Accidental Affinities

American Beaux-Arts in Twentieth-century

Chinese Architectural Education and Practice

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XING RUAN
University of Technology Sydney

hina'smodern architecturaleducationand practice Chinese architects trained at Penn in the first half of the
took off in the period of the 1920s through twentieth century;he later became one of the most influ-
the1940s, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which ential architectsin twentieth-centuryChina, and remained
traveledto China via the Chinese architectstrainedat the the spiritualleaderof Chinese architecturaleducationuntil
University of Pennsylvania (hereafter abbreviated as his death in 1982. In the 1920s at Penn, Yang was a star
"Penn"), has remained an unfinished legacy ever since. pupil and a protege of Paul Philippe Cret's.However, nei-
Contrary to a common belief that resistance is "an ther Yang'steaching nor his architecturalwork has been
inevitablepart of acceptance"that ideas and theories must known in the West.5 Within China, in 1983, the China
encounterwhen they travelto a new culturalenvironment, Architecture and Building Press published YangTingbao
AmericanBeaux-Artssailedsmoothlyinto the Chinese con- jianzhu shejizuopingji (YangTingbao, architecturalworks
text in the early part of the twentieth century.1This acci- andprojects),the firstmonographon an individualarchitect
dental encounter, in other words, did not arouse much in the historyof China.6Yangdid not get a chanceto see his
culturalshock;the Other could be unexoticandunalienand monograph;he died just a few days before it was printed.
was not necessarilydifferent.In the case of the Beaux-Arts This publication indicates, at least in China, a strong
in twentieth-century China, it is the nuance of "mutual acknowledgmentof Yang'ssignificantpositionin twentieth-
entanglement,"to borrow a term from Nicholas Thomas, centuryChinese architecture.
between universalvirtues and localities that deservesclose
scrutinyand theorization.2As Thomas argues,"Derivative
lingua francahave alwaysoffended those preoccupiedwith The First School
boundariesandauthenticity,but they offera resonantmodel China'sarchitecturaleducation,in the sense of the formal
for the uncontainedtranspositionsand transculturalmean- Westernuniversitytrainingsystem,beganin the firsthalf of
ings which culturalinquirymust now deal with."3 the twentieth century.It was perhapsa historicalaccident
This essay looks at the early-twentieth-centuryadop- that the Penn curriculumduring the
days of Cret in the
tion of AmericanBeaux-Artsin Chinaand examineswhatits 1920s began its profound and long-lasting influence in
"turningand twisting,"or its "sociallife," as Thomas puts China as the first model of architecturaleducation. But it
it, manifestsin the Chinese context.4It focuses on the edu- was certainlynot accidentalthat this model was a universal
cation and architectural works of Yang Tingbao one derivedfrom the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
(1901-1982). Yangwas one of a group of fifteen or more The earliest Chinese students of architecturewent to
 schoolsin Japan,Europe,and the United States.They were
led, in 1905, by Xu Shi'er and Xu Hongyu, who studiedin
JapanandEngland,respectively.7 Whetherthesetwo pioneers
had any impact on modern architecturein China is still
undocumented.The firstnoticeableWestern-trained Chinese
architectwasZhuanJun(1888-1990),who receivedhis bach-
elor of architecturedegreein 1914fromthe Universityof Illi-
nois. Between 1914 and 1923, Zhuan worked at Tsinghua
College in Beijing,assistingAmericanarchitectHenryMur-
phy.In 1923,the college askedhim to escorta groupof Chi-
nese studentsto America;he himself enrolledas a graduate
studentat ColumbiaUniversity.Zhuanreturnedto Chinain
1924 and establishedhis own practicein Shanghaiin 1925.8
As part of the reparation China was paying to the
United States for the Boxer Rebellion, Chinese students
were sent to the U.S. to studyin the earlytwentiethcentury.
In the 1920sand 1930s,amongall the activeforeign-trained
Chinese architectspracticingin China, the majoritywere
American-trained.Accordingto the 1925 membershiplist
of the first professional institute, the Society of Chinese
Architects,over 60 percentof its memberswere American-
trained and the most eminent were Penn-trained;9major,
well-established Chinese architecturalpractices, such as
Jitai (Kwan, Chu & Yang)and Huagai (The Allied Archi-
tects) in east-centralChina, were all in the hands of Penn
graduates.BesidesYangTingbao and Chen Zhi, prominent
Penn-trained architects included Zhu Bing (Pin Chu,
B.Arch. 1922, M.Arch. 1923), Fan Wenzhao (Robert Lent
Fan, B.Arch. 1922), Zhao Shen (Shen Chao, B.Arch.,M.
Arch. 1923),andTongJun (ChuinTung, B. Arch.,M. Arch.
1928). Their earlyworks,unsurprisingly,were very Beaux-
Arts; although reductionistic in ornament, they showed
conscious attempts to incorporate ornamental "Chinese
motifs."The 1930s and 1940s saw substantialexperiments
in European Modernism undertakenby Western-trained
Chinese architects,however,and Penn graduateswere no
exception,a point I will returnto later.
The firstarchitecturalcoursein Chinawas initiatedby
Japanese-trainedChinese architects.This Department of
Architecture, affiliated with Guoli Suzhou Gongzhuan
(National Suzhou Polytechnic),was establishedin 1923 in
Suzhou in east-centralChina. A commercialcity since the
eleventhcentury,Suzhouplayeda key role in China'sindus-
trialdevelopmentas well as in the areaof higher education.
From the very beginning, the Departmentof Architecture
was not includedin the then reputableDongwu University
in Suzhou;rather,it was set up in a polytechnic as a three-
year course. Liu Shiying headed this first, and short-lived,
architecturalcourse, which includedthe later eminent his-
torian of Chinese architectureLiu Dunzhen.
AMERICAN
Although the kind of architecturaleducationreceived
in Japanat the time was the universalEuropeanhistoricism
and eclecticism, it is interesting to note that all the above
pioneers were trained at the more practicalTokyo Poly-
technic ratherthan at TokyoImperialUniversity.Architec-
ture, in other words, was seen as a system of technologies,
not as a form of fine art. This idea was reinforced by the
experienceof practicingarchitecturein China in the early
years;Liu Shiying'sfirst job, after his returnfromJapanin
1920, was site supervisionfor a British architecturalfirm.
When, in 1922, togetherwith two other TokyoPolytechnic
graduates,Liu Shiying and Liu Dunzhen establishedtheir
own architecturalpractice-Huahai JiangzhuShiwuso-in
Shanghai, the architectural design scene in China was
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dominatedby Western architects.Chinese architectswere
hired mostly for site supervision in order to mediate
between Western architects and local contractors. The
Tokyo Polytechnic curriculumwas therefore modified to
meet this need.
The Departmentof Architecturein Suzhousurvivedfor
fouryears.During this period,the teachingand curriculum
were farfrom that found in a formaluniversitysystem.The
course was taught by the above-namedyoung architects,
who juggled their teaching with their practicesin Shang-
hai.10The coursewas practical,with an emphasison build-
ing construction.For example,in 1924 there were no units
in the curriculumdealingwith perspectiveand architectural
drawing."Reinforcedconcrete"and "steelstructure,"how-
ever, were solid and independent subjects.Design-related
subjectswere offeredmainlyin the thirdyear,amonga heavy
load of seventeen subjects.Two Western languages,com-
pulsoryin the first two years,were considerednecessaryin
order to deal with Western architects.Many subjectswere
taught in the Civil Engineering Department, and the his-
tory of architecturewasnot even taughtin the firsttwo years
of the course.'IIn short, the Departmentof Architecturein
Suzhou provided a three-year training course in building
technology and construction.
In October1927,the architectural courseof the National
Suzhou Polytechnicwas taken over by the No. 4 National
ZhongshanUniversityin the capitalcity,Nanjing,one of the
most progessiveuniversitiesin China.'2The famed,Corell-
trained young architect Lu Yanzhi was the first to be
appointeddeanof the Departmentof Architecture,butwhile
he wasbusyrealizinghiswinningentryfor PresidentSunYat-
sen'smausoleumin Nanjing,the appointmentlapsed.
Lii'sdesign for Sun Yat-sen'smausoleumshoweda typ-
ical strategy of "turningand twisting"Western neoclassic
compositionand modern buildingtechnology into a "Chi-
nese style."It featureda long and grandstaircase,not unlike
BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 31
the early-eighteenth-centurySpanish Steps in Rome, fol-
lowing the hill slope and leading to the majormausoleum
hallon the top of the hill;a Chinesepailouandseveralbuild-
ing gates formed the spatial sequence, and Chinese roofs
crownedreinforcedconcrete buildings.The use of an aus-
tere color palette,predominantlydeep-blue-glazedtiles and
white granite, is architecturallynon-Chinese and uncon-
ventional, and it correspondssymbolicallywith the "white
sun againstblue sky"motif (qingtianbairiqi) of the flagof the
firstrepublicin China.The consciousattemptto transform
Western neoclassicism into a "Chinese style" was not
unprecedented;AmericanarchitectMurphy, along with a
few of his Americancolleaguesin China,promotedandpro-
duced some modern universitybuildings in Nanjing with
caricatureChinese roofs. Lii'sdesignfor SunYat-sen'smau-
soleumperhapsachieved,ratherintuitively,a betterChinese
proportionthan that offered by his Western peers, but the
strategywas the same. For Lu and other kindredChinese
architects,insteadof addingWesternneoclassicaldetailsto
concrete-and-steelstructures,it was logical to dressthem in
Chinese motifs. This "flexibilitytest" in practiceforeshad-
owed an interestingreceptionof the AmericanBeaux-Artsin
China'searlyarchitecturaleducation.
