Liang Sicheng Research Articles

Survey as method: field trips of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture, 1930–1937

In 1932, the Society for the Research in Chinese Architecture (SRCA) undertook a field trip to the Dule Temple, a Buddhist temple complex located 100 km from Beijing. Led by the Ivy-League trained Liang Sicheng, this survey opened up a new chapter for research into historic architecture in China. Supplemented by a series of other field trips, the Society sought to understand the constructional logic of ancient Chinese timber structures, and to communicate their findings in texts and drawings to architects, scholars, and the wider public, both in China and internationally. In order to explore these field trips, their methods and techniques, findings and dissemination, this article uses various outputs produced by the Society alongside photographs, drawings, and descriptions of the work undertaken on site. Set within the context of a nascent national identity that was in flux during the Republican period in China (1928–1937), this article considers surveying as a fundamental research method to record historic buildings, enable cross-examination with literature sources, and synthesise evidence for a new generation of Chinese scholars and architects.

Theoretical formation in the field of critique: a critical reading of Chinese architectural anti-waste campaign in 1955

ABSTRACT This study appraises the ideological criticism that emerged in the Chinese architectural sphere during the anti-waste campaign of 1955, which marks a pivotal moment in the history of modern Chinese architecture. Within this timeframe, architects and architectural scholars such as Chen Gan, Shui Fengman, and Liu Dunzhen, respectively questioned, defended, and criticized Liang Sicheng’s architectural ideas. Their articles were published in prominent Chinese publications including People’s Daily, Wenyi Bao [Art News], Jianzhu Xuebao [Journal of Architecture], and Xin Jianshe [Journal of New Construction]. By delving deep into the conceptual framework and the logical structure of these long-neglected critique articles, this study unveils the intricate debates in Chinese architectural practice and theoretical concepts during the 1950s. The findings highlight that the ideological critique during the anti-waste campaign not only reflects the infiltration of politicized rhetoric into the architectural domain but also assumes a profound significance in terms of the early attempts of Chinese architects to re-evaluate architectural historiography through the lens of Marxist theory. This pivotal event laid the foundation for the gradual formation and consolidation of a series of discursive patterns within the Chinese architectural community, exerting a lasting influence on contemporary architectural discussions and writings in multifarious ways.

The First Generation of Architectural Historians in Modern China: Their Studies and Struggles

This paper examines the intellectual history of the first generation of architectural historians in China, with a focus on the activities of Liang Sicheng and his colleagues from the 1920s to the 1950s. It analyzes the various oppressive forces they encountered during this period. Initially, they challenged Western and Japanese hegemonies in Chinese architecture research. Following World War II, they faced off against Soviet Union experts to safeguard China’s architectural heritage. The paper evaluates their successes and failures in achieving academic and social goals, their impact on the preservation of Chinese heritage, and their ongoing influence in academic and societal spheres. Additionally, it explores how professional ethics were utilized to dismantle colonial narratives and perceptions in China, suggesting that professionalism can serve as a mode of intellectual opposition.

Positioning the Chashou Roof Support in Chinese Architectural History

ABSTRACT A form of roof support that transmits the force of the roof ridge through axial loading to its triangular components matured in China by the time of the Sui (581 AD–618 AD) and Tang (618 AD–907 AD) dynasties. The structure attracted the attention of pioneering scholar of traditional Chinese architecture Liang Sicheng (1901–1972) in part because the structure bore similarities to the Western roof supports that later developed in the direction of the modern truss, and represented a road not taken by Chinese traditional architecture. Liang referred to the structure as a chashou. However, in the years since Liang’s death, scholars have applied the term chashou to an ever-broader range of angular components found in the Chinese architectural repertoire. By examining structural properties rather than external triangular forms, a more precise classification is proposed. Clarifying the unique features of the chashou in the Sui-Tang, this essay illustrates how a structure that matured by the time of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang reflected the gradual replacement of diagonal beam (xieliang 斜梁) rafter supports by China’s characteristic column and tie (tailiang 抬梁) construction.

