upon Beaux-Arts principles, and both worked at the state-owned Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research (BIADR) as chief architects from BIADR’s founding days in the 1950s until their retirements, 1995 for Zhang...

“Since the municipal government is the administrative organ for the entire city, it merits the respect of Chinese and foreigners alike. . . . Given that architecture reflects a nation’s cultural spirit . . . municipal government architecture should be in a Chinese style to earn the respect of urban citizens.”¹ This 1929 injunction from the Shanghai Municipal Center Architectural Design Committee reflects the overriding concern of Republican state officials and city planners/architects that urban public buildings command universal respect as embodiments of the Chinese nation. These ambitions moved Chinese architects, many of whom had been trained using Beaux-Arts-inspired design...

Beaux-Arts traditions in Chinese urbanism after 1949 were closely linked to authoritarianism, in which social values were promoted in architecture and urban design. However, after urban reforms were inaugurated in 1978, the nature of state power changed, resulting in the private and other sectors having greater importance in the country’s social and economic lives. In this chapter I shall provide a comprehensive overview of the forces and consequences associated with the processes that helped reshape China’s contemporary urban landscape, and I will suggest how the role of Beaux-Arts traditions in China’s urban landscape should be redefined. I will first examine...