After Lii was unable to accept the deanship,the posi-
tion was offered to architectLiu Futai, who held a master
of architecturedegree from Oregon State University.The
recruitmentpolicy favoredWestern-trained,and in partic-
ular American-trained,architects, and most new faculty
members were given associate professorships. Liu Dun-
zhen, one of the two staff members transferredfrom the
National Suzhou Polytechnic,was hired as a lecturer.The
founderof the Suzhoucourse,Liu Shiying,did not come to
teach in Nanjing. Most of the remaining students from
Suzhouwere transferredto Nanjing under the new univer-
sity system.
The universitywas renamedthe National CentralUni-
versityin 1928, andwas treatedby the nationalgovernment
as the most significantuniversityin Nanjing. Penn gradu-
ates Lu ShushengandTanYuansoon joined the school and
playedkey roles in teachingarchitecturaldesign.'3The fac-
ulty members before the 1940s were, however, diverse in
academic background. In addition to those mentioned
above, there were also University of Glasgow graduateLi
Zuhong and German-trainedBeiJimei. A reflectionof this
diversitywas a balancedcurriculumbetween design-related
subjectsand other technicalcourses.
The second architectureschool in Chinawas startedat
the National NortheasternUniversityin Shenyangin 1928,
only one year after the establishmentof the first school in
Nanjing. Its founder was Liang,'4and the majorityof the
32 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
firstfacultymemberswere Penn graduates,includingTong,
Chen, Liang himself, and Liang's wife, Lin. The school
adoptedthe ateliersystem,with a curriculum,basedon the
Penn model, that put greatemphasison architecturaldesign
and charcoal drawing.'5This school was forced to close
down in 1931 due to the warthreatfromJapan.'6In Shang-
hai duringthe 1930sandthe 1940s-other than a few short-
lived architecturalschools, mainly establishedand taught
by Penn-trained Chinese architects-the most notable
school was the Department of Architecture at St. John's
University; established in 1942, it had a strong Bauhaus
influence. In 1952, however,a few architecturalschools in
Shanghaiwere amalgamatedinto one Departmentof Archi-
tectureto be affiliatedwith TongjiUniversity.Interestingly,
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some Nanjing graduatesbegan to play importantroles at
Tongji's Department of Architecture from the 1950s
onward,and the Bauhausinfluence in architecturaleduca-
tion did not survive after the founding of the People's
Republicof China in 1949.17
The triumph of the AmericanBeaux-Artsin Chinese
architecturaleducationbeganin the 1940sagainstthe above
background. The Department of Architecture at the
National Central University (hereafterreferred to as the
"Nanjing School") reached its peak in the late 1930s. In
1937, during the war with Japan,the whole universitywas
temporarily relocated to Chongqing, in southwestern
China'sSichuanprovince.The Japaneseinvasionin north-
ern and east-centralChina causedmanymajorarchitectural
firmsalso to relocatein the interiorof southwesternChina.
In the early 1940s, Yang,Tong, and two other renowned
architectspracticingin the regionwere invited,throughthe
initiative of students, to join the faculty.'8This seems to
reflect the students'conscious admirationof the Ecole des
Beaux-Artsand its atelier system. By that time, Yang and
Tong, two of the outstandingPenn graduates,were already
well establishedas the country'stop architects.
The departmentmovedbackto Nanjingin 1946,imme-
diately after World War II ended, and Yang and Tong
remainedas the two most eminentprofessorsin the Nanjing
Schooluntil their deathsin 1982 and 1983.Yangwas deanof
the Departmentof Architecturebetween1949and 1959,and
from 1959 until 1982 he was the vice-presidentof the uni-
versity.Yangwastwice electedvice-presidentof the Union of
InternationalArchitects(UIA) between 1957 and 1965. In
lateryears, he was also appointedvice-governorof Jiangsu
province.The universitywent through a number of name
changes, and is now known as SoutheastUniversity.19Due
to the Penn graduates'involvementin the Nanjing School
and, in particular,Yang'steachingand leadershipbeginning
in the 1940s, the AmericanBeaux-Artstook root in China.
The Nanjing School servedas a prominenteducationalpro-
totype of virtuallyall the other architecturalprogramslater
establishedin China,and thus, to some extent,it is the pre-
cursorof architecturalpracticein twentieth-centuryChina.
Affinities
At the Nanjing School, the adoption of the Penn model of
the Ecole des Beaux-Artswas not painful, although one
could perhapshave expected some sort of "resistance."A
curious affinity for the Penn model was already evident
when the first-generationChinese architectswere trainedin
the West. Exemplaryin this regardwere those who studied
under Cret in the 1920s.
Between 1921 and 1925, Yang studied architecture
under Cret at Penn and happenedto be in the same atelier
with Louis Kahn. On 2 September 1925, a Philadelphia
newspaper,TheEveningBulletin,includedYang'sstory.The
article,titled "ChineseStudentGets High Honor,"quoted
architecturedeanWarrenLaird'sdescriptionof the twenty-
three-year-oldYangas "one of the most brilliantstudents
there.... He has won more individualprizes for his draw-
ings than any other student in manyyears."
At Yang'sgraduationceremonyin 1925, Cret askedhis
protege to stay on and work for him in his practice, and
Yang spent a year in Cret's office. Before he returned to
China,he took the expectedGrandTourof Europeto com-
plete the last part of his architecturaleducation. Unlike
Kahn, who spent a full year in Europe, Yang'stour was
hasty;he spent only a few months crossing the entire con-
tinent while documentinghistoricalbuildingswith his skill-
ful sketches and watercolors. This finale was a rather
symbolic rite of passageof Yang'sBeaux-Artstraining,and
it did not seem to have any obvious effect on his design and
teaching afterhe returnedto China;it was his Penn educa-
tion that had a profoundimpacton his careerboth as archi-
tect and teacher.
Even Yanghimself lost track of the number of prizes
he won while at Penn, but, judging from his two student
projects published in John Harbeson'sThe Studyof Archi-
tecturalDesign,one can easily imagine his remarkablesuc-
cess.20HarbesonpraisedYang'sFirst Prize and FirstMedal
ClassA Problemproject,"AMunicipalMarket,"remarking
that, in both the plan and elevation, the "restaurant"and
the "market"are "unmistakablyexpressed"(Figures 1, 2).
Though not an inventivedesign,it preciselyillustrateswhat
the Penn Beaux-Artsmodel is about.The symmetricalaxial
plan ensures clarityin the arrangementof the program-
severalindoor markets(meat, fish, vegetable, and grocery),
an outdoor flower market,and a restaurant.What Harbe-
AMERICAN
son really appreciatedwas the successfulachievementof a
hierarchyin designingthe program.As he saidso succinctly,
commentingon the importanceof the partiin this exercise,
"The programmust be solved."21 Althougheclecticin terms
of the elevation,the restaurant'sSpanish-styleroof cleverly
corresponds with the double-eaved roof of the market
building, which, in the meantime, allows extra skylights
between the two eaves for the deep and high indoor mar-
ket.22Yang'sdesign, and Harbeson'sappraisal,clearlyindi-
cate that skillfulnessand sophisticationwithin a common
parameterare highly valuedin the Beaux-Artsmethod.
In fact, most Chinese studentsdid well at Penn in that
period.Zhu wasthe firstChinesearchitecturalstudentthere;
he receivedthe AIAAwardwhen he graduatedin 1922 with
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a bachelorof architecturedegree.Althoughit took him four
years (the longest among all the Chinese students)to com-
plete the degree,his brilliantperformancelaid an auspicious
foundationfor his Chinese followers.AfterZhu, most Chi-
nese studentsreceivedexemptionsfor some relatedcourses,
which they did insteadin Beijing'sTsinghuaCollege. Hence
they were able to complete both the bachelor'sand master's
degrees in about three years. Chen, Liang, and Tong also
were award-winners.Many of these Chinese architects,
includingLiang'swife, Lin, servedas teachingassistantsand
instructorswhile they were still students.
Chinese students,typically,drew beautifully.Yangwas
alreadya brilliantwatercolorpainterwhile a studentat Penn.
When he publishedhis sketchesandwatercolorsfor the first
time in the early 1980s, he emotionallyrecalledhis water-
color teacher, George Dawson.23One of the reasons that
Yangand other Chinese architecturalstudentsexperienced
little culture shock may be the affinitythat exists between
the Chinese artisantradition and the methodology of the
Ecole des Beaux-Artstraining. TraditionalChinese art is
often highly structured.Invention of unprecedentedstyles
by individualartistsof genius is rarelyencouraged.In fact,
any form of art, from calligraphyand painting to classical
poetry, is practiced and reproducedwithin a strict set of
parameters.For example,to be a good calligrapherrequires
many years of intelligent copying of a few commonly rec-
ognized masters'styles. During the processof imitating,no
analysisis necessaryand reasonsunderlying"goodtaste"or
"pleasingaesthetics"are never explainedby teachers.This
often appears as a traditional master-pupil relationship,
wherein the masteris not supposedto be questioned.The
belief is that a talentedindividualwill eventuallybe enlight-
ened and will then begin to develop his or her own style.
Excellencecomprises,on the one hand, skillfulnessandvir-
tuosityin relationto the existingparameterand,on the other
hand, innovation indicatedby a clever recompositionor a
BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 33
 Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article-pdf/61/1/30/182135/991810.pdf by guest on 05 August 2020
Figure 1 Yang,A MunicipalMarket,Class A Problem, Universityof Pennsylvania,elevation, from John Harbeson, The Study of Architectural
Design (New York,1927), 180

Figure 2 Yang,A Municipal

Market,Class A Problem,
Universityof Pennsylvania,plan,
from John Harbeson, The Study of
ArchitecturalDesign,180

subtletransformation of thatparameter.It is this nuancethat
is highly regarded.24So the notion of art in this context is
perhapsclose to the artifactin an anthropologicalsense, and
thus the artistis a craftsman.
The emphasison craftvirtuosity,ratherthan on indi-
vidualartisticidentity,is not at the expenseof creativityand
imagination.ParaphrasingJoseph Conrad,Paul Hirst sees
craftas "amixtureof skilland discipline,creativityandhon-
our."To achievecraftvirtuosity,Conradtells us, is to push
34 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
"your skill with attention to the most delicate shades of
excellence.... But there is something beyond-a higher
point, a subtle and unmistakabletouch of love and pride
beyond mere skill;almost an inspirationwhich gives to all
work that finish which is almost art-which is art."25Like
the learning of Chinese calligraphy,Beaux-Artstraining
demands a long apprenticeshipand it acknowledgesthe
work that goes into the craft,which is a necessaryandvital
step for going beyond the skill.
 The key method of the Ecole, or more preciselywhat
was preachedby Cret at Penn, is summarizedby Harbeson:
"[D]esign is not concerned primarilywith ornamentation
or detail, but with makingan arrangementthat will satisfy
the practical requirements,with the composition of ele-
ments,with the proportionof masses,with the arrangement
and disposition of openings, etc., and with producing a
building of pleasing appearance."26 This could be a rather
of
appropriateway describing Chinese calligraphy.It is also
what Yangpracticedin his teaching and architecturalwork
afterhe returnedto China.
Western architecturein China can readily be traced
backto the eighteenthcentury;27 by the earlytwentiethcen-
tury,it was no longer exotic. It may be that the accidental
affinitybetweenthe Chineseartisanmentalityandthe Ecole
method also contributedto the astonishinglysmooth and
rapidadoption of the AmericanBeaux-Artsat the Nanjing
School. During the 1930s and 1940s, the firsttwentyyears,
the foreign model of the Ecole des Beaux-Artswas never
questioned by the students.Architectstrainedduring that
period remember their student days as highly enjoyable,
despite the tough physicalconditions, and the atelier mas-
ters as highly respected.28Many Nanjing School graduates
recall that duringthe studio sessionsYangwas alwaysheld
in awe as he carefullyamendedstudents'planson a piece of
tracing paper.Evidently the Ecole's atelier system echoed
the traditional Chinese master-pupilrelationship. It also
seemed naturalat that time that an architect,or a Chinese
architectin this context, should be trainedin this way.The
teachers'attitudetowardstyles-or the appearanceof build-
ings, to be precise-was eclectic and ratherrelaxed.If Chi-
nesenesswas ever an issue, the elevationcould be "dressed"
with Chinese motifs. For example,in a studio projectof an
observatorydesign, the FirstMention, Placedwas given to
a scheme with careful considerationof Chinese motifs in
elevation.29One architectrecalls that in the early 1930s a
varietyof styles,such as Spanish,modernist,Cubist,Renais-
sance, and French vernacular,were chosen by students for
differentpurposes.
This eclectic attitudemay seem superficial.Regardless
of style, the expressionsused at that time to discusseleva-
tion, as well as the entire project,were universallyabstract
and included harmonious proportion, balance of masses,
contrastbetween solidity and volume, coordinationof ver-
tical and horizontallines, shadoweffect, color, and texture.
Most of these terms could easilybe appliedto the connois-
seurship of traditional Chinese calligraphy,poems, and
paintings. A deeper meaning, however, lies in what Cret
terms a "completeliberalism."30 At the Ecole, pupils were
treated as individuals;hence they had the right to choose
AMERICAN
their mastersand to choose their artisticmanners.Profes-
sors,of course,hadvery differentideas.If Ecole trainingwas
not about style or any specific aesthetictaste, accordingto
Cret,it was concernedwith method.In his words,it embod-
ied "thescienceof design."Althoughtherewas a Beaux-Arts
formallanguage,a buildingshouldnot be subordinateto it.
A dialecticrelationshipshowed"respectfor the programand
the researchof a special characterproper for each kind of
building."31
The Cret method has been clearly and astutely sum-
marizedby Rykwert:
Cret had broughtwith him a revisionistapproachto the Parisian
training, as he had been a star pupil in one of the more
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"advanced" Parisateliers of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,and his
teaching was therefore surprisingly free of the historicism
prevalent in American schools. He concentrated on the virtues
of the plan as the generating form, on the power of proportion,
on humilitybefore the builder'stask.32
Interestingly,this "revisionist"approachwas alreadyevi-
dent in Yang'sClassA Project at Penn, "Pencil Study for a
Crematory"(Figures3, 4). Harbesoncommentedthat a few
columns of the existing elevationwere changedfrom Ionic
to Doric to improvethe aspectsignificantly,but it is no sur-
prisethathe did not elaboratewhatthe "aspect"is.33Harbe-
son probablymeant that the Doric order is more suitable
for the theme of a crematorium.Of greaterrelevanceis that
these pencil studies, as Harbeson noted beneath Yang's
drawings,were made on a heavy paper and could stand a
great amountof changing.Quite literally,"pencilstudy"in
Penn's Beaux-Arts training aimed to teach students the
necessity for revision in architecturaldesign. The fact that
Yang left a few Ionic orders unchanged shows his under-
standing of this Beaux-Artscultivation. Yang'slater keen
method of teaching-revising a student'sdesign by tracing
andredrawingon top of it-can be seen as an affirmationof
the Beaux-Artsmethod.
Embodiedin the master-pupilrelationship,the affinity
between the Chinese artisantraditionand the Beaux-Arts
method in the process of cultivationand revision is surely
more than a similar mode of imparting knowledge and a
desired ability to make a judgment on craft virtuosity. A
deeperaffinitypossiblylies in spatialorganization.As at the
Ecole, the primaryconcern of the design teaching at the
earlyNanjing School was the plan.34Surprisingly,given the
strong nationalisticatmospherein the first two decadesof
the Nanjing School (due to the Japaneseinvasionbetween
1937 and 1945 and the foundingof the People'sRepublicof
China in 1949), the Chinesenessof a plan was not even an
BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 35

Figure 3 Yang, Pencil Study for a Crematory,Class A Project, Universityof Pennsylvania,elevation, from Harbeson, The Study of Architectural
Design, 295
Figure 4 Yang,Pencil Study for a Crematory,Class A Project, Universityof Pennsylvania,section, from Harbeson, The Study of Architectural
Design, 295
issue. A formal affinitybetween Chinese architectureand
thatof the Ecole des Beaux-Artsexistedin the axialarrange-
ment of the plan, and hence of the space. ArthurDrexler,
although employing the ambiguous term "the Orient,"
pointed out this interesting affinity:"The device of inter-
sectinglinearmassesthat changedirectionalemphasisfrom
level to level, with varyingdegreesof architecturalincident
at key points of intersection,is an Ecole interpretationthat
has greater affinitieswith the temple and palace architec-
ture of the Orient than with Rome."35
One maysupposethatthe Beaux-Artsdesignmethodof
axialplanningwasnaturallyacceptedby Chinesearchitectsas
a universalarchitectural parameter,sinceit didnot invokeany-
thing spatiallyalien or overwhelming.In his earlyyears of
teaching,Yangwasrememberedby the factthathe spokevery
little;he preferredto traceandamendstudents'drawings,and
couldachieveaxialclarityin plan,often in minutes.36
36 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
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The affinitiesalso extendedto techniques.The empha-
sis on ink rendering,the use of a Chinesebrush,the process
of grindingIndiaink (it is in fact Chinese ink)were all very
familiar.In the finalrendu,good professorsalwayshadmag-
ical abilitiesto turna student'smessyrenderinginto a pretty
picture,often by adding,with theirmasterfulstrokes,lovely
trees and people. Yangenjoyeddoing this.
When the author startedhis architecturaltrainingin
1982 at the Southeast University, shortly before Yang's
death,nothing much had changed,exceptthat the studyof
Vignola's orders had been replaced by historical Chinese
architecturalcompositions(Figure5). This changeoccurred
betweenthe 1940s and 1950s in the Nanjing School, when
Liang and Liu producedmeasureddrawingsof China'shis-
torical buildings.37The first problem in 1982, which was
perhapsequivalentto the Penn analytiquein the 1920s,was
an ink renderingstudy of a historicalChinese architecture
composition. In the arrangement,the two buildingswere
forcefullyjuxtaposed:the foregroundstone tower is a Bud-
dhist structuredated 937-975, and the backgroundtemple
is a grandtimber buildingdated 1023-1032. Although the
ornamentaldetailswere eliminatedand there was no analy-
tiqueinvolvedin the process,the studywasmorethanmerely
an exercisein ink rendering.The choice of this type of com-
positionwas a conscioustransformationfromWesternclas-
The change of content merely
sics to Chinese traditions.38
ensuredthatthe cultivationwasabouta "Chineseaesthetic";
the methodologyremainedBeaux-Arts.

Transformations

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As in the field of education,transformationsof the Beaux-
Arts into Chinese architecturalpracticewere smooth and
impressive, both in quality and quantity. From 1927 to
1948,Yangdesignedeighty-sixprojectsandrealizedmost of
them. The majoritywere publicandinstitutionalbuildings.
Between 1949 and 1982, although he devoted most of his
time to teaching,Yangstill managedto design and partici-
pate in twenty-sixprojects.By the time his Penn contem-
poraryLouis Kahnestablishedhis own practicein 1935 and
begun work on his first independentproject, the Ahavath
IsraelCongregation,Yanghad alreadyrestoredsome major
historical monuments in Beijing, including the famous
Temple of Heaven, and had completed over thirty large-
scale public buildings,which included banks,universities,
Figure 5 Xing Ruan,ink rendering,First-YearProject, 1982, Southeast
hospitals,and railwaystations.
University,Nanjing
Afterhis returnto Chinain 1927,Yangjoinedthe well-
establishedJitai Shiwusuoas the principaldesign architect
(its English name was initiallyKwan,Chu & Co Architects
& Engineers, and later, when Yang joined the firm, it housed in three-story flat-roof buildings that are tied
becameKwan,Chu & Yang).Yang'sfirstprojectwas a major together by the ground-level verandas,and these in turn
railwaystation of about 7,000 squaremeters for Shenyang surroundthe concoursesymmetrically.The flat-roofcom-
City in northernChina.The first impressionof this build- ponents are dressedwith Western eave details and gables,
ing-Beaux-Arts in its symmetricalaxialplan and elevation and the modern grandconcourseis skillfullybuilt into the
composition-may seem unsurprising(Figures 6-8). Yang overall massingas if the arched space grew out of the flat
had initiallyproposeda Europeanmodernistbuilding,but podiums. This integrity is further enhanced by a vertical
the railwayofficials as well as his architect colleagues all compositionaltheme.
argued for a Western classicaldesign that recalled an old The nuances in Yang'sfirst Beaux-Artsbuilding in
neoclassical railwaystation in Beijing. As a compromise, China can be read on two levels: first, there is a physical
Yang gave them a touch of Western ornamentationwhile tension between the classical elevation and the modern
maintaininga clean-cut simplicity.The power of the pro- structuralspace;and, second, insteadof creatinga regional
portionsindicatedhis extraordinaryconfidenceas an archi- style, the station caters to China'svoracious appetite for
tect. This buildingis Yang'sfirst successful"flexibilitytest" things Western.In this sense, Yang's Beaux-Artsrevision-
of his Beaux-Artstraining.Without using classicalorders ism is one of both matter and manner. The question is
and colonnades,the concoursespace is grand,well lit, and, whetherthe processof adaptingthe Beaux-Artsmethod to
most important,open due to its steel-arch structure.The a specificlocality createsuniqueness.
ticket windows, waiting rooms, and other facilities are At the time he designedthe Shenyangstation,Yanghad

AMERICAN BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 37

 Figure 6 Yang,Shenyang Railway
I. . . . . . Station, Shenyang, 1927, ground-
floor plan, from YangTingbaojianzhu
sheji zuopingji (Beijing,1983), 12.
Key:1. Concourse, 2. ticket win-
_ Ij , dows, 3. Waitingrooms, 4. Offices,
5 a I 5. Luggage
- -t * - 2
. I . U .
T T*-T , .
...iL
FW-

0 10 20m
I t II I 1 i ) I II

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Figure 7 Yang,Shenyang RailwayStation, exteriorview, from YangTingbaojianzhu
sheji zuopingji, 11

Figure 8 Yang,Shenyang RailwayStation, concourse, from YangTingbaoj

zuopingji, 11

worked for about one year at Cret's office in Philadelphia,
and he had little practical experience. One may well ques-
tion his capacity to manage a design of such scale and sig-
nificance at the age of twenty-six. The success is perhaps
due to another accidental affinity where the architect's
"humility before the builder's task" (in Rykwert's words)
corresponded with the respect the builders held for the
architect. It is well known that premodern Chinese archi-
tectural "designers" (literati or officials) drew with words,
intensifying the collaboration between the architect and the
builder. According to Alberto Perez-G6mez, it is a modern
belief that the architect can direct the builder's series of
operations through working drawings or precise detail
designs. In so doing, the architect is no longer involved in
the making of a building with its builder.39At the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts, architectural design was an academic matter,
and therefore architects did not have to pretend to know
everything in terms of the technicalities of the actual build-
ing; there would be a natural collaboration between archi-
tects and builders. Yang had already learned this in Cret's
office; in 1925/26, he worked mainly on detail designs and
construction drawings for a few major projects, notably the

38 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002

 Detroit Institute of Arts. Fifty years later, Yang admitted
that, although Cret requestedhim to examinecarefullythe
natureof each materialand to use it in the most appropri-
ate place in a building, he did not gain much construction
knowledge as a student at Penn. Aftervisiting an iron-gate
manufacturerin Philadelphia,Yang concluded that detail
design required collaboration with skillful builders and
craftsmen.40
TraditionalChinese buildersand craftsmentackledall
the tasks, from design to construction.41Within the con-
ventionalparametersof buildingtechniquesandprototypes,
however,the literatiplayed an importantrole in design by
creatingnarrativesfor the buildings.Chinese gardensfrom
the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynastiesare
good examples.Thecreationof a gardenis describedin detail
in the celebratedeighteenth-centuryChinese novel Hong-
loumeng(Dreamof the Red Chamber).The buildingsof the
gardenDaguanyuanwere commissionedto the craftsman-
builder Shan Ziye; Shan built the garden accordingto the
owner'sbrief but within the conventions-that is, the exist-
ing parametersfor composingthe essentialgardenelements:
pavilions, covered walkways,artificiallakes, bridges, hills,
rockeries, and plants. The process of making the garden,
however, was not completed until one of the owners, Jia
Zhen, a typicallyaristocraticliteratiofficial,took his kindred
spiritsandhis sonJia Baoyu,a studentof Chineseclassics,on
a walk through the entire gardento name each component
with poems.In so doing, the spatialsequencewas articulated
through familiarliterarynarratives.Once the naming was
finished,the namesandpoemswouldbe engravedinto rock-
eries, bridges,and horizontaland verticalplaqueshanging
on the buildings.In reality,literatiwere often employedby
merchantpatronsto design, and the practicesof designing
and buildingwere intertwined.A gardenwas a resultof col-
laborationamong literati,owners,craftsman-builders, hor-
ticulturists,and others. 42
Yang'srevisionistposition was clearin his firstproject.
His concern was not with "styles."He was eclectic in the
sense that he could dress a building in different manners,
but he would never compromisethe virtues of the plan or
the power of proportion.He seemed able to distinguish,on
the one hand, the matter of taste or aestheticsand, on the
other hand, the virtue of architecturein terms of the pro-
gram. Yang'sprimaryinterest in architecturaldesign was
ultimately the essence of Cret's Beaux-Artsteaching: the
importanceof a beautifulplan,which, like a beautifulbook,
is beautifulby whatyou can readin it.43Yangwas most con-
cerned with pleasing proportion and the fit between the
inhabitantsand the spatialdispositionof a building, hence
beautyand space.This mentalitystems from a "profession-
AMERICAN
alism" where the virtues of a craft are the ultimate goal
rather than authorshipor artistic identity. Therefore, his
transformation in the Chinese context involved only
nuances.They were subtle but not without power.
The Dahua Cinema in Nanjing, completed in 1935,
appearsas a work of intentional transformationand matu-
rity (Figures 9-11). This 1,070-seat cinema is a clean and
modest Art Deco buildingfrom the outside,while the inte-
rior is intensely designed with splendid "Chinese Deco."
Regardless of vagaries of taste in its ornamentation, the
building has been in service for over sixty years as a pow-
erful urban footprint that bridges the streetfront to the
deep interior. The axial planning ensures a simple and
smooth circulation of both leisure and emergency move-
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ments. The theatrical double-volume lobby is comple-
mented by Yang's "axiscomplex,"where the rich spatial
layers-corridors, rooms, mezzanine balconies, columns,
and the "grandstaircase"-form what the architectcalled
the "interestcenter,"which is the invisiblesoul of the lobby
space.44Given that Yangwrote very little, surprisinglyhe
once theorized on the meaning of "architecturalaxis":that
it is both a concept and a method. Yangcontinued to give
more evidence-from bodies and plants to machines and
societies-of the axis as both anthropomorphicand con-
ceptual.He emphasized,however,that architecturalaxisis
not only three-dimensional, since it also involves a time
factor related to movement; architecturalaxis generates
"memories"and "imaginations,"thus it is a "mentalaxis."45
Yang'sinterpretationof the Beaux-Artsaxis finds its affin-
ity in Frank Lloyd Wright's obsession with the Chinese
appreciationof the virtue of space-a "usefulness"created
by "emptiness." In 1919 in Beijing, Wright became
acquaintedwith the Oxford-educatedChinese scholar Gu
Hongming, who translated the Chinese philosopher
Laozi's(571-471 B.c.)Daodejinginto English.46Daodejing
occupied Wright's mind, and he made Laozi's "spatial
theory" a popular architectural idiom in the twentieth
century:
Thirtyspokes are made one by holes in a hub
By vacancies joiningthem for a wheel's use;
The use of clay in moulding pitchers
Comes from the hollow of its absence;
Doors, windows, in a house,
Are used for their emptiness:
Thus we are helped by what is not
To use what is.47
Accidentalculturalencounterscontinued to emerge like a
chainreaction:sometimebetween 1944 and 1945, Yangvis-
BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 39

ited Wright and stayed with him at his Taliesin Spring
Green in Wisconsin;they againtalkedaboutDaodejing.4
Dahua Cinema'sdouble faces-"inside Chinese orna-
mentation and outside Art Deco fagade"-seem to pose a
literal cultural juxtaposition,if not an entanglement. In
early-twentieth-century northernChina,a typicalresidential
buildingconsistedof a squarecourtyardenclosedby two- to
three-story timber houses connected by open corridors.
While the streetfacadeswere mostlyWesternstyle,Chinese
ornamentationwas adoptedinside.49Yang'sdesign echoes
40 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
Figure 9 Yang, DahuaCinema,
Nanjing,1935, exterior,from
YangT7ngbaojianzhusheji
zuopingji, 94
Figure 10 Yang,Dahua Cinema,
lobby,from YangTingbaojianzhu
sheji zuopingji, 95
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this residential trend. But, significantly,it is an intricate
architecturalrepresentationof China's"occidentalism"at
the turn of the twentiethcentury:a move from the straight
consumptionof the West, enactedin Yang'srailwaystation,
to a more complicatedsynthesis.Although studentsunder
Cretwere encouragedto freelyuse architecturalstylesfrom
differentcultures,Yang'sDahuaCinemais not merelya play
of differentstyles and ornamentations.50 Westernization,in
early-twentieth-centuryChina, was inevitable and had
already occurred at everylevel, from clothes to the political

0 10m
I i I I I I
I i
3
* .
///,1/lT///
I ?
1 .
II
I.
* 0
a\Nllkl\\\\\l\\\X\Xa
3
ov
IMr-A "A.- " " " "mT* -
Figure 11 Yang, Dahua Cinema, ground-floorplan, from YangTingbaojianzhusheji zuoping ji, 96.
Key:1. Lobby,2. Ticketwindows, 3. Exitcorridor,4. Plant rooms
system. This process did not proceed without intellectual
debate. An important guiding voice, since the turn of the
twentieth century,was the tiyongidea advocatedby Liang
Qichao.51 Tiyong (more fully expressed in Chinese as
Zhongxuewei ti, xixueweiyong)suggeststhat Chinese learn-
ing should be the essence, while Western learningis good
only for utility.Seen in the context of intense cross-cultural
fermentation, the "double-face"of Yang'sBeaux-Artsin
China displays a complex hybridization. Curiously, the
columnsin the lobby,paintedwith Chinesepatterns,arenei-
ther Chinese nor Westernclassicalorders.The capitalsare
basedon those of the EgyptianTempleof Isis on the Island
of Philae (332 B.c.-first century A.D.).
If there is any surprisein Yang'soeuvre,it is the Beijing
Peace Hotel (1951-1953), which was a shock when it first
appeared (Figures 12-15). For those who were used to
Yang'swork, this buildingwas bare and modernist.A care-
ful readingof its plan, however,revealsYang'ssubtle trans-
formationto relate to a specific context. On the one hand,
the asymmetricaland diagonalcompositionwas determined
I
L4I
r X
II
I I II
I
I
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N\I
* _oR _
I
I
Ir
n
by the three existingtrees and an ancientwell. A portion of
an old courtyardhouse and a new wall were used to form an
enclosed open space in front of the hotel that was intended
to echo Beijing'surbanpatternof courtyardhouses. On the
other hand, one can safely assume that the plan, although
asymmetrical,was workedout accordingto axiality.
The BeijingPeace Hotel reifiesYang'sfurtherelabora-
tion of the Beaux-Artsand its affinitieswith historicalChi-
nese architecture.In Chinese temples and gardens, Yang
points out, the spatialaxis can literallybe turned, twisted,
and even slanted.The axiscan be felt only if it is definedby
buildingsand by the makingof the ground,or the site. In so
doing, the shi (spatialpropensity)can be createdby the use
of axis. Yang criticized Lii's Sun Yat-sen mausoleum, and
some classicalexamplesin Westernarchitecture,such as the
Palais de Versailles,as having a "whatyou see is what you
get" spatialsequence causedby using straightforwardaxes:
the shiwasnot spatially"collected."52In contrast,the ground
level of the BeijingPeace Hotel was a complexcombination
of axesfor each spatial"interestcenter,"articulatedby turn-
AMERICAN BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 41

ing and twistingaxes.Yang'sdiscoveryof the axialcomplex-
ity in Chinese architectureand his sophisticatedtransfor-
mation of it were not incidental;Harbeson, in The Study
of Architectural Design,devoted an entire section to asym-
metricalplans and the significanceof the programand site
specificity.53
As early as the 1930s, Yang'sPenn colleagues Tong,
Zhao, and Chen, dealing with more entrepreneurial
clients at the time, had begun their essaysin modernarchi-
tecture. Their experimentsstopped after the founding of
the People's Republic in 1949. Although Yang did a few
reductiveArt Deco buildings, he evidently had no chance
to do a complete modern building before 1949. Because
his firm'sclientele were mainly government officials, cul-
tural images were often requested, be they Western or
Chinese. The BeijingPeace Hotel was initiallydesignedas
a local hotel; halfway through construction, the govern-
ment decided to use it to cater to the Asia-PacificRegions
Conferenceon Peace. Yangchangedthe design in orderto
have the building completed in fifty days, and he believed
that a modernist building made the construction easier
and faster.
42 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
Figure 12 Yang, Peace Hotel, Beijing,
1951-1953, exteriorshowing
passageway and articulationwith
existing urbanspace, from Yang
7ingbaojianzhusheji zuopingji, 184
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The modernistlook of the BeijingPeace Hotel had an
interestingsociopoliticallife. In the early 1950s, the Chi-
nese classicalrevivalwas in vogue, and Yanghad great dif-
ficulty in getting approvalfrom the city authorities.After
its completion, the efficient constructionprocess and the
modest budget were praisedby the Premier Zhou Enlai.
This building,to some extent, became a precedentfor the
governmentbuilding policy for the next three decadesin
China, which was to be "functional,economical, and aes-
theticallypleasingwheneverpossible."Yangbuilt very lit-
tle during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike many of the
high-profile intellectuals and professionalsof his genera-
tion, he was not prosecutedduringthe CulturalRevolution
(1966-1976). His distancefrom the culturalupheavalwas
strategic:he did what architecturehe could andwas able to
resumesome of his officialpositionsin the late 1970sbefore
the revolutionended. Yang'scharismaensuredthe recovery
of China'sarchitecturaleducationafter an almost decade-
long suspension,andcarriedthe Beaux-Artsmethodon into
the late-twentieth-centuryChina.54
Yang'sarchitecturalworks, as well as his teaching,
show a unique interplay between "universalvirtues"and
 rwL q
rt 11I I I e

Figure 13 Yang, Peace Hotel,

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l[~~_--~~~~~ ~~~~~~t
t~ I typical guest room floor plan,
" '
-| 7 I r^ > II rJ from YangTingbaojianzhusheji
I "-
F-F: 1 m T / 1r __I zuopingji, 182.
l131 -- 1|
Key: 1. Guest rooms,
+1 2

rz
,*^~ _lf * ~
ir-X 2 * -. ^ F 412 2. Bathroom,3. Floorservice
2 T_ 113 1- 1 desk
-.

-- 1_I_ Figure 14 Yang, Peace Hotel,

..I.~= =
''6 v A4 r 17 j p' foI ground-floorplan, from Yang
=1
7T|/Tingbao 77=
1^- p jianzhusheji zuoping ji,
.E ~~~~---~~
_2./~~~182. Ft it ' ' >

Key: 1. Entry, 2. Lobby,

! _'__ r --
-.. 3. Reception, 4. Sitting area,
.7 t _ P
?.5 Dini 6. Stage, 7. Banquet
5. Dining,
| : KichI
<' .h _ hall, 8. Kitchen, 9. Light well,

j•~~~~,
*'^~~~~
.|.k~~~ U \,, ~ >~A
^\ 10. Existingteahouse,
-1
--e---/s
"--D \ 11. Hairdressing,12. Club

'="'
/<42X~ ^ ~
X^~RR~~~~
^^t9j^Sn^ D \<~ ~room, 13. Passageway,
'?-
#r^T Cmon\ 1 Compound entry,
14.
X. a . \ \ 15. Existingancient well

"Boy Dislikes Rice"

localities. Yang was never obliged to express regionalism The long-lasting impact of the Beaux-Arts on architec-
or individualidentity. He enjoyed a reputation as a guru tural education and practice in China has been supported
both in his teaching and in his practice;it was the reputa- and nourished by some deep-rooted Chinese artisantra-
tion of a masterartisanwho knew his work and did it well. ditions. The Beaux-Arts,from its early encounters to its
If Yang transformedanything through his craft, he did it later transformations, has corresponded to these tradi-
half-knowingly-through "habitus,"as Pierre Bourdieu tions, which include the process of cultivation in produc-
might term it.s5 ing and appreciatinga craft, axial planning, and a natural
AMERICAN BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 43

Figure 15 Yang, Peace Hotel, aerialview of overallcomplex, redrawnby Xing Ruan, based on Yangand Qi, eds., YangTingbaotan jianzhu
(Beijing,1991), 2
collaboration between architects and builders. Although
these traditionsall seem to concern skills and techniques,
their ultimate goal was to achieve a sociallyjustifiedarchi-
tectural meaning.
The previouslymentioned news story, "Chinese Stu-
dent Gets High Honor" in Philadelphia'sEveningBulletin,
had a rather amusing subtitle: "Boy Dislikes Rice." Yang
was reported to have told Americansthat rice was not his
favoritediet: "The Americanidea that rice is the chief food
of the Chinese is wrong. Many eat it in the districtsmost
visited by the American tourists, but in the province of
Honan [Henan], where I lived, rice is eaten very little."
Yangwas certainlywilling to identify more affinitiesthan
differences between the two cultures. Yang's complaint
aboutan Americanimpressionof the Chinese poses a ques-
44 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
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tion that is still timely afterthree-quartersof a century:Do
others have to be different?Half-knowingly,Yangmadehis
choice. The boy who dislikedrice had proved,through his
teaching and practice of the American Beaux-Arts in
twentieth-centuryChina,that in architecturethere areuni-
versalvirtues that are worth pursuing.
The history of Chinese architecturaleducation, and
especiallyof Yang'spracticein twentieth-centuryChina,has
indicated identifying affinities rather than differences
between two cultural frames. Any intelligible critique of
modernand contemporaryChinese architecturemust dwell
on an understandingof this legacy of the Beaux-Artsthat
traveledvia Penn to China.Insteadof overemphasizingcul-
turaldifferencesandregionalism,a more universalmodel of
architecturalknowledge should be accepted in order to
identify the nuancesproducedwhen the universalencoun-
ters the local. Never an either/or matter, cultural affinity
and differenceare often intertwinedto generatenew direc-
tions and, ultimately, cultural renewals. In the case of
Beaux-Artsin twentieth-centuryChinese architecture,the
entanglement is between a universally recognized "for-
mal/spatialsyntax"and its "sociallife."The syntaxmay be
judgedin relationto Jacques-Nicolas-LouisDurand's"for-
mal language,"where economy and efficiencywere the very
essence of the design.56The Beaux-Artsconcern for the
building program emphasized this point. Harbeson, for
example, comparedthe first-medaland the second-medal
schemes of "A Shopping Center" design in terms of the
economyof their circulationspaces.57 Most importantly,the
Beaux-Artsapproachconcernedthe "character"of a build-
ing. The "completeliberalism,"in Cret'swords,was a flex-
ibility that allowed the Beaux-Arts syntax to be
contextualizedby its adaptedlocalities-that is, its social
life. A building, inevitably, becomes a metaphor of this
process of entanglement. This essay has attempted to
demonstrate an analogous model of critique in which, as
Thomas has summarizedit, "we will always be led away
from the artifact,and then perhapsback to it, in a succes-
sion of movementsand speculationsaroundimplicit effects
and meanings."58
Notes
Different versions of this article have appearedin a number of presenta-
tions andpublications.Earlyversionswerepresentedat the EastAsianStud-
ies HumanitiesColloquiumat the Universityof Pennsylvania,March2000,
andat the SAHAnnualMeeting in Miami,June 2000. Some segmentswere
read at the Double Frames Symposiumat the University of New South
Wales in Sydney,June 2000; a short versionhas been publishedin its pro-
ceedings.The systemof romanizationof Chinese in this articleis pinyin.I
am particularlygratefulto ZeynepCelik for questioningme in detailabout
anyunformedideas.An anonymousreaderprovidedconstructivecomments
andaccurateknowledgeof pinyin.I alsowouldlike to thankJeffTilmanand
Stan Fung for discussingthis topic with me and for giving me the oppor-
tunityto write aboutit; RichardChafeefor his encouragement;Li Shiqiao,
Lai Delin, Zhao Chen,WuJiang,CharlesRice, Gu Daqing,MichaelEmer-
son, and Nancy Steinhardtfor their support and comments; and Robyn
Mayesfor her editorialhelp. Li Ming, Zhang Shiqing,andHuangJuzheng
kindlyundertookto find some materialfor me in Nanjing and Beijing.
1. EdwardSaid,TheWorld,theText,andtheCritic(Cambridge,Mass., 1983),
227. The AmericanBeaux-Artsin this essay simply refers to the French
Ecole des Beaux-Artsas taught and practicedin Americain the earlypart
of the twentiethcentury.
2. Nicholas Thomas, "AgainstEthnography,"CulturalAnthropology 6, no.
3 (1991): 306-322.
3. Ibid.
4. Nicholas Thomas, "The Case of the MisplacedPonchos: Speculations
AMERICAN
Concerningthe History of Cloth in Polynesia,"JournalofMaterialCulture
4, no.1 (1999): 5-20.
5. The only twentieth-centuryChinese architect known to the West is,
arguably,Liang Sicheng (also known as Liang Ssu-ch'eng in the West).
However, Liang, a Penn graduatein 1927, made his name in the West
throughhis researchand English publicationson China'shistoricalarchi-
tecture; see Ssu-ch'eng Liang, A PictorialHistoryof ChineseArchitecture
(Cambridge,Mass., 1984), andWilma Fairbank,LiangandLin:Partnersin
ExploringChina'sArchitectural Past(Philadelphia,1994).Althoughpredom-
inantely an architecturalhistorian,Liang, along with Le Corbusier,Oscar
Niemeyer, and other eminent architects,was selected to participatein the
design of the United Nations New Yorkheadquartersin 1947;see Ann L.
Strong and George E. Thomas, eds., The Bookof the School:100 Years
(Philadelphia,1990), 31, 88. Describedas "themost distinguishedstudent,"
YangTingbao, however,is not among the ninety-ninebiographiesof emi-
nent alumniincludedin TheBookof theSchool.Indeed,Liang Sichengis the
Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article-pdf/61/1/30/182135/991810.pdf by guest on 05 August 2020
only Chinesestudentselected.A few other Chinesestudentsarementioned,
though only in the context of Liang's biography; they include Yang
Tingbao, Lin Huiyin (knownin most publicationsas Lin Whei-yin as she
preferred),and Chen Zhi. Yang Tingbao, B.Arch. 1924, M.Arch. 1925,
knownasT'ing-paoYangat Penn, won threemajorawardsfromthe Beaux-
Arts Instituteof Design: the MunicipalArt Prize, the EmersonPrize, and
the WarrenPrize. He also won the SamuelHuckelJr. Prize, 1922/23, and
was admittedto SigmaXi, the honoraryfraternityfor scientific achieve-
ment. Lin Huiyin, known as Phyllis Lin at Penn, graduatedin 1927 and
later became Liang'swife and partner.As a female student, Lin was not
allowedto enroll in the architecturalprogram;she receivedher degree in
Fine Arts.Chen Zhi, knownas BenjaminC. Chen at Penn, B.Arch/M.Arch.
1927, was the winner of the Cope MemorialAwardfor his redesignof the
northwestcornerof City Hall in Philadelphia.
6. YangTingbao, YangTingbaojianzhu shejizuopingji(YangTingbao, archi-
tecturalworksand projects)(Beijing, 1983).
7. Lai Delin, "GuanyuZhongguojindaijianzhujiaoyushide ruoganshiliao"
(Historicalnotes on modern architecturaleducationin China),Jianzhushi
(The Architect),vol. 55.
8. Wu Jiang, Shanghaibainianjianzhushi (The history of Shanghaiarchi-
tecture:1840-1949) (Shanghai,1997), 152.
9. Wang Junxiong, "Zhongguo zaoqi liumei xuesheng jianzhu jiaoyu
guocheng zhi yanjiu-Yi BingzhouDaxue biyeshengweili"(A studyof the
Americanarchitecturaleducationand the first-generationChinese archi-
tects with specialreferenceto the graduatesof the Universityof Pennsyl-
vania),Taiwanguokehuizhuangtiyanjiu,NSC88-241 1-H-032-099, 1999.
10. Suzhouwas approximatelya two-hour trainjourneyfrom Shanghaiat
that time.
11. Pan Guxi and Shang Yong, "Guangyu Suzhou Gongzhuang yu
Zhongyang Daxue jiangzhu ke" (On the architecturalcourses of the
NationalSuzhouPolytechnicandthe CentralUniversity),unpublishedarti-
cle, 1996, courtesyof the authors.
12. After the death of Sun Yat-sen,the president of the first republicin
China, some universitieswere renamed after him and hence were num-
bered.In pinyin, Sun Yat-senis spelled as Sun Zhongshan.
13. Lu Shusheng,known as FrancisShu-shungLoo at Penn, did not com-
plete his degreesdue to familyreasonsand returnedto Chinain 1926. Tan
Yuan(1903-1996), known as Harry Tam Whynne at Penn, received his
B.Arch.in 1930.
14. Yangwas approachedby the universityto head the department,but he
was alreadycommittedto a position in practice;instead,he recommended
Liang for the job. Liang Qichao, Liang'sfather and a famous late-Qing
reformer,acceptedthe offer on behalfof his son while the architectwasstill
BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 45
 on honeymoonwith Lin in Europe;see Fairbank,LiangandLin, 33.
15. TongJun, "Jianzhujiaoyu"(Architecturaleducation),unpublishedarti-
cle, 1944, courtesyChinaArchitectureand BuildingPress.
16. In 1947, Liang reestablishedhis architectureschool at the Tsinghua
Universityin Beijing,which he headeduntil his death in the early 1970s.
The architecturalprogramsat the National NortheasternUniversity,and
later at TsinghuaUniversity,were Penn versions of the Ecole des Beaux-
Arts,althoughin the 1930sand 1940sLiangexpressedwistfulregretsabout
havingjustmissedWalterGropiusandMies van der Rohe and exposureto
the ModernMovementwhile he studiedarchitecturein America;see Fair-
bank,LiangandLin,26. Liangdid attemptto introduceBauhausideasto the
Tsinghuaprogramin the 1940s;see Li Shiqiao,"LiangSicheng'sA Picto-
rialHistory of Chinese Architectureand Liang Qichao's'New Learning,"'
in MaryamGusheh, ed., DoubleFrames(Sydney,2000), 12.
17. See WuJiang, Shanghaibainianjianzhushi, 166-167.
18. TongJun (1900-1983), also an excellentstudentat Penn, won the First
Medal for a ProtestantChurchdesign in the nationalstudentcompetition
held by the Beaux-ArtsInstituteof Design, New York,1928.
19. This universitywas knownas Nanjing Instituteof Technologybetween
1952 and 1986, afterwhich it revertedto SoutheastUniversity,one of its
earlynames.
20. See YangYongshengand Qi Kang,eds., YangTingbaotanjianzhu(Yang
Tingbao on architecture)(Beijing, 1991), 96. Other than those mentioned
in note 5, no source seems to offer a complete list of the prizesYangwon
as a student at Penn. See also John Harbeson, The Studyof Architectural
Design:With SpecialReferenceto the Programof the Beaux-ArtsInstituteof
Design(New York,1927), 179-181 and 295. Harbesonwas an assistantpro-
fessor in ArchitecturalDesign at the School of Fine Arts, University of
Pennsylvania.At the time this book was published,Cret was a key figurein
the teaching of architecturaldesign at Penn. Some of Cret'sworks, from
his student days at the Ecole to competitionworks, built works, and even
teachingsketchesin America,are includedin Harbeson'sbook.
21. Harbeson,Architectural Design,179.
22. Lai Delin makesa similarobservationin "YangTingbaoyu Luyi Kang"
(YangTingbao and Louis Kahn)in Pang ZuxiaoandYangYongsheng,eds.,
Bijiaoyuchaju(Comparisonand gap) (Tianjin,1997), 258-269.
23. Yang Tingbao, Yang Tingbaosumiao xuan (The sketches of Yang
Tingbao) (Beijing, 1981), and YangTingbao, YangTingbaoshuicaihuaxuan
(The watercolorsof YangTingbao) (Beijing,1980).
24. See Alfred Gell, Art and Agency:An Anthropological Theory(Oxford,
1998), 158. The idea of craft virtuosity in this article is indebted to this
book, which is Gell's last book, published shortly after his death. Armed
with an ampleamountof anthropologicalmaterialsandcontemporaryindi-
vidualartworks,Gell here detailsthe complexrelationshipsbetween a spe-
cific artifact,or an individualartistic style, and an ensemble of artworks
within broadsocial and culturalcontexts.
25. Paul Hirst, "Educationand the Productionof New Ideas,"AA Files29
(1995):44-49.
26. Harbeson,Architectural Design,2-3.
27. John Musgrove,ed., Sir BanisterFletcher's A HistoryofArchitecture (Lon-
don, 1987), 1233-1243.
28. The main sources of information about the teachings in this period
come from Pan Guxi, ed., DongnanDaxuejianzhuxi chenliqishizhounian
jinian zhuanji(Memorialsymposiumfor the seventyyears' anniversaryof
the Departmentof Architectureat SoutheastUniversity)(Beijing, 1997).
29. Ibid., 52.
30. See Paul Cret, "The Ecole des Beaux Arts: What Its Architectural
TeachingMeans,"Architectural Record23 (1908): 367-371.
31. Ibid., 369.
46 JSAH / 61:1, MARCH 2002
32. Rykwert,"LouisKahn:An Introduction,"9.
33. Harbeson,Architectural Design,395.
34. It is interestingto note here that in the publicationof Yang'sarchitec-
turalwork, there is no single section drawingincluded for over 100 pro-
jects;see YangTingbao, YangTingbaojianzhu shejizuopingji(see n. 6).
35. ArthurDrexler,"Engineer'sArchitecture:TruthandIts Consequences,"
in A. Drexler, ed., TheArchitecture of the EcoledesBeaux-Arts(New York,
1977), 40.
36. This mannerof teachingwas not dissimilarto that of the Ecole atelier
patronsat the turn of the twentieth century; see Richard Chafee, "The
Teachingof Architectureat the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,"ibid., 94.
37. Wang Wenqin andWu Jiahua,"Tanjianzhushejijichujiaoyu"(On the
teaching of architecturaldesign basics),Jianzhu xuebao(Journalof archi-
tecture)7 (1984): 38-41.
38. Gu Daqing, "Shejijichu jiaoxuede xinlu lichen"(The reformprocess
of architecturaldesignteaching),"in G. Pan, ed., DongnanDaxuejianzhuxi
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chenliqishizhounianjinianzhuanj,216 (see n. 28).
39. AlbertoPerez-G6mez, "Architectureas Drawing,"JournalofArchitec-
turalEducation36, no. 2 (1982):4.
40. Yangand Qi, YangTingbao,99 (see n. 21). Yanglearnedthe construction
of classicalChinese architecturefrom craftsmenand builderswhen he was
in chargeof restoringsome significanthistoricalbuildingsin Beijing.
41. Lei Shida (1619-1693), an artisanfrom southern China, was the first
officiallyappointedyiangshi,literally"formmaster,"for the Qing court;see
Li Yunmo,Huaxiayijiang(Cathay'sidea:design theoryof Chinese classical
architecture)(Hong Kong, 1982), 414.
42. For a full discussionof merchantgardens,see King Chi Wong, "The
Influence of Merchant Patronage on Yangzhou Gardens in the Qing
Dynasty,"in Sean Pickersgilland Peter Scriver,eds., On What Grounds?
(Adelaide,1997), 271-276.
43. Cret, "Ecoledes BeauxArts,"371 (see n. 30).
44. Yangand Qi, YangTingbao,76.
45. Ibid., 75-77.
46. FrankLloyd Wright, FrankLloydWrightonArchitecture: SelectedWrit-
ings 1894-1940 (New York,1941), 226-227.
47. Lao Tze (Zi), The WayofLife:According toLaoTzu, trans.Witter Byn-
ner (New York,1962), 30-31.
48. Zhang Zugang,ed., YangTingbaojianzhuyanlun xuanji(Selectedarchi-
tecturalwritingsof YangTingbao) (Beijing, 1989), 56-60.
49. Musgrove,Fletcher's History,1233 (see n. 27).
50. Examplescanbe seen in Harbeson,Architectural Design,69, 146, and 152.
51. For a discussionon the tiyongideas in Liang Sicheng'sscholarshipon
historicalChinese architecture,see Li, "PictorialHistory and 'New Learn-
ing,"' 1-13 (see n. 16).
52. Yangand Qi, YangTingbao,75-77.
53. Harbeson,Architectural Design,191-200.
54. After the ending of the CulturalRevolutionand the Mao era in 1976,
ideologicalcontrolsbeganto loosen. Yangdied in 1982, but his "asymmet-
rical axialmethod"used in the BeijingPeace Hotel remerged,as Chinese
architectsonce againdiscoveredits greatestaffinityin classicalChinesegar-
dens, where symmetricalbuilding components are composed asymmetri-
callywith landscapecomponents.Visuallinks often serve as powerfulaxes
in the overallcomposition.This method, however,is not consciouslyrec-
ognized as a Beaux-Arts-relatedmatter.When the authorworked in the
late 1980s as an architectunderProfessorQi Kang (Qi is Yang'ssuccessor
and the currentguru at the Nanjing School;he studiedunderYangin the
1950sandalwaysworkedin close associationwith him),numerousso-called
garden-styleresort hotels were producedin this manner.Each courtyard,
for example,is self-definedby its axis;the complexityof the axisnetwork
givesrise to the rich,hierarchicalspatialsequence.Tranquilqualities,which
Yangadmiredin the Beijing courtyardhouses when he preservedand re-
createdthem in his BeijingPeace Hotel, are achievedin the themed land-
scape courtyards.
55. This half-knowing action can be explained appropriatelyby Pierre
Bourdieu'snotion of"habitus."Habitusis practice-based.Bourdieuargues
that the agentsof culture(architectsin the contextof this article)use habi-
tus to reproduceexistingstructureswithout being fully awareof how these
structuresare in turn affected.In generatingpractices,habitusreproduces
the conditionsthat gaverise to them initially;thus, habitusis both product
and producerof history.An architect'spracticefallsin this situation.Habi-
tus is a moment of action between consciousness and unconsciousness;
therefore,people (or agents,in Bourdieu'swords)alwayschose to act half-
knowingly in the social world as well as in the spatial world. Bourdieu
explains:"Actionis not mere carryingout of a rule, or obedienceto a rule.
Socialagents,in archaicsocieties as well as in ours, arenot automataregu-
lated like clocks, in accordancewith laws which they do not understand."
Thus, habitus "can be understood as a way of escaping from the choice
between a structuralismwithout a subjectand the philosophyof the sub-
ject";see Bourdieu,In OtherWords: EssaysTowards a ReflexiveSociology
(Cam-
bridge, 1990), 9. Also see Pierre Bourdieu, Outlineof a Theoryof Practice
(Cambridgeand New York,1977).
56. Perez-G6mez, for example,sees the Durand"formallanguage"as syn-
tax;see Architecture
andthe Crisis,304 (see n. 31).
57. Harbeson,Architectural Design,179.
58. Thomas, "MisplacedPonchos,"7 (see n. 4).
Illustration Credits
Figures 1-4. Photographicreproductionby author fromJohn Harbeson,
TheStudyofArchitectural
Design(New York,1927)
Figures5, 15. Author
Figures 6-14. Photographic reproduction by author from YangTingbao

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jianzhushejizuopingji(Beijing,1983)

AMERICAN BEAUX-ARTS IN CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION 47