I had this video playing in my sidebar for a while, but I’ve decided to start embedding videos directly into my posts so that they are easier to view and so that I can add more dynamic content.
Bibliographies in Print
陈春生/ Chen Chunsheng. 中国古建筑文献指南 1900-1990/ Sources on Traditional Chinese Architecture 1900 – 1990. 北京: 科学出版社, 2000.
Vance, Mary A. Gardens of China: books in English. Monticello, Ill.: Vance Bibliographies, 1980.
—-, Chinoiseries: a bibliography. Monticello, Ill.: Vance Bibliographies, [1985]
Doumato, Lamia. Chinese architecture: a bibliography. Monticello, Ill.: Vance Bibliographies, [1985]
Online Sources
China’s Vernacular Architecture: Ronald Knapp’s website
http://www2.newpaltz.edu/~knappr/
中国民族建筑网/ National Architecture Institute of China
http://naic.21cnbiz.com/journal.asp
A Selected Bibliography of Traditional Chinese Architecture by Jerome Silbergeld, Cary Liu, Nancy Steinhardt, Wei Yang (2004)
http://tang.princeton.edu/ChineseArchitecture2004.pdf
Smithsonian Art of China: Architecture and Landscape Architecture/Gardens
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/freersac/chinarct.htm#Architecture
Jens Aaberg-Jørgensen’s website on China Dwelling: Links and Sources
http://www.chinadwelling.dk/
Tsinghua University library catalog
http://innopac.lib.tsinghua.edu.cn/search*eng/Y
Ai Weiwei, a contemporary Chinese artist, was widely reported to “literally” destroy
The article continues: “The urn is valuable only because the arbiters of taste and the art market have determined that this is so. In recording the act of its destruction, the meaning and value of the urn is transformed and co–opted into a contemporary, editioned art work that subverts and disrupts the prevailing value system to which it previously belonged.”
I am only highly suspicious of this kind of act towards their ends – whatever they are – because it rings so alarmingly similar to the rationale to destroy ancient architecture in 1950s’ Beijing (back to my topic of course). “When they decided to dismantle and demolish the city’s menlous (gate/ entrance towers) and pailous (ceremonial archways) in the 1950s, the government would gather the public in front of these structures to ‘denounce them for their evils’” (Fang, Ke. Contemporary Redevelopment in the Inner City of
The predecessors of Chinese architecture scholars in
Luo, Zhewen. Luo Zhewen lishi wenhua mingcheng yu gujianzhu baohu wenji/ 罗哲文历史文化名城与古建筑保护文集 [Essays on Preservation of Historic Cities and Ancient Architecture]
Fang, Ke. Contemporary Redevelopment in the Inner City of Beijing: Survey, Analysis and Investigation, Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu gongye chubanshe, 2000.
Wu, Liangyong. Rehabilitating the Old City of Beijing: a Project in the Ju’er Hutong Neighborhood, Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999.
Wang, Jun. Cheng Ji/城记 [Tale of the City], Beijing: Shenghuo dushu xinzhi sanlian shudian, 2003. Continue Reading »
中国美术分类全集•中国建筑艺术全集 (以下四册) [Complete Categories of Chinese Art • Art of Chinese Architecture] (with the following four volumes)
侯幼彬 . 宅第建筑（一）（北方汉族）北京：中国建筑工业出版社. 1999. ISBN: 7-112-03803-0
陆元鼎. 宅第建筑（二）（南方汉族）北京：中国建筑工业出版社. 1999. ISBN: 7-112-03804-9
杨谷生. 宅第建筑（三）（北方少数民族）北京：中国建筑工业出版社. 2003. ISBN: 7-112-04793-5
王翠兰. 宅第建筑（四）（南方少数民族）北京：中国建筑工业出版社. 1999. ISBN: 7-112-03805-7
中国美术全集•建筑艺术编（袖珍本）: 民居建筑 [Complete Works of Chinese Art• Art of Architecture: Vernacular Architecture (pocket edition)] 北京: 中国建筑工业出版社, 2004. ISBN: 7-112-06873-8
中国美术全集•建筑艺术编: 民居建筑 [Complete Works of Chinese Art • Art of Architecture: Vernacular Architecture] 著译者：陆元鼎等 [ed. Lu Yuanding et. al] 北京：中国建筑工业出版社，1988. ISBN：7-112-00498-5
中国美术分类全集•中国建筑艺术全集: 古代城镇 [Complete Categories of Chinese Art• Art of Chinese Architecture: Ancient Cities and Towns] 著译者: 汤道烈等 [ed. Tang Daolie et. al] 北京：中国建筑工业出版社，2003. ISBN: 7-112-04789-7
Liu, Dunzhen, 1896- 劉敦楨, 1896- Zhongguo zhu zhai gai shuo = 中國住宅槪說,
Liu, Dunzhen, 1896- 劉敦楨, 1896- Liu Dunzhen wen ji. 劉敦楨文集.
What follows is far from being a completed bibliography, content- or style-wise. But I’m getting increasingly anxious to share whatever I have gathered so far with everyone. Please forgive me for (especially) the sloppy style; I found most of these titles online, and they come in all sort of styles. As for the content, I can not even imagine how many more significant works out there that’s not yet in these lists, but I’ll do my best to update them as frequently as I can. Please leave notes/make suggestions about my omissions or any other aspects of these lists. I appreciate any help you can offer; and many thanks in advance!
I’m currently putting together a bibliography on Chinese vernacular architecture, in Chinese and English, since I don’t read another language. While there seems to be a lot of books available in China about Chinese vernacular architecture: the ubiquitous travel guides about “famous” villages and towns, which have been isolated in geography and whose architecture has been “frozen” in time until very recently when the first wave – and then, wave after wave after that – of tourists started swarming, tramping and trashing every corner of the country; the lightweight “cultural /historic/architectural heritage” series (fast-food versions of knowledge acquisition, as seen befitting the current “modern” world and its “modern” pace of life) on xiangtu jianzhu /乡土建筑 (vernacular/folk architecture) and minju jianzhu /民居建筑 (residential architecture), occupy the most conspicuous space of every bookstore, there is only a small amount of scholarly work dealing with Chinese vernacular architecture seriously and insightfully. My bibliography will be highly selective, very eclectic, and far from complete, though I will try my very best to keep it updated. My intention is to get a closer look at what’s out there that’s helpful in researching Chinese vernacular architecture. Any omission of anything significant is most likely due to the fact that my studies have not yet taken me there.
I was back in
A sign indicating the name of the hutong (Dajiang Hutong) with guards petrolling and stopping visitors from going into the hutongs.
And this is what’s behind the billboards.
Another ancient alleyway, Xianyukou Hutong, is suffering the same fate.
Below is a map that shows where Qianmen (the Front Gate) area is in Beijing. Xianyukou Hutong is shown as Xianyukou St, just a little south of the Gate:
In his preservation work on the city of Suzhou, Professor Ruan sets out by providing a historic contextualization of the city, by examining its current economic, political, and social status, and the character of the city as determined by its historic and cultural significance in relation to its architectural heritage. In this case, the canal network, particularly the canals, bridges, walkways and residences are crucial.
The first significant step that Ruan took in his preservation effort was to divide the city into fifty-four neighborhoods roughly according to the physical location and administrative authority of the locality; he sets up a comprehensive computer database for them; he then studies each neighborhood and approaches them differently according to their specific character. His conservation plan includes everything from a guiding working principle, to a reconfiguration of the use of land, to strict guidelines for the height of new developments within the city, and improvement of such elements as infrastructure.
The city of Suzhou has a history stretching back more than 2,500 years, serving as the capital city of the Wu Kingdom as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (722- 481 B.C.E.) in 514 B.C.E. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of
