The celebration of superficiality: Chinese architecture since 1979

Abstract

In Chinese history, 'change' had never been the apt term to describe the 'zeitgeist' of its culture until the last two decades of the twentieth century, when China gradually opened its doors to the outside world. This paper discusses the development of Chinese architecture in the transitional period since 1979. It attempts to create a framework for locating, describing and interpreting Chinese architecture in the 'new era'. However, the notion of architecture will not be taken as an autonomous discursive entity, offering an exhaustive theoretical account. Rather, I see it as an historical genre responding to and defending the historical experience of Chinese society. The strategy is thus to map the most salient developments of the period through a critical reading of the various 'new trends' in Chinese architecture that emerged during the last two decades. © 2000 The Journal of Architecture.