The evolution of Liang Sicheng's construction of Chinese architectural traditions in his drawings (1920s–1930s)

This article investigates one of the earliest attempts to systematically construct a building tradition and incorporate it into modern Chinese architectural design. These efforts were put forth by Liang Sicheng (1901–1972), one of the most distinguished Chinese architects and architectural historians, in the 1920s and 1930s in China, informed by the strong collective intention to honour the Chinese past. This article provides a historical and critical reflection on this collective intention that is still shared nowadays by architects and architectural theorists.This article examines in depth the evolution of the different ways Liang used the building past and constructed the Chinese architectural traditions in different crucial stages of his architectural career in the 1920s and 1930s. It uses architectural drawing as both the research subject and the research method. Three of Liang’s representative drawings from these crucial professional stages are juxtaposed and investigated to reveal this evolution using the iconography and iconology method.

Visualizing Dunhuang: The Lo Archive Photographs of the Mogao and Yulin Caves

Visualizing Dunhuang: The Lo Archive Photographs of the Mogao and Yulin Caves

Liang Sicheng and the History of Chinese Sculpture

Liang Sicheng and the History of Chinese Sculpture

In commemoration of Liang Sicheng (1901\u2009~\u20091972)

In commemoration of Liang Sicheng (1901\u2009~\u20091972)

Guo Daiheng, Gao Yilian, and Xia Lu, Chinese Master Architect: Liang Sicheng. Beijing: Paths International Ltd. and China Architecture and Building Press, 2019. Pp. 422, with black-and-white illustrations. US$98.00 (cloth).

Guo Daiheng, Gao Yilian, and Xia Lu, <i>Chinese Master Architect: Liang Sicheng</i>. Beijing: Paths International Ltd. and China Architecture and Building Press, 2019. Pp. 422, with black-and-white illustrations. US$98.00 (cloth).

In defense of the wrongly convicted—Ernst Börschmann’s Chinesische Architektur and the controversial synchrony of the Chinese architecture survey

ABSTRACT Writing the architecture survey remains one of the biggest challenges in the field. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western scholars usually followed a synchronic approach (literally “with-time”) and described Chinese architecture without reference to its development and evolution over time. Although synchrony (attention to a particular moment in time) is not incorrect in principle, it is all too often attached with a negative connotation. A possible reason is that Liang Sicheng, and the generations after him, have understood all facets of synchrony as expression of the old dichotic worldview that once glorified Europe and deprived Asia of its history (non-historical timelessness) as formulated by the German philosophers Hegel and Herder and codified in Fletcher’s and Fergusson’s authoritative textbooks. Challenging the previous misconception of the generalization of synchronic textbooks, the paper attempts to examine the multiple facets of synchrony and identify the writing style of Börschmann’s Chinesische Architektur, the prime example of the German-language survey on Chinese Architecture. In doing so, the paper hopefully can provide basis and arguments in defense of the work, presenting a reconciliation to the biased, subjective presentation of Chinese architecture once afflicted with prejudices and misapprehensions. The paper values Börschmann’s Chinesische Architektur as a distinguished work different from other synchronic writings through its pioneering, value-neutral and formal approach.

Review: Chinese Architecture: A History, by Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt

Review: <i>Chinese Architecture: A History</i>, by Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt

Courtyard in conflict: the transformation of Beijing’s Siheyuan during revolution and gentrification

