Architecture article - Versionsgeschichte

Mkrst: /* Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture */

2021-03-16T06:44:26Z

Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture

Mkrst am 16. März 2021 um 06:44 Uhr

2021-03-16T06:44:11Z

Mkrst am 16. März 2021 um 06:36 Uhr

2021-03-16T06:36:24Z

Mkrst: /* Bibliography */

2021-03-16T06:22:38Z

Bibliography

Mkrst: /* Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture */

2021-03-16T06:21:06Z

Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture

Mkrst: /* Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture */

2021-03-16T06:20:18Z

Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture

Mkrst: /* Liang Sicheng */

2021-03-16T06:08:55Z

Liang Sicheng

Mkrst: /* Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture */

2021-03-16T05:56:23Z

Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture

Mkrst: /* Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture */

2021-03-16T05:53:46Z

Revolutionary Ideology and Architecture

Mkrst: /* Bibliography */

2021-03-16T05:47:44Z

Bibliography

@@ Zeile 82: / Zeile 82: @@
 Revolutionary, socialist ideology has played a role in China since the Xinhai Revolution and at latest since the May Fourth Movement. Originally considered as one of the many flavors of an anti-imperialist, nationalist outlook of many young Chinese seeking to liberate China from the might of the imperialist hegemons, it has later developed into a much more sophisticated idea system that would shape China to this day.
-The term "ideology" can mean a variety of things, depending on context. In this paper, it is synonymous with "idea system" and it follows that all societies are necessarily guided, one way or another, by some ideology or a mixture of some. For the Chinese communists – and not rarely socialists at large – ideology would not just be considered the general guiding rod of society, but represent the fabric that orders all aspects of social life in total. One such aspect was the design of communal or industrial buildings, of cities and entire landscapes, or even just structures for aesthetic pleasure, i.e. one such aspect was architecture in the broader sense of the term. As the central theme to the communist (and, thusly, in most cases Marxist) interpretation of the world is class struggle within class society, architecture, too, was considered a tool therein, just like any other aspect of life. Any ''object'' (in the phenomenological sense) was either supportive of the bourgeois status quo, or supportive of the socialist challenge to this status quo. Neutrality was rarely, if at all considered, or interpreted as supporting the status quo through indifference in lieu of inequality.
+The term "ideology" can mean a variety of things, depending on context. In this paper, it is synonymous with "idea system" and it follows that all societies are necessarily guided, one way or another, by some ideology or a mixture of some. For the Chinese communists – and not rarely socialists at large – ideology would not just be considered the general guiding rod of society, but represent the fabric that orders all aspects of social life in total. One such aspect was the design of communal or industrial buildings, of cities and entire landscapes, or even just structures for aesthetic pleasure, i.e. one such aspect was architecture in the broader sense of the term. As the central theme to the communist (and, thusly, in most cases Marxist) interpretation of the world is class struggle within class society, architecture, too, was considered a tool therein, just like any other aspect of life. Any ''object'' (in the phenomenological sense) was either supportive of the bourgeois status quo, or supportive of the socialist challenge to this status quo. Neutrality was rarely, if at all considered, or interpreted as supporting the status quo through indifference in the face of inequality.
 Once the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army had taken control of Beijing and proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949, revolutionary ideology quickly entered all spheres of life that were under control of the Party at the time – it represented the "official cultura attitude."<ref>Fan, 36</ref> As previously stated, Beijing specifically was given much attention. The top priority of the time was to avoid high-cost construction and lavishness, and to transform Beijing into a "modern industrial city".<ref>Fan, 37</ref> Considerations of style and aesthetics were secondary at most.<ref>Fan, 39</ref> Using this logic and considering the situation the People's Republic was born into – a country still plagued by civil war that has been more or less ongoing since 1911, underdeveloped, exploited by the imperialist powers and disease- and poverty-struck – it makes sense that aesthetics would not constitute the top priority for the new state.

