Organizer: Kerrie L. MacPherson, University of Hong Kong
Chair and Discussant: Reginald Kwok, University of Hawaii
This panel will present the current research of the ongoing project "The History of Chinese Architecture in the Modern Era" focusing on the process of documentation beyond the standard interpretation of texts and built forms, to include the individual experiences through recorded interviews, with living architects in China and Taiwan.
The first paper will examine the use of oral history as a textual source in architecture to reconstruct the past by relating the history and life experiences of individual architects, developers and politicians who were ultimately responsible for the building of dwellings, monuments and cities in China The second paper will explore aspects of urban real estate development and building in the Republican period in China by refining conclusions drawn from recorded interviews with elderly Chinese architects ten years ago and relating this experience with current initiatives to conduct similar, videotaped interviews a decade later. The third paper will examine cultural change in the regional architecture of Taiwan and the impact on local architects in the post 1949 period by the influx of mainland Chinese architects who gave policy direction to architectural developments stressing those in the mainstream of the grand tradition in order to maintain the image of cultural orthodoxy. The last paper will explore the extent of the ramifications of the commonly held view of the dominance of Soviet planners and architects on the redesign of Chinese cities in the 1950s.
Building in Republican China: 1987 Audio Tapes a Decade Later
Jeff Cody, Chinese University of Hong Kong
The first part of this paper will focus on the conclusions drawn from 10 interviews recorded by the author in 1987-88 with elderly architects and builders who reflected on their construction practices in urban China from the 1920s to the 1940s. Eight of the ten were Chinese (most have now passed away) and two were foreign. The disparate stories they related illuminate aspects of republican Chinese building and real estate development that are only now beginning to be understood. The second part of the paper will outline some of the lessons learned from this oral history experience in the context of recent and ongoing initiatives to conduct similar, videotaped interviews in China ten years later.
The Use of Oral History as Text in Architecture
Frank Chi-hsien Sun, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Writings concerning history and theory of architecture and related subject matters is a succinctly established discipline. Research and documentation with regard to the built form have been well developed since the time of the Renaissance in the West. In the East, as far back as the Soong Dynasty, there were canons written concerning material and methods of construction in China. Considering the accumulation of texts on the subject matter over the centuries, very little is focused on the history and experiences of individual architects, contractors, developers and politicians who were ultimately responsible for the building of dwellings, monuments and cities. Individual experiences and accounts of a life through the transitions of time in a culture or in the history of a project in architecture can make important contributions to the reconstruction of events as a historical source. The collection and use of personal history has been utilized by anthropologists as a textual source since the latter part of the last century. Many have devoted considerable amounts of energy to the study of the subject matter as a discipline. In architecture and urban studies, the use of oral history as a textual source has not been well utilized in the past. This paper investigates the possibility of utilizing oral history as textual source in architecture. Examples from an ongoing research project in China will be given as evidence for presentation and discussion.
The Chinese Grand Tradition in Architecture and Taiwan Architects
Chao-Ching Fu, Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
In Taiwan the culture of the Chinese grand tradition was rarely dominant before 1949 because of her special historical and geographical background. Taiwanese societies before 1949 were permeated by the Southern Fukien and the Hakka cultures, which, in spite of being influenced by Confucian ethics and moral ideas of the grand tradition, nevertheless remained distinct in such regional concerns. Its architecture is distinguished from that of Chinese grand style by its lightweight appearance, especially shown in its curved lines and vivid decoration. In 1949, the Nationalist government retreated from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. The cultural realm of Taiwan started to change. Political life on Taiwan reflected the psychology of rulers in exile, determined not to give up the claims that sustained the historical continuity. Consequently, the policy direction of architectural development stressed those in the mainstream of the grand tradition, in order to maintain the image of cultural orthodoxy. Architects who received their professional education on the Chinese mainland and came with the Nationalist Government from the Chinese mainland became active in designing buildings in the grand tradition. Even the native architects were forced to join this trend. How these architects learned their knowledge on Chinese grand style architecture and in what context to execute the style in the new buildings will be the focus of this discussion.
"Liberating" Chinese Cities: In Search of the Moscow Line
Kerrie L. MacPherson, University of Hong Kong
In the 1950s, Soviet architects and planners, some of whom worked on the redesign of Moscow in the 1930s, came to China to advise on urban planning. Their influence on the re-design of Beijing and Shanghai, for example, has presumed to be very great in the formulation of plans to de-centralize the cities, for the location of industrial areas, and even architectural styles. This paper will examine these assumptions in light of what we know of post-war planning efforts in Chinese cities before l949, using archival materials and oral interviews.