Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China
| Author/creator | Rowe, Peter G. Author |
| Other author | Kuan, Seng Author |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | Cambridge : MIT Press |
| Description | 304 p. ill 09.000 x 07.000 in. |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from eBooks on EBSCOhost |
| Subjects |
| Summary | Annotation Built around snatches of discussion overheard in a Beijing design studio, this bookexplores attitudes toward architecture in China since the opening of the Treaty Ports in the 1840s.Central to the discussion are the concepts of ti and yong, or "essence" and "form," Chinesecharacters that are used to define the proper arrangement of what should be considered modern andessentially Chinese. Ti and yong have gone through various transformations -- for example, from"Chinese learning for essential principles and Western learning for practical application" to"socialist essence and cultural form" and an almost complete reversal to "modern essence and Chineseform."The book opens with a discussion of cultural developments in China in response to the forcedopening to the West in the mid-nineteenth century, efforts to reform the Qing dynasty, and theNationalist and Communist regimes. It then considers the return of overseas-educated Chinesearchitects and foreign influences on Chinese architecture, four architectural orientations towardtradition and modernity in the 1920s and 1930s, and the controversy over the use of "big roofs" andother sinicizing aspects of Chinese architecture in the 1950s. The book then moves to the hardeconomic conditions of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, when architecture wasalmost abandoned, and the beginning of reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970sand 1980s. Finally, it looks at the present socialist market economy and Chinese architecture duringthe still incomplete process of modernization. It closes with a prognosis for the future. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| ISBN | 9780262681513 |
| ISBN | 026268151X (Trade Paper) Active Record |
| Standard identifier# | 9780262681513 |
| Stock number | 026268151X 00015994 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |