Modern Ideas In Collegiate Education Of Architecture In China (1920s-1980s)

Under the influence of the West in the twentieth century, Chinese architecture experienced a transition from the traditional building by hand to industrialized building system. In this transitional process, along with the formation of the modernized building industry, the architectural education gradually became an integral part of the new building industry in that era.The Chinese collegiate architectural system was established between the 20's and 30's. During this period, the modern movement in the West had already become very popular. The western influence reached other nations either directly or indirectly. Under these circumstances, Chinese builders, concurrent with architectural academics, were progressively influenced by the concept of modern architecture via various avenues starting from the 1920's until1952. Although the founding members of Chinese architectural institutions had the background of western academia (primarily Beaux-arts) - the Chinese academics of the early years had profound knowledge of western ideology and foundation - their own ideology and teaching methods began to develop during this period.After 1952, the extreme political ideology began to dominate China's education scene. Architectural education was attacked;progress was severed. During those years, the teaching of modern architecture was, in general, depressed. It was sporadically developed and taught with overwhelming obstacles. This unfortunate trend continued till the end of 1970 when the educators regained some freedom.This thesis is written in an analytical fashion. The author's intention is to illustrate the evolutionary process in higher educational institution of architecture and the thoughts in modern architecture in architectural schools in China. The author focuses on the period of the early 1920s to the late 1970s: these discussions are included in the 4th and 5th chapters. The 2nd and 3rd chapters are about the background of the establishment of architectural schools in China and the source of influence of western architectural education. The epilogue elucidates the restorations of the Chinese architectural schools and the teaching of modern architecture in the early 1980s.