A collection of essays on architecture of modern China, arranged chronologically covering a period from 1729 to 2008, focusing mainly on the twentieth century. The distinctive feature of this book is a blending of ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ research, taking a long-range perspective transcending the current scene and the Maoist period. This is a short, elegant book that condenses the wide subject matter into key topics.
1. Modern Chinese Architecture 2. Perspective as Symbolic Form: Beijing, 1729-35 3. The Architect and a Nationalist Project: Nanjing, 1925-37 4. A Spatial Revolution: Beijing, 1949-59 5. The 1980s and 90s: Liberalization 6. Criticality in between China and the West, 1996-2004 7. A Global Site and a Different Criticality 8. Beijing, 2008: A History 9. Geometries of Life and Formlessness 10. Twenty Plateaus, 1910s-2010s
Biography
Jianfei Zhu is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture Building & Planning at the University of Melbourne. His research explores analytical and international perspectives on the Chinese experience in architecture, urbanity and social practice.
