Page 137 - JCAU-6-4

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

before Guangzhou. Both are historic counties of the Pearl
River Delta region, but they have different histories in the
system of administrative divisions. In 1988, the central
government elevated Dongguan to a city at the prefecture
level, an uncommon reclassification that facilitated
rapid development. This change in administrative status
entrains the formal process of land leasing and real estate
development, with the elevated city status allowing for
larger-scale land use transformations. Amidst over-
extended economic activity, in the early 2000s, Dongguan
developed such a large new city center that it became
notorious as a “gargantuan” plaza on an “inhuman” scale
(Oakes, 2020, p. 110-11). The massive site demonstrates
the aesthetic of “building big with no regret,” Zhu’s (2011)
characterization of the continuity of socialist realism in Figure 4. Dongguan City Central Plaza, 2005. Exhibition Hall on the left
the reform era. Another tabula rasa for state construction, and Administrative Center on the right. Source: Photo by the author
the plaza fronts a new administrative center with adjacent
cultural facilities, an exhibition hall, a library, a convention
center, and a theater (Figure 4).
A mural inside the Dongguan Exhibition Hall portrays
the new city center in the socialist style of spirited positivity.
It shows the relationship between the leading government
building, at the head or superior position on the axis, and
cultural infrastructure buildings. The text on the mural, in
Chinese and English, refers to the open space as the “central
plaza” and describes the relationship between politics and
culture as “integrating functions of administrative office
and cultural leisure.” (Figure 5) The layout symbolizes the
dominance of state space and its power to place culture,
relationally and supportively, on its flanks.
After Deng Xiaoping signaled the deepening of reform Figure 5. “Central plaza of Dongguan city,” Dongguan Exhibition Hall,
in 1992, the central government declared another batch of interior mural, 2005. The text on the mural reads, “The central plaza
counties as county-level cities. Shunde was one of them. of Dongguan city is of magnificent style and elegant environment,
integrating functions of administrative office and cultural leisure.” Source:
A decade later, in 2002, Shunde became a district of Photo by the author
Foshan, the prefecture-level city on Guangzhou’s western
border. Counties reclassified as districts normally lose their
budgetary and planning authority. However, Shunde, on
the strength of its economy and reform leadership, became
a district in direct governing relations with Guangzhou
(Chan, 2019). This condition informs why Shunde
developed a new center called a cultural center rather than
a new city center. Designed on an axial landscape in front
of the new district government administrative building,
the Shunde Cultural Center features a library, a performing
arts center, and two museums (Figures 6 and 7).
The firm P&T Architects and Engineers, originally
Palmer and Turner, architects for the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Bank buildings, built in Hong Kong and
Shanghai in the 19 century, designed the cultural
th
facilities for Shunde. They won the American Institute of Figure 6. Shunde Library, Shunde District Cultural Center, 2005. Source:
Architects and American Library Association (ALA) 2007 Photo by the author

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 10 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1995