Architecture article

Architecture article

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.

Early Years

Liang Sicheng was born on April 20th 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, to Liang Qichao (1873 – 1929) and his wife Li Huixian (1869 – 1924). Liang Qichao, a prominent scholar of the reformed Confucian tradition, "had leapt into fame as a leader of the reform movement of 1898," but had to leave China for Japan that same year following a conservative coup d'etat led by Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 – 1908) and the later Chinese "President-Emperor" Yuan Shikai (1859 – 1916). In Japan, he co-founded the Baohuang Hui (the Society for the Protection of the Emperor) with his mentor and teacher Kang Youwei. The family of Liang Sicheng eventually stayed in Japan for 14 years, where he thusly lived for most of his childhood, until they returned to China in 1912, enabled by the new permissive political climate that accompanied the anti-monarchist, republican Xinhai Revolution, first settling in Tianjin. Liang Sicheng is considered the favorite son of his father. According to an article of his, his memories of the time in Japan are fond, generally defined by familial peace, care by Japanese servants, attending a Chinese school and playing with his siblings. After returning to China, the Liang family lived in their Tianjin-based Western-style two-story mansion, located in the Italian concession. Following the appointment of his father as Minister of Justice of the recently founded Chinese Republic in September 1913, the family prepared for a necessary move to Beijing. There, Liang Sicheng and his brother attended an esteemed Anglican school in the years 1913 to 1915, whereafter Liang attended the Tsinghua College (which would later become today's Tsinghua University) for 8 years, until 1923. At college, he excelled in "scholarship and artistry" and autodidactically picked up sketching skills, which would later prove to be quite important.

Liang Qichao attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1918, spending the following year there as well, returning to China thereafter. By his arrival, he had noticed the strong focus on the "fruits of Western civilization" that Tsinghua College was teaching his sons. This resulted in the elder Liang's decision to hold lectures for three years – 1921 to 1923 – in what is essentially Chinese Studies for his sons, their cousins and a small select amount of others at his home in Tianjin. These lectures strongly impacted Liang Sicheng and can certainly be considered indicative of what "road of scholarship" he was going to take later on. In Liang Sicheng's final year at Tsinghua College, he eventually decided on enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania to study architecture. In 1923, Liang Sicheng suffered a thigh fracture during a car crash in Beijing that would render one of his legs noticably shorter, resulting in a limp, and requiring a back brace for the rest of his life – a handicap considered remarkable, given the nature of his later occupation that necessitated climbing on roofs and walking long distances in the countryside.

Studies

In 1924, Liang Sicheng left China for the United States, to actually enroll at the University of Pennsylvania in fall, after a brief stay at Cornell University during the summer. He did so together with his future wife, Lin "Phyllis" Huiyin and his roommate from Tsinghua College Chen "Benjamin" Zhi. In September 1924, Liang's mother died of cancer. Liang Sicheng was considered "very formal and dour," "serious and concentrated," a strong contrast to the lively, "vivacious and quick-witted" Lin Huiyin or the "most Westernized of the bunch" Chen Zhi. Fairbank further notes that "[d]uring his student years, Sicheng's abilities were recognized by the award of two medals and other honors for his designs," yielding respect from his father. Liang finished his studies together with Lin in 1927, him graduating as Master of Architecture, her with an Honors Bachelor of the Fine Arts, allowing them to finalize their engagement. He left Pennsylvania for Harvard in September 1927, where he was invited to "research Oriental architecture." During his stay in the United States, Liang Sicheng received various reprints of historical documents with architectural content from his father, which he studied meticulously. In February 1928, Liang finished his "preparatory" work in Harvard. In March 1928, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin married in Ottawa, at the Chinese Consulate, which they left for Europe right after the wedding.

Liang and Lin toured Europe as part of a half-honeymoon, half-study trip for the rest of that year. Hurrying from place to place, trying to find a proper balance between enjoyment and conducting "field research", they eventually visited France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany. At the end of the summer 1928, they arrived back in China, where Liang immediately re-united with his sick father and whereafter they relocated to Shenyang. Liang Qichao died on January 1929, apparently following a butched operation the aforegoing year.

