Searching for a modern Chinese monument: The design of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

Volumn 64, Issue 1, 2005, Pages

  Lai, Delin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950722341     PISSN: 00379808     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/25068123     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. These kinds of descriptions are typical of Chinese textbooks. See, for example, Pan Guxi, ed., Zhongguo Jianzhu Shi (History of Chinese architecture) (Beijing, 2001), 376-77
2. and Fu Chaoqing, Zhongguo Gudian Shiyang Xinjianzhu - Ershi shiji Zhongguo xinjianzhu guanzhihua de lishi yanjiu (New architecture of the classic Chinese style: A study of the institutionalization history of new architecture in twentieth-century China) (Taipei, 1993), 116-20
3. Similar statements can also be found in Peter Rowe and Seng Kuan, Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China (Cambridge, Mass., 2002), 69. Despite this criticism, all of these books have done a great service by presenting a panorama of the modern development of Chinese architecture
4. Sibel Bozdogan, Modernization and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic (Seattle, 2001), 9
5. Charles D. Musgrove, "Building a Dream: Constructing a National Capital in Nanjing, 1927-1937," in Joseph W. Esherick, ed., Remaking the Chinese City: Modernity and National Identity, 1900-1950 (Honolulu, 2000), 139
6. Tyau, Two Years of Nationalist China, unpag
7. Sun Yat-sen, "Nationalism," in Sun Zhongshan Xuanji (Selected works of Sun Yat-sen) (Beijing, 1981), 688-89
8. Some of the most important are Liping Wang, "Creating a National Symbol," Republican China 21 (Apr. 1996), 23-63
9. Henrietta Harrison, The Making of the Republican Citizen (Oxford, 2000)
10. and Li Gongzhong, "Sangzang Zhengzhi yu Minguo Zaizao: Sun Zhongshan Feng'an Dadian Yanjiu" (The politics of the funeral and the rebuilding of republican China: A case study of the grand funeral of Sun Yat-sen) (Ph.D. diss., Nanjing University, 2003)
11. Nanjingshi Dang'anguan (Nanjing Municipal Archives, hereafter NMA) and Zhongshan Lingyuan Guanlichu (Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Administration Office, hereafter SMAO), eds., Zhongshan Ling Dang'an Shiliao Xuanbian (Selected archival materials on the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum) (Nanjing, 1986), 59
12. Wang, "Creating a National Symbol," 23-63
13. Harrison, Making of the Republican Citizen, 134. Harrison suggests that the materials the Soviet Union used for Sun's coffin also manifested its view of Sun's "importance."
14. PCFS, "Di'erci huiyi jilu" (Record of the second meeting), in NMA and SMAO, Zhongshan Ling Dang'an, 55
15. The China International Corporation is called Dazhou Maoyi Gongsi in Chinese. See Supplement to the North-China Desk Hong List (Shanghai, 1924; rev. ed., 1926). It includes the name of H. Hagemann, which appeared in Chinese books on the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum as He Men. Besides Hagemann's contributions to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, nothing about his life and career in China has yet been found
16. The English version of the competition guidelines was published in North-China Daily News, 19 May 1925
17. NMA and SMAO, Zhongshan Ling Dang'an, 152
18. The Chinese version was published in several famous Chinese newspapers, such as Shang Bao, 15-21 May 1925
19. and Shen Bao, 27 May 1925
20. Dai Hongci, Chushi Jiu Guo Riji (Diary of the diplomatic mission to nine countries) (Changsha, 1982), 67, 100, 110
21. Joseph R. Levenson, Liang Chi-chao and the Mind of Modern China (Cambridge, Mass., 1953)
22. Liang Qichao, "Ou you xinying luji" (Impressions of travels in Europe), Liang Qichao Quanji (Complete works of Liang Qichao), vol. 10 (Beijing, 1999), 2993-94
23. Among these schools are St. John's University, Shanghai (architect unknown, 1894); West China Union University, Chengdu (Fred Rowntree, 1912); Yale-in-China, Changsha (Henry Murphy, 1913-14); Ginling University, Nanjing (A. G. Small of Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton Architects, 1919); Peking Union Medical College, Beijing (Harry Hussey, 1916-19); Ginling College for Girls, Nanjing (Henry K. Murphy, 1918-23); and Yenching University, Beijing (Henry K. Murphy, 1919-26). See Dong Li, Zhongguo Jiaohui Daxue Jianzhu Yanjiu (A study of the architecture of church universities in China) (Zhuhai, 1999)
24. and Jeffrey W. Cody, "Puxie yiqu hexie de yuezhang: Waiguo chuanjiaoshi he 'Zhongguo fengge'de jianzhu, 1911-1949" (Striking a harmonious chord: Foreign missionaries and 'Chinese-style' buildings, 1911-1949), Zhongguo Xueshu 4 (Jan. 2003), 69-118
25. Ling Hongxun, "Ling Hongxun guanyu lingmu tu'an pingpan baogao" (Ling Hongxun's report on the mausoleum designs), in NMA and SMAO, Zhongshan Ling Dang'an, 160
26. James Fergusson, A History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (New York, 1899), 300
27. On Henry K. Murphy, see Jeffrey W. Cody, Building in China: Henry K. Murphy's "Adaptive Architecture," 1914-1935 (Hong Kong and Seattle, 2001). For discussion of Murphy's design of the Pagoda-Tower at the Memorial Ceremony for Heroes of the Revolution, see 191
28. Despite its long tradition of craftsmanship, China did not begin to have its own architects trained under the Western system until the early twentieth century, when its modernization was in progress. As shown in the records of the Society of Chinese Architects - the core organization of Chinese architects, established in 1927 - by 1940 there were forty-one American-trained architects among its eighty-two members, together with five returned from France, four from Britain, four from Germany, two from Belgium, one from Japan, and twenty-five from China. All these foreign-trained architects graduated before 1938. World War II, which started in 1936, the Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937 and lasted for eight years, and the policy of Learn from the Soviet Union in the 1950s retarded normal communications between China and Western countries and prevented China from easily "updating" its architectural philosophy. Although the building of modernist styles and the introduction of modernist architectural theories were becoming widespread in practice and via publications after the 1930s, the Beaux-Arts tradition, due to the background of the teachers, remained dominant in Chinese architectural education until the late 1970s. For more information about the Beaux-Arts influence on Chinese architecture, see Xing Ruan, "Accidental Affinities: American Beaux-Arts in Twentieth-century Chinese Architectural Education and Practice," JSAH 61 (Mar. 2002), 30-47
29. Xu Subin, "Qingmo Sichuan yu Riben de jiaowang zhi yanjiu - Liu Ri de tielu liuxuesheng, guyong Riben jishuzhe yu Chengdu 'Xinhai qiu baolu sishi jinianbei'" (Communication between Sichuan and Japan in the final period of the Qing dynasty: The railway students who studied in Japan, Japanese technicians hired by China, and the Monument for Commemorating the Deceased in the Railway Protection Movement in the Fall of 1911), Jianzhushi Lunwenji 13 (Oct., 2000), 46-61
30. Huang Jianmin, "Zhongguo jianzhu jiaoyu suwang" (A survey of architectural education in China), Taiwan Architect (Nov. 1985), 34-39
31. Also see my "Zhongguo Jindai Jianzhushi Yanjiu" (A study of modern Chinese architectural history) (Ph.D. diss., Tsinghua University, Beijing, 1992), pt. 2
32. Emil Busch's name as a judge appeared in "Prize-Winning Design of Mausoleum for Body of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Is Won by Shanghai Architect," China Weekly Review, 3 Oct. 1925, 113-14; the name of his company was listed in the Supplement to the North-China Desk Hong List (see n. 14)
33. According to Torsten Warner's German Architecture in China (Berlin, 1994), Busch's office, Lothar Marcks and Busch, Hankou, was responsible for the design of the German Concession Town Hall of Hankou in 1907 (150) and the construction of the German-Asian Bank of Hankou in 1908 (148). Busch was also the architect of the German Community Center and the Kaiser Wilhelm School of Shanghai in 1928 (130). According to File 422-3-1360 of the Second National Archives of China, Lothar Marcks and Busch also designed and executed the German Municipality, the office building for Messrs. Melchers and Co., the German School, and many other residences, godowns, and industrial buildings in Hankou around 1909. But Busch's work in China from 1910 to 1928 still remains largely unknown
34. PCFS, ed., Sun Zhongshan Xiansheng Lingmu Tu'an (Plans and designs for the mausoleum of Mr. Sun Yat-sen) (Shanghai, 1925). There is no record indicating how many of the proposals were submitted by Chinese and how many by foreigners
35. Shanghai Huabao Chubanshe, ed., Xifangren bixia de Zhongguo fengqing hua (A pictorial album of Chinese society drawn by Westerners) (Shanghai, 1997), 113
36. Wilma Fairbank, "Liang Ssu-Ch'eng: A Profile," in Liang Ssu Ch'eng, A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture: A Study of the Development of Its Structural System and the Evolution of Its Types (Cambridge, Mass., 1984), xiii. It is noteworthy that Kales also designed the National Wuhan University in Wuhan (1929-35) in a so-called Chinese style, but he did not retain the idea presented in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum competition
37. Ma Runsheng (Ma Zungsung), Mashi Guoyou Tujian (Ma's illustrated catalogue of the stamps of China) (Hong Kong, 1947), 117
38. Wang Yiting, "Wang Yiting guanyu Sun Zhongshan lingmu tu'an pingpan baogao" (Report by Wang Yiting on the designs of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum), in Xu Youchun and Wu Zhiming, eds., Sun Zhongshan Feng'an Dadian (The grand ceremony of Sun Zhongshan's entombment) (Beijing, 1989), 98-99
39. Emil Busch, