Chang’an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture

Shuishan Yu

In this interdisciplinary narrative, the never-ending “completion” of China’s most important street offers a broad view of the relationship between art and ideology in modern China. Chang’an Avenue, named after China’s ancient capital (whose name means “Eternal Peace”), is supremely symbolic. Running east-west through the centuries-old heart of Beijing, it intersects the powerful north-south axis that links the traditional centers of political and spiritual legitimacy (the imperial Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven). Among its best-known features are Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People, as well as numerous other monuments and prominent political, cultural, and financial institutions.

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2012

  • $60.00 cloth, 978-0-295-99213-6
  • $60.00 ebook, 978-0-295-80448-4
  • 344 pages
  • 118 color illus., 7 x 10

Content Excerpt

Table of Contents

MEDIA GALLERY

Views of Chang'An Avenue

about the author

shuishan

Shuishan Yu’s research focuses on Chinese architecture, modern architecture and its theoretical discourse, and Buddhist architecture in East Asia. In addition to Chang’an Avenue, he has published articles, book chapters, and exhibition catalogs and presented conference papers on the city and architecture of Beijing, Tibetan Buddhist architecture, Chinese literati art, and modern architectural historiography. Yu’s research projects are mostly case studies aiming for the demystification of a specific historical site, issue, or phenomenon, and highlight the significance, nature, and problem of cross-cultural translation of architectural forms, practices, and theories.

Before joining Northeastern University, Yu has worked as an architect in the Ministry of Construction Architectural Design Institute in Beijing and taught in the Department of Art and Art History at the Oakland University in Michigan. He is also a qin musician and the current chair of the North America Mei’an Guqin Society.

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