Career

Liang Sicheng was invited to work at the Northeastern University in Shenyang, first as "Assistant Professor of the Department of Architecture," two years later, in 1930, as "Professor in Charge." At the time, the Department of Architecture consisted only of two people: Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng himself. Lin gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 1929. In that same year, the architectural department was enlarged by three more scholars: Liang and Lin's friend from Tsinghua and their time in the United States, Chen Zhi; Tong Jun, a Shenyang local; and Cai Fangying. All five were competent scholars of architecture, primarily that of a "Cret-style," as they were educated in the United States, and were teaching about both Western and Chinese architecture. Beyond their university work, they recognized the need for an active architectural practice in Shenyang, which led to the founding of a joint company of the name "Liang, Chen, Tong and Cai Architects and Engineers." This company received two commissions right after its founding, one for an entire campus for Jilin University in Changchun, one for a branch of the University of Communications at Jinzhou, both in Liaoning Province. Lin Huiyin took part in the activities of this company as well. During his time in Manchuria, Liang Sicheng showed his later characteristic opposition to blind destruction of valuable architectural sites in his attempt to save Shenyang's Drum and Bell towers, as they were considered hindrances to traffic by the local mayor. "As was to happen all too often in alter years, his advice was rejected."

In late 1930, Liang and Lin moved back to Beijing, where they would stay for the next seven years. There, Liang accepted a job offer from the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture to work as its director. In this role, Liang Sicheng properly devoted himself to finding the answer to a question he had learned while studying in the United States under Cret for the first time: How would the history of Chinese architecture be subdivided? Liang termed it the quest for the "grammar" of Chinese architecture. As part of his studies here, Liang recognized that the central material used in Chinese history was timber and that, for example, the impressive city walls of Beijing were merely exceptions to this rule.

Reading about the field trips of two Japanese archeologists, Liang Sicheng was prompted to study the countryside himself as well, an undertaking to be questioned, given the perishable nature of wood as the main building material of the buildings to be studied. He embarked on his first own field trip in April 1932, in order to study a structure, whose features he was reminded of in the works of the Japanese archeologists and which indicated to him the possibility of said tower being an extraordinarily old building. Arriving at the structure's location, Liang took to measuring. Two other buildings that they visited would not survive past today, only in Liang's drawings.

In 1932, Liang was joined by Liu Dongchen at the institute, who would become "Director of Documentary Studies," while Liang's title was changed to "Director of Technical Studies." Liang and Liu were set to venture into various cooperations together, the first of which was, however, to restore two-story library building. Various field trips followed in the years after.

In 1934, Liang published his first work on "Qing Structural Regulations," which would become a standard textbook later on.

In the early summer of 1937, Liang and Lin discovered a wood-frame structure that was dated back to the Tang dynasty, concretely to 857 AD, that was still intact, which is considered their "crowning achievement as historians of Chinese architecture." During the trip that led to this discovery and the aforegoing ones, Liang and Lin were often faced with wealthy or famous Buddhist temples that were fundamentally altered in the course of their history, which informed their decision to primarily be on the lookout for older sites, as those were expected to be much less prone to regular vain or functional modifications, which in turn meant that more of the original structure could be expected to be unaltered. Right after this discovery, the Marco Polo incident occurred, which led to the invasion of China by the Japanese Empire and the occupation of Beijing and other parts of China. For Liang and Lin, this necessitated a new plan regarding their return. After a detour, both managed to return to Beijing, organizing the entirety of their accoutrements and preparing to leave for their first refuge through Tianjin and Changsha: Kunming. In 1940, they eventually settled in the village of Lizhuang for the remainder of the war, where most Chinese educational institutions were evacuated to as well, and where they could continue their studies and work in a chaotic and tough, yet generally acceptable environment.

Liang Sicheng was "on duty" in Chongqing in a governmental position tasked with composing a list of objects to be specifically safeguarded during the war, when news arrived that Japan had surrendered, whereafter he returned to Lizhuang In Lizhuang, Liang and Lin brought their obligations into order and eventually left for Kunming, to re-unite with colleagues and friends. They stay in Kunming for a while, planning and organizing their further steps, with Liang specifically spending his time collecting and packing materials to be sent back to Beijing.

In late 1946, the Liangs arrived in Beijing, more than a year after the war had ended. In Beijing, Liang Sicheng was appointed by the Ministry of Education as head of a new Department of Agriculture at what is now Tsinghua University, and was also invited by the Universities of Yale and Princeton – invitations he accepted. He stayed at Yale for some time in 1947 to teach a course on Chinese art and architecture, where he also intended to finish his book "A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture" and ended up received an honorary doctorate. In 1947, he also took part, together with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer, representing China, in the design of the UN headquarters.

Lin Huiyin's condition, already having been sick in Lizhuang, had worsened during his stay in the United States, albeit not to a critical state. Tubercolosis had taken its toll, and one kidney was removed as part of several medical interventions. Lin eventually recovered, whereas at this point Liang had already returned for a while, having also acted as Lin's nurse.

