Research On British Architects In Modern China（1840-1949）

Considering the modernization process of Chinese Architecture was late andexophytic, it is important for the research of Modern Chinese Architectural History tofocus on the foreign influences, especially the impacts came from foreign architectswho worked in China during the modern period. Comparing with other countries’architects, British architects came earlier, stayed longer, distributed wider,outnumbered, and had more building activities, thus, they exerted more broad andprofound influences to Chinese modern architecture.This study mainly focuses on the British architects who worked in China.This study is composed of three parts. First, the study analyze the historicbackground of British architects’ coming to China, and the development ofBritish architects in these important modern Chinese cities, and alsosummarize their quantity, spatial and temporal distribution, constitution andmobility, expatiate their professional activities as army architects, governmentarchitects, private architects, business architects and church architects. Second,the study will focus on the architectural competitions which they entered inChina, the professional organization they found in China, and theirprofessional competition, professional income and professional publication.At last, the influences of British architects on Chinese modern architecturethrough three aspects: architectural style, building technology, andarchitectural education will be studied.During1840to1949, there were more than500British architects working inChina. Although they were accomplices of British Colonialism, they also promotedthe development of building industry and its operating mechanisms of modernization;boost the production of architect profession and its professional organizationstructure, professional standard and westernization code; spread lots ofmodern architecture knowledge and train a certain amount of professionals.Based on former studies, this thesis is the first and most comprehensivestudy to analyze the group of British architects whom practiced in modernChina, by finding a clear outline of this group and their detail developmentprocess. This paper clarifies the operation mechanism of British buildingactivities in modern China and their major construction achievements. With the help of new databases, the author also found some new historical materials,which contributed this paper’s first discussion on British architects’architectural competition, their professional organizations and professionalcompetition. Different from traditional researches，which mainly focused oncities or buildings, this thesis sorts out the British influences on Chinesemodern architecture through the view of British architects. This researchmethod can be generalized to analyze other countries’ influences on Chinesemodern architecture.