The exhibition How Modern at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal offers a captivating glimpse into the architectural evolution of communist China. Curated by Shirley Surya and Li Hua, it showcases official archives and private collections, revealing a period of architectural creativity and innovation. The exhibition challenges the common perception of post-1949 China as a dull, homogeneous landscape, instead presenting a vibrant era of architectural experimentation. This exploration is particularly relevant today, as China under President Xi Jinping embraces a new wave of architectural nationalism, banning 'weird buildings' and promoting 'Chinese architectural styles'.
The story begins with Beijing's Tiananmen Square, now the most fortified and surveilled public space globally. Mao's vision for 'Ten Great Buildings' defined a new aesthetic, blending beaux-arts classicism, Soviet monumentality, and modern functionalism with traditional Chinese elements. This campaign, executed at an unprecedented pace, involved over 1,000 architects and engineers, resulting in the completion of 350 million square meters of buildings in just a decade. The exhibition features stunning posters and oral histories, including a recollection by Yung Ho Chang, whose father, Zhang Kaiji, struggled with the mandated 'big roof' style.
The Sanlihe government office project in Beijing exemplifies the rapid shifts in architectural ideology. Initially, most blocks were topped with traditional Chinese hip-and-gable roofs. However, after a speech by Nikita Khrushchev criticizing Stalinist architecture, the party denounced the 'big roof' style, leading to the central block at Sanlihe being stripped of its elaborate roof. This period also saw the launch of the Design Revolution movement in 1964, which aimed to achieve 'greater, faster, better, and more economical' construction by involving non-architectural professionals. Despite the movement's intentions, the exclusion of architects backfired, as the harsh realities of the Cultural Revolution, including mass starvation and forced labor, were not adequately addressed in the exhibition.
The exhibition also highlights intriguing design stories, such as the Third Front's secretive campaign to develop industrial and military facilities in the 1960s and 70s. The Second Automobile Works in Hubei and Factory 544 in Hunan, which produced artillery fuses, are featured in a room showcasing these projects. Beautiful traditional woodcut prints from the late 1970s depict karst mountain formations with heroic viaducts and tunnels. The exhibition also explores standardized housing programs, modular furniture production, and the use of industrial byproducts and local materials due to resource shortages. As Hong Kong regulators phase out bamboo scaffolding, the exhibition reminds us of a time when resource scarcity led to innovative, low-carbon solutions.
