China’s development and speculation about its future impact on the world are stimulating considerable attention in design-related disciplines internationally. This process has already encouraged various forms of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue that will inevitably enrich our understanding of design and improve our responses to future design-related problems. However, much of this discourse tends to focus on either pre-twentieth century themes (e.g. China’s ancient sites and cultural relics) or China’s rapid contemporary development. Less consideration is given to the period linking these two phases – a period defined by modernisation that witnessed for the first time the synthesis of two formally disparate cultures, summarised albeit inaptly as ‘East’ and ‘West’. The symbiosis of these two groups evolved important hybrid design solutions that are unique to China and might usefully inform cultural studies and proffer pertinent lessons for contemporary problem solving in architecture, design and urban planning.

Despite the uniqueness of its experience during the first decades of the twentieth century, China remains under-represented among internationally recognised academic studies and published literature, and among organisations whose stated purpose is to improve the understanding of early twentieth century architecture and related design activities. This lack of representation is mirrored also inside China, where only very recently have early twentieth century architecture and urban history in general been viewed as having value (actual and scientific). This trend, together with the widespread destruction or reconfiguration of buildings and spaces taking place in most of China’s cities, is prompting more attention to and research of this period.

The focus of this research is on the influence of Modernism in China in the first half of the twentieth century. It aims to explore this movement from the perspective of architecture and urban development and assess the impact of ideological transformations that took place between and among Chinese and foreign practitioners during this period. It is also focusing on the impact of Modernism and its various manifestations by investigating the architects and planners, designers and engineers, builders and craftsmen, and artists and writers, who introduced or embraced modernity, and how these impacted upon the distinctive principles and styles of Modernism and how these were assimilated in ways unique to China. The study will consider also the physical, economic, creative and ideological parallels between this epoch and China’s contemporary development and what, if anything, such historiographical comparisons can offer current practitioners.

This research forms the basis of an exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects from July-September 2008, in collaboration with China’s leading urban heritage organisation, the Ruan Yi San Foundation, based in Shanghai.