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Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China by Seng Kuan, Peter G. Rowe (Paperback, 2004)

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Built around snatches of discussion overheard in a Beijing design studio, this book explores 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, Chinese characters that are used to define the proper arrangement of what should be considered modern and essentially 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 Chinese form. The book considers such subjects as cultural developments in China in response to the forced opening to the West in the mid-nineteenth century, the return of overseas-educated Chinese architects, foreign influences on Chinese architecture, the controversy over the use of big roofs and other sinicizing aspects of Chinese architecture in the 1950s, the hard economic conditions of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution - when architecture was almost abandoned - and the beginning of reform.

Product Identifiers

PublisherMIT Press LTD
ISBN-139780262681513
eBay Product ID (ePID)89535627

Product Key Features

Book TitleArchitectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China
AuthorSeng Kuan, Peter G. Rowe
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2004
Number of Pages304 Pages

Dimensions

Item Height229mm
Item Width178mm
Item Weight726g

Additional Product Features

Title_AuthorSeng Kuan, Peter G. Rowe
Series TitleThe Mit Press
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States