After Liang Sicheng’s effort to preserve ‘Old Beijing’ failed, vast areas of traditional hutong neighbourhoods were cleared to make way for socialist monuments and work-units. From the 1950s onwards collectivisation that forced siheyuan dwellers to share their homes with ‘comrade tenants’, especially after the Cultural Revolution when courtyard owners were persecuted, remaining siheyuan houses had been dirty and crowded, known as dazayuan, mostly occupied by working-class families, until recently, when the ‘socialist market economy’ rendered such neglected residences profitable. Wealthy property developers evicted the local population, often not without forced relocation and government cooperation, and refurbished these courtyard houses as ‘new siheyuan’ for sale to the emerging business elites and celebrities.This article explores the transformations of Beijing’s siheyuan against the turbulent history of China since the mid-twentieth century. It illustrates the ways in which architecture was reconfigured to channel and contribute to the broader social and ideological missions of the CCP. Whilst the construction of monuments propagated a positive image of the regime through grand ceremonial events, the tragic experiences of the courtyards’ inhabitants during both revolution and gentrification embodied the penetrating depth and far-reaching consequence of the Party’s social and ideological engagement in the daily life of the common people. The former operates on the symbolic level with landmarks, satisfying growing nationalism with the promise of a powerful country of which to be proud, and the latter on the practical level with day-to-day dwellings, first accommodating the urban proletarians as a product of the revolution then satisfying the emerging commercial elites in a society of growing capitalism. The control of domestic space became an important part of Chinese governance, for which the reshaping of people’s lives through architecture served as a crucial measure to legitimate the regime in ideology and to provide support for its changing political agenda.

Bowing to Chairman Mao: Western-Trained Intellectuals and the State in the Early PRC

This article examines the political experience and mental journey of four Western-educated Chinese intellectuals in the Mao era: art critic and translator Fu Lei; architect Liang Sicheng; historian Zhou Yiliang; and rocket scientist Qian Xuesen. It shows that though initially politically unaffiliated, all four were rapidly drawn towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), identified with the Party norms and lent support to the state. Such development can be attributed to their serious deliberation on ideological, social and personal issues, and the Party’s co-optation strategies. They were either eventually victimized in Maoist campaigns, or took advantage of political winds for personal advancement, or shrewdly carved out a professional space by virtue of political correctness. Their stories shed important light on the complex pattern of thinking and behavior of Chinese intellectuals, and the dynamism of the CCP in its early rule.

Leonardo Unveiled by Chinese Writers: The Reception of Renaissance Art in Twentieth-Century China

The reception in mid-twentieth-century China of the Italian Renaissance in general, and of Leonardo da Vinci in particular, is the subject of this article, focusing on two figures: Fu Lei and Liang Sicheng. After travels in Europe in the 1920s, Fu Lei returned to China and delivered a series of twenty lectures in 1934, which were well received at the time but were only published in 1985 as Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Fine Art. The title is deceptive, as the lectures focused exclusively on European art. Addressing the paintings of Leonardo and Botticelli, Fu Lei sought to find equivalents in the Chinese language of the emotions ascribed to the viewer of Leonardo’s paintings, such as Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. Chen Liu notes a marked ekphrastic element in Fu Lei’s work, which sought for musical analogy and employed the manner of Chinese literary criticism called shi-hua to bring the reader closer to the spirit of the art work. Nearly twenty years later in 1952, Liang Sicheng published an article on Leonardo in the context of a conference on world geniuses. Writing as an architect, Liang Sicheng’s Leonardo is very different from that of Fu Lei, and stresses the engineering interests of the Renaissance polymath and his scientific research as a model for the future development of planned socialism in China.

Academic origins and characteristics of the Chinese stylistic restoration

The conservation practice in China, termed “Chinese stylistic restoration” in this study, has been influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophy and construction principles, the modern Chinese conservation theory of Liang Sicheng and Liu Dunzhen, and Western and international theories and policies concerning conservation. This study uses three case studies, namely, Shanghai Zhenru Temple, Jianfu Palace Garden, and Angkor Wat Chau Say Tevoda Temple, to demonstrate the main characteristics of the Chinese stylistic restoration, including its emphasis on style over authenticity, pursuit of a gestalt form, and flexible attitude toward reconstruction. Accordingly, these practices have shaped the current Chinese conservation theory as reflected in the case studies reported in “Principles for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China” and the Qufu Declaration.

Why Study Chinese Architecture?

