Re-examining The Investigation And Image Recording Of Chinese Architecture Taken By The Modern Japanese Scholars

Image recording based on historical photos is not only the witness to empiricalresearch of architectute but also the division of handing down of architectural heritagebetween the ancient and modern. In the early20th century, the modern Japanesescholars’ empirical research of Chinese architecture started from the survey of theForbidden City in1901. Based on large scope and long-term field work, the modernJapanese scholars has recorded Chinese architectural heritage comprehensively andhas left amount of image fruits. These image recording has made accurate recordsabout Chinese architectural heritages in the early20th century. Providing manydetailed and acute information for today’s heritage protection and restoration, theseimage recording witness the whole process that modern Japanese scholars studiedChinese ancient buildings by empirical research. From the microscopic view, theseimage recording has witnessed the formation process of these scholars’ view ofChinese architecture and cultural heritage. From the macroscopical view, they also haswitnessed the whole formation process of Chinese architectural history as well asAsian architectural history constructed by Modern Japanese scholars. At the sametime, these image recording themselves participated in the construction of Asianism.They were Modern Japanese scholars’ expression and representation of imaginationabout Asian. The history that Modern Japanese scholars studied Chinese architecturewith empirical research was the same as the history that Chinese architecture wasrecorded by image. Time as the masterstroke, this paper try to explain the formationprocess of Modern Japanese scholar Ito Chuta and Sekino Tadashi’s view of Chinesearchitecture and heritage through image recording combined with the historicalbackground and the relation with Asinism.Before most of a century, image recording taken by the Japanese scholars has tookpart in the course of Chinese architectural history’ construction as a catalyst andsources of information. Today, they are of great importance for the history ofinterference during the restoration of the ancient buildings. These were also touchedpreliminarily. It has been one of the important bases of authenticity for architecturalheritage preservation.