Page 131 - JCAU-6-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Socialist urbanism and cultural infrastructure facilities

utopian settlement could be designed and produced as a zhanlanguan (苏联展览馆), resembling elements of the
glamorous model of the future” (2014, p. 121). “The future Admiralty building, headquarters of the Russian Navy, in
itself was imagined as empty space that could be filled with St. Petersburg. The Beijing Sulian zhanlanguan, exotic and
abstract images, and ultimately with abstract citizens.” conspicuous, was completed in 1954 for the Exhibition of
The “honorific and ideological city center” has been the Soviet Economic and Cultural Achievements, to coincide
standard centerpiece in socialist urbanism. This spatial with Khrushchev’s first visit to China. This exhibition on
model, a tabula rasa to be dominated by government Soviet material culture, with some 11,500 items portraying
buildings overseeing cultural infrastructure facilities, the exemplary future of socialist modernity, was the
characterizes new city center projects in China. largest in the early history of the PRC (Li, 2014). The
Soviet Exhibition Hall introduced to the PRC the concept
2.1. Museology exchanges, exhibition centers, and of monumentality for leisure facilities that cultivates the
auditoria advancement of socialism in society.
On the afternoon of October 1, 1949, the protagonists in Soviet exhibition centers were also constructed in
what would become the years-long debate over how to Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan, where they were
redevelop Beijing for socialist modernization assembled Sino-Soviet friendship halls. The geopolitical relationship
on the Tiananmen Rostrum. In Beijing Record, Wang between the two countries attenuated by the early 1960s,
(2011, p. 40-43) records how Liang Sicheng, the eminent but the PRC split from Russian tutelage did not result in
architectural historian, was there amidst a score of Soviet removal of the Soviet-era cultural infrastructure. The
“experts in municipal administration” who were already Soviet name in Chinese, Sulian (苏联), would be replaced
dictating how Beijing should be reconstructed. Zhou by Chinese city names, yielding Beijing Exhibition Hall
Enlai, the new premier and head of government, walked on the landmark Soviet-style building. The Shanghai
to the corners of the rostrum and gesticulated toward the Exhibition Center, originally the Sino-Soviet Friendship
future. From the southeast corner, he pointed to the east Hall, occupies a site in Jing’an, one of Shanghai’s most
and stated, “there should be a history museum – a huge prominent districts. In Guangzhou, as Ding (2021,
structure – there” on the east side of Tiananmen Square. p. 977) documents, investment in the Guangzhou Foreign
He walked to the southwest corner, pointed to the west Trade Project, “one of the largest and most ambitious
side, and said, “the national grand theatre should be construction projects in 1970s China,” substantially
built there.” The People’s Republic was not yet a day old extended the Guangzhou Sino-Soviet Friendship Building
and the Chinese leadership had already envisioned the for the Canton Fair. The endurance of the friendship
construction of cultural infrastructure facilities, in dialog buildings amidst multiple rounds of urban redevelopment
with Soviet advisors, in the heart of the capital. testifies to their importance in CCP history.

The first cultural infrastructure facilities in the PRC Modern architecture associated with Stalinist socialist
were a prominent subject of the Sino-Soviet exchange. In realism became a general style for major buildings.
1950, the committee in charge of planning the Museum Beijing’s most prominent projects in the Stalinist style, the
of the Chinese Revolution, to be housed in the large-scale Ten Great Buildings, famously constructed in record time
structure that Zhou envisioned, traveled to Moscow to to demonstrate socialist achievement, commemorated the
study the Russian model of museums. This visit was the 10 anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Their grandiose
th
first of several Sino-Soviet museology exchanges (Hung, size and speed of realization represented an “architectural
2011). Since the project would shape the representation manifesto for a political agenda” at the time of the Great
of CCP history, the Propaganda Department was directly Leap Forward (Xue & Ding, 2018, p. 47). The building on
involved. Its leadership worked on the basis of jianshe the east side of Tiananmen Square realized Zhou’s vision
(建设) or construction that is both ideological and for a massive edifice to house the Museum of the Chinese
material – construction of material infrastructure in Revolution, in the north wing, and the National Museum
dedicated buildings and construction of cultural content of China in the south wing. In 2003 the two museums
for the portrayal of socialist values. merged to form the National Museum of China.

In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union sent about 10,000 Auditoria and theater space or meeting and
advisors to serve in PRC ministries and departments performance halls figure centrally in the history of cultural
(Bernstein, 2010). The plan for renovating Beijing infrastructure facilities. Auditoria have provided party
as the capital city was developed under direct Soviet and government meeting space as well as performance
guidance (Sit, 1996; Wang, 2011). Beijing’s first major space. At the intersection of party authority over culture
cultural facility was the Soviet exhibition hall, the Sulian and cultural infrastructure facilities, Lenin advanced the

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1995