Translator’s Note The article that follows was first published in Zhongguo yingzao xueshe huikan (Bulletin of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture), volume 7, number 1, in October 1944, when the journal resumed publishing after a seven-year hiatus. The Society for Research in Chinese Architecture had been founded by Zhu Qiqian (1872–1964) in 1930, and its leading members were Liang Sicheng (1901–72), Liu Dunzhen (1897–1968), and Lin Huiyin (1904–55). The war against Japan that officially broke out in 1937 wreaked havoc on ancient buildings in China, an issue that Liang discusses in the article, and also had a direct and drastic impact on the society, whose members were forced to flee Beijing. They went to southwestern inland China, settling first in Kunming, Yunnan province, in 1938, and then in the small village of Li Zhuang, Sichuan province, in the winter of 1940. Amid the severe material and financial hardships caused by the war, the society also had to endure the departure of its most important members and contributors to its research, including Liu Dunzhen in 1943. The handful of remaining scholars decided to resume publication of the bulletin in 1944, probably writing their journal articles by hand and reproducing the pages lithographically for distribution. The article followed a foreword and acknowledgment in the 1944 issue of the journal. During the society’s existence the journal was to publish only one more issue, in October 1945. Although Liang Sicheng was not named as the author of the article (which was signed only “the editor”) it is usually attributed, reasonably, to Liang Sicheng himself.1

In This Issue

Research Article| March 01 2014 In This Issue Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2014) 73 (1): 4. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2014.73.1.4 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation In This Issue. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 March 2014; 73 (1): 4. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2014.73.1.4 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search The impact of foreign building traditions on Chinese architecture had been limited until the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, dramatic changes in construction occurred as the result of the introduction of Western architectural practice and methods of architectural history, as China transformed from an imperial society to a republic to a communist state. In Chinese Architectural History in the Twenty-First Century, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt examines the state of architectural history in China at the end of the twentieth century and the impact that recent social and cultural transformations are likely to have on the field in the future. The National Central Museum in Nanjing (1935–48) was co-designed by the most distinguished architectural historian in twentieth-century China—Liang Sicheng. It has long been regarded, however, as a representative work of “conservative revivalism” in modern Chinese architectural history. Idealizing a Chinese Style: Rethinking Early Writings on Chinese Architecture and... You do not currently have access to this content.

Idealizing a Chinese Style

The National Central Museum in Nanjing (1935–48) was co-designed by the most distinguished architectural historian in twentieth-century China—Liang Sicheng. It has long been regarded, however, as a representative work of “conservative revivalism” in modern Chinese architectural history. Idealizing a Chinese Style: Rethinking Early Writings on Chinese Architecture and the Design of the National Central Museum in Nanjing attempts to demonstrate the creativity of the design process, Lin Huiyin, and the architects’ ideal for a Chinese-style modern architecture. This ideal, Delin Lai argues, is profoundly rooted in the expectation of Chinese intellectuals for a “Chinese renaissance,” for which the Chinese architectural past was studied, evaluated, and more importantly, redefined through a dialogue with the contemporary architectural discourses and historiography formed in the West. The National Central Museum epitomizes this search for an ideal.

The planning connection between Clarence Stein and Liang Sicheng in Republican China

If Liang Sicheng's meeting with the eminent American planner Clarence Stein in 1936 started Liang's career in planning, it would be a significant event in Chinese planning history. No research has yet explored this claim on Stein's influence on Liang or Stein role in introducing American planning ideas and practices to China. To explore this cultural exchange, the author provides a more holistic understanding of their earnest friendship based on the study of archival materials including the Stein Papers at Cornell University and Liang's working diary at Tsinghua University, their own published writings, and the scholarly work on their contributions. This article reports a more complex picture of this exchange and shows that their friendship deepened while Liang was in America during 1946–1947 as Stein inspired Liang and exposed him to various American planning projects. However, in pursuing of a Chinese planning theory, Liang inherited of diverse traditions and did not rely on Stein alone.

A Review on Prof. Liang Sicheng's Thought and Practice of Heritage Conservation

Prof. Liang Sicheng made great contribution to heritage conservation of China. He established the very impressed concept of historic monument restoration of "fix old as the old", and the concept of integrated urban conservation. However, with the time passing, the concept of "fix old as the old" is out of the main conservation theory of today.