Page 95 - JCAU-7-1

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Adaptations in early 20 -century modern
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Chinese architecture: The pursuit of a “new
architectural style” in Art Deco

Prudence Lau* and Zuoyi Chen

Department of Cultural and Creative Arts, Faculty of Humanities, The Education University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Glocalization: Urban Planning and Its Legacy in Modern
Chinese Port Cities)

Abstract

Since the late 19 century, foreign influences have shaped modern Chinese
th
architecture, prompting early 20 -century Chinese architects to blend Western
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modernism with local traditions. This article focuses on the adaptations and
transformations in modern Chinese architecture during this period, exploring how
the concept of the “modern” was embraced by both Western and Chinese architects.
At the time, modern architecture in China faced a wide array of critiques, including
*Corresponding author: concerns about excessive cost and impractical designs. In the early 1920s, Western
Prudence Lau architects began experimenting in Chinese cities such as Tianjin, Hankou, and Hong
(plklau@eduhk.hk) Kong, introducing various new design forms and attempting – often in vain – to
Citation: Lau, P., & Chen, Z. convince their Chinese clients to integrate local characteristics into the architecture.
(2025). Adaptations in early Meanwhile, other architects entered a stage of exploration, debating distinctions
20th-century modern Chinese between restoring traditional Chinese architecture and adapting Chinese features
architecture: The pursuit of a “new
architectural style” in Art Deco. for modern purposes. According to Dong Dayou (1899 – 1973), a prominent first-
Journal of Chinese Architecture and generation modern architect, they were seeking a new style of architecture. Finally,
Urbanism, 7(1): 3710. this article addresses how Chinese architects responded to modern international
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3710
expositions, particularly the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et
Received: May 20, 2024 Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial
Revised: August 14, 2024 Arts) in Paris, highlighting Liu Jipiao (1900 – 1992), another first-generation Chinese
architect, and his experiments with Art Deco.
Accepted: August 19, 2024
Published online: November 27,
2024 Keywords: Modern Chinese architecture; Adaptation; Art Deco; Early 20th-century
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution- 1. Introduction
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all Researchers have commented that external influences have significantly shaped modern
non-commercial use, distribution, th
and reproduction in any medium, Chinese architecture since the late 19 century (Denison & Guang, 2008; Rowe & Kuan,

provided the original work is 2002; Zhu, 2009). While recent studies often focus on the technical aspects of modern
properly cited. architectural design (Lucchi, 2023; Sabatino, 2016); it is worthwhile to consider the
Publisher’s Note: AccScience architects themselves as well as the contextual and sociohistoric factors behind their
Publishing remains neutral with designs. Scholars have also argued that colonial modernity lacks the “historicity of
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional the subject,” suggesting that examining architecture can reveal the social power and
affiliations. resistance inherent in response to oppressive ruling power (Hsia, 2002, p. 13).

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3710