Page 12 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Geographical and architectural imaginations

(Feiliang pangzhu), a solid appearance, and small windows, to study and propose suggestions for improvement. Fang
which negatively impacted natural ventilation and lighting, Yi took this task seriously and collaborated with design
and which resulted in high economic cost and material technicians and experts to find solutions. These design
waste (Fangyi zhuan bianxiezu, 2008). flaws were not unique to the Cambodian factories but were
In response to the hot and rainy climate in Vietnam, also evident in similar aided projects in other countries. As
which required buildings to be protected from salt spray, Li Fuchun emphasized, adjusting design measures to local
damp heat, and mold, Fang Yi, China’s head of aid to conditions, prioritizing economic effects, and considering
national conditions posed significant challenges for both
Vietnam in the 1950s, established a “task force team” to foreign-aid projects and domestic constructions. Therefore,
address these design flaws. The team collected local data carefully discussing and summarizing experience were
on climate, wind direction, wind pressure, rainfall, and crucial. Indeed, these problems and solutions, experiences
geological conditions, and compiled a special booklet and lessons became a valuable reminder for designers and
Yuanyue renyuan xuzhi (Information for China Aid managers of aided-projects.
Personnel to Vietnam), which provided fundamental
engineering knowledge and introduced local climatic, 2.3. The observation and publication of tropical
cultural, and socio-economic conditions to Chinese architecture
professionals.
Chinese architects’ perception about the tropics was largely
Similar design mistakes and improvements were associated with four main channels such as discourse,
also observed in the China-aided factories in Cambodia practice, visiting, and media publication. Between 1963
during the early 1960s. Jin Oubo, the Head of the Beijing and 1964, the state-sponsored academic journal Jianzhu
Industrial Architecture Design Institute (affiliated to the xuebao (Architectural Journal), run by the Architectural
Ministry of Architectural Engineering), visited these Society of China, introduced local vernacular residential
projects in 1962, and identified several planning, design, houses and modern institutional and industrial projects in
construction, and operation problems. For instance, Indonesia, Myanmar (Yuan et al., 1963a), Vietnam (Yuan
the factories were located far away from the urban area, et al., 1963b), and Guinea (Ren, 1964) (Figure 5). These
resulting in insufficient market access. In addition, the scale articles were accompanied by detailed information on
of the factory was too large, and the scattered layout led to ventilation, shading, layout, formal appearance, function,
excessive infrastructure costs, while some buildings were and basic construction conditions of local buildings,
constructed with excessively high standards. Jin reported illustrated by rich photographs and hand drawings.
these issues to senior officials, such as Fang Yi and Liu For example, in the article “Introduction to Indonesian
Xiufeng, Minister of the Architectural Engineering, who Architecture,” architect Dong (1963) presented the Hotel
then brought them to the attention of Premier Zhou Enlai Indonesia, a strikingly Corbusierian building designed by
and Deputy Premiers Chen Yi and Li Fuchun. architect, Abel Sorensen, and his wife, Wendy Becker, and
Premier Zhou responded by instructing the State inaugurated in 1962 by Indonesian President Sukarno in
Administration of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade preparation for the 1962 Asian Games. This kind of large-
scale modernist building with formal richness, tectonic
articulation, and iconic tropical languages had never been
seen in China at the time. The majority of these published
modernist buildings were designed by Western architects
and characterized with strong tropical formal languages.
But the authors did not mention the name of the architects,
partly due to the lack of relevant information, partly due
to the then political climate, which weakened the role of
individualism.
In addition to these carefully drafted articles, Jianzhu
xuebao also published a large number of architectural
images during the early 1960s. Each issue focused on a
particular country, such as Ghana, Cuba, Mexico, North
Korea, Hungary, and Albania. These publications on
architecture in the so-called “Third World” represented
Figure 4. Feng Zhidan’s visiting note on Guinea. Source: Renmin huabao, a significant departure from the situation of the 1950s,
1961, no. 7. when the presentation of foreign architecture in the

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.200