← Nächstältere Version		Version vom 16. März 2021, 06:44 Uhr
Zeile 91:		Zeile 91:

	Eventually, considering all of this, the defining features of the young People's Republic in its ideological relationship towards architecture were: consistent collectivism, anti-traditionalism, and disdain for what was considered "grandiose." Communal planning and architecture was informed by Yuan Jingshen's guideline previously mentioned and forced to be as simple as possible, leaving very little room for any preservationist or otherwise "scholarly" considerations. And these defining features demarcated the path for the entirety of any architectural activity in the time between 1949 and 1978.		Eventually, considering all of this, the defining features of the young People's Republic in its ideological relationship towards architecture were: consistent collectivism, anti-traditionalism, and disdain for what was considered "grandiose." Communal planning and architecture was informed by Yuan Jingshen's guideline previously mentioned and forced to be as simple as possible, leaving very little room for any preservationist or otherwise "scholarly" considerations. And these defining features demarcated the path for the entirety of any architectural activity in the time between 1949 and 1978.
		+
		+	== Conclusion ==
		+
		+	Glancing over what has been written thus far, I would like to pick up what I've said in the introduction already: I've been quite disappointed and saddened by the fate of old Beijing, as well as that of Liang Sicheng himself. Liang's ideas for the modernization of Beijing, specifically the transformation of its city walls into one great system of a public park, consistently sounded wonderful and leave one yearning for their implementation, and equally sick following the realization that this shall never happen, at least not with Beijing's original city walls.
		+
		+	Aside from this initial negative overlay, Liang Sicheng's grand oeuvre does leave one fascinated, in good hopes and content in view of its place in Chinese history in particular, and world history in general.

	== Bibliography ==		== Bibliography ==

← Nächstältere Version		Version vom 16. März 2021, 06:36 Uhr
Zeile 1:		Zeile 1:
	Architecture article		Architecture article

		+	== Introduction ==
		+
		+	Within the confines of the proseminary ''Power, Art, and Architecture in China'', taught by Prof. Cao Jin, we were tasked to write a corresponding proseminary paper. For this paper, I've chosen the history of young Chinese People's Republic, which spans the years 1949 to the late 1970s. This history ought to focus strongly on artistic and architectural aspects, which I've tried to account for mainly through a short biography of the famous Chinese architect and architectural historian Liang Sicheng, as well as an even shorter excourse into the role of revolutionary ideology as regarding architecture in Chinese society at the time. As this is my first proseminary paper, and as I've ironically only written full seminary papers thus far, I was not entirely certain concerning the scope and quality that this paper was intended to have.
		+
		+	Whenever I successfully enter a mental state that focuses on research, motivation feels next to boundless, and a kind of vanity forces one to write at least a somewhat decent paper in order to prevent any embarrassment. Considering I don't have enough experience to properly judge whether this paper would qualify as a "better proseminary paper", or barely reach its qualitative necessities to pass in the first place, I will leave it with a neutral comment: The histories of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin are in themselves quite fascinating, impressive and, near their end, still marked by tragedy.
		+
		+	While I do consider myself politically close to the political establishment of the young People's Republic, it has been dissapointing to properly study the effects many policies have had especially on old Beijing, and even more disappointing has been the treatment of Liang Sicheng for his attempt to save it. Sources for this paper were surprisingly hard to find, and given longer lasting lack of motivation prior to its composition, as well as the limits of a proseminary paper, are relatively few, standing at eight.

	== Liang Sicheng ==		== Liang Sicheng ==

@@ Zeile 92: / Zeile 92: @@
 * Li, S. (2002). Writing a Modern Chinese Architectural History: Liang Sicheng and Liang Qichao. Journal of Architectural Education, 56(1), 34–45.
 * Liang, S. (2014). Why Study Chinese Architecture? Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 73(1), 8–11.
 * Shatzman Steinhardt, N. (2014). Chinese Architectural History in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 73(1), 38–60.
 * Wong, S. (2015). Searching for a Modern, Humanistic Planning Model in China: The Planning Ideas of Liang Sicheng, 1930-1952. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 32(4), 324–345.

@@ Zeile 83: / Zeile 83: @@
 Much more central to the ideological efforts of the Party, however, were the People's Communes, first developed in 1958 as part of the Great Leap Forward.<ref>Lu, 41</ref> These communes were instituted on the countryside to do away primarily with the contradiction between countryside and city, as well as the contradictions between mental and physical labor, hard and easy labor, man and woman etc. "[T]he establishment of people's communes ... is the fundamental policy to guide the peasants to accelerate socialist construction, complete the building of socialism ahead of time and carry out the gradual transition to communism."<ref>Lu, 40</ref> The communes were characterized by the belief in the necessity of colletive organization economically, politically, and socially, as well as the principle of self-reliance.<ref>O'Leary & Watson, 594</ref> It was the communes that would turn out to be a central chess piece for the later Cultural Revolution.
-Eventually, considering all of this, the defining features of the young People's Republic in its ideological relationship towards architecture were: consistent collectivism, anti-traditionalism, and disdain for what was considered "grandiose." Communal planning and architecture was informed by the guideline xxx previously mentioned and forced to be as simple as possible, with very little room for any preservationist considerations. And these defining features demarcated the path for the entirety of any architectural activity in the time between 1949 and 1978.
+Eventually, considering all of this, the defining features of the young People's Republic in its ideological relationship towards architecture were: consistent collectivism, anti-traditionalism, and disdain for what was considered "grandiose." Communal planning and architecture was informed by Yuan Jingshen's guideline previously mentioned and forced to be as simple as possible, leaving very little room for any preservationist or otherwise "scholarly" considerations. And these defining features demarcated the path for the entirety of any architectural activity in the time between 1949 and 1978.
 == Bibliography ==

@@ Zeile 81: / Zeile 81: @@
 A widespread construction style of the time was the ''gandalei'', a rammed adobe house style, that meant low-cost and quick construction.<ref>Fan, 37</ref> ''Gandalei'' as a term referred metaphorically to two things: the "basic living unit in its material status ... [and also] to the fundamental working method and spirit of the first generation of residents who built them."<ref>Zhao, 157</ref> Just as important, however, is the consideration of the living situation in these houses. These ''gandalei'' allowed for strongly collective living situations, believed to aid in suppressing the vitalization or revival of a bourgeois-individualist lifestyle of its inhabitants, and was thusly considered exemplary ideologically.<ref>Fan, 38</ref> ''Gandalei'' were constructed all over the country between 1965 and 1966.<ref>Fan, 38</ref>
-Much more central to the ideological efforts of the Party, however, were the People's Communes, first developed in 1958 as part of the Great Leap Forward.<ref>Lu, 41</ref> These communes were instituted on the countryside to do away primarily with the contradiction between countryside and city, as well as the contradictions between mental and physical labor, hard and easy labor, man and woman etc. "[T]he establishment of people's communes ... is the fundamental policy to guide the peasants to accelerate socialist construction, complete the building of socialism ahead of time and carry out the gradual transition to communism."<ref>Lu, 40</ref> It was the communes that would turn out to be a central chess piece for the later Cultural Revolution.
+Much more central to the ideological efforts of the Party, however, were the People's Communes, first developed in 1958 as part of the Great Leap Forward.<ref>Lu, 41</ref> These communes were instituted on the countryside to do away primarily with the contradiction between countryside and city, as well as the contradictions between mental and physical labor, hard and easy labor, man and woman etc. "[T]he establishment of people's communes ... is the fundamental policy to guide the peasants to accelerate socialist construction, complete the building of socialism ahead of time and carry out the gradual transition to communism."<ref>Lu, 40</ref> The communes were characterized by the belief in the necessity of colletive organization economically, politically, and socially, as well as the principle of self-reliance.<ref>O'Leary & Watson, 594</ref> It was the communes that would turn out to be a central chess piece for the later Cultural Revolution.
 == Bibliography ==

@@ Zeile 4: / Zeile 4: @@
 == Liang Sicheng ==
-To further illuminate the pathways of what is probably the most important architectural figure in the history of modern China, I have attempted to bring forth a somewhat detailed, yet concise biography of Liang Sicheng. Wilma Fairbank has thankfully already provided us with an exhaustive biography of both Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, which has been the core of the following chapter.
+To further illuminate the pathways of what is one of, in many aspects perhaps even ''the'' most important architectural figure in the history of modern China, I have attempted to bring forth a somewhat detailed, yet concise biography of Liang Sicheng. Wilma Fairbank has thankfully already provided us with an exhaustive biography of both Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, which has been the core of the following chapter.
 === Early Years ===

@@ Zeile 83: / Zeile 83: @@
 == Bibliography ==
-* Egermann, E. et al. (Hrsg.). (2013). Transcultural Modernisms. Sternberg Press.
+* Zhao, Chunlan. A  Modernist Project in China Gandalei Mudhouses in Early Daqing. in: Egermann, E. et al. (Hrsg.). (2013). Transcultural Modernisms. Sternberg Press.
 * Fairbank, W. (2008). Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past (1.). University of Pennsylvania Press.
 * Fan, K. S. (1998). Socialist Ideology and Architecture: A Study of the Chinese Architectural Journal. Thresholds, 17, 36–42.