On March 31, 1948, Liang and Lin celebrated their 20th anniversary. Liang had by now long resumed his duties at Tsinghua University, fostering a strict lecturing regime. In January 1949, units of the People's Liberation Army took control of Beijing, which marks the beginning of a new era for Liang Sicheng and his work.

Liang Sicheng in the People's Republic

Liang Sicheng's first contact with the People's Republic was that with an officer of the People's Liberation Army, who was tasked to inquire about which precious sites and structures were to be considered in a possible defense of Beijing, assuming artillery fire.

He was appointed Vice-Director of the Beijing City Planning Commission very soon as well. In this position, he formulated five central principles by which the planning of the new capital should be carried out:

1. The city should be (and remain) a political and cultural center, not an industrial one;
2. Industry must be absolutely barred;
3. The Forbidden City must be preserved;
4. New buildings inside the city walls should be limited in height to 2-3 storeys;
5. A new administrative center for government buildings should be established west of the Forbidden City.

Unfortunately, these principles were rejected by the Communist Party, save for the third one, as the Forbidden City had indeed been preserved. Especially concerning the problem of industry, Liang Sicheng was told that "Chairman Mao wants a big modern city... the sky filled with smokestacks."

Liang Sicheng had not accepted this rejection initially, and prepared schematics to further illustrate his ideas about a future Beijing, which culminated in an article entitled "Beijing — A Master Piece of Urban Planning," however without success. At the time, he was also called to participate in the drafting of a new national flag and emblem, of which the national emblem of China still in use today is considered his work. The Monument to the People's Heroes, one of the "Ten Grand Buildings" of Beijing, was also constructed according to his plans and under his supervision.

The Party also decided to tear down most of the city walls of Beijing, a decision that (justly) "horrified the Liangs." Liang Sicheng immediately took to present a counterproposal: Instead of tearing down the walls to open up the city to modern traffic and allow for new construction, the walls were to be reinterpreted as a grand public park, with "flower beds and garden seats," and the wall towers accomodating "museums, exhibitions halls, refreshment kiosks, and teashops." Yet again, the Party remained unconvinced by his proposal and the walls were eventually torn down in the following 20 years. "Utility, economy and, if conditions allow, beauty" became the slogan of the time.

Beyond his strong opposition to this terrible loss, Liang Sicheng remained a critic of the eclectic style of the late 19th and 20th century, according to which several buildings in Bejing were built then. The Party's tasks, however, required certain compromises in that direction, leading to many attacks on his original, truly Chinese plans and proposals. They were considered "formalistic" and "wasteful".

In 1955, both Liang and Lin were hospitalized and treated for tubercolosis. In 1945 already, Lin was only given an additional five years to live. 1955 was to be the last year of her life, exceeding these earlier expectations by an additional five years. She died on April 1st at the age of 51, due to the complications stemming from tubercolosis. The likewise hospitalized and weakened Liang Sicheng, aggrieved by the criticism of his work and saddened by the little success of his preservative proposals, thusly received this last severe blow that left him in shock and deep depression.

In the following years, Liang Sicheng rehabilitated himself to some extent in the eyes of the Party, following the issuance of various self-criticisms and criticisms of the "conservative reformism" of his father. In 1959, he was accepted into the Party. As an internationally reputed scholar, he was given the task to travel abroad and act as representative of the People's Republic at international meetings that concerned matters of art and archictecture. Aside from these travels, Liang Sicheng naturally continued his scholarly work at Tsinghua University. In 1962, he married Lin Zhu, a fellow at Tsinghua University.

In his last years up to the year of his death, 1972, Liang would become a political target in the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, decried regularly as a "collarborator of Peng Zhen," "reactionary academic authority" and "major rightist, who had infiltrated the Party." In the course of the following years, Liang Sicheng was regularly visited by Red Guards, robbed of many belongings, especially those considered to be of "bourgeois origin", beaten and publicly humiliated in order to repent for his non-existent or severely over-dramatized "sins" of the past 30 years. He remained a supporter of a socialist China, and remained interested in discussing what constituted the difference between the "bourgeois" and the "proletarian educational line" in his field, as this was one of the main criticisms of his, although this discussion was never able to occur. Liang Sicheng died on January 9th, 1972, in midst of love of his closest friends, but also in contempt by uncomprehending Red Guards.

Legacy

Liang Sicheng is justly considered the most important modern Chinese architect and the father of Chinese architecture as a discipline, and beyond as "tragic hero." In this role, he laid the foundation for proper scientific rigorosity to enter the domain of Chinese architecture. His remarkable expertise in Western architecture enabled him to utilize comparisons between the West and China with significant ease, for example in his descriptions of the "Chinese Order," and thusly allowed for a specifically easy study of Chinese architecture for the Western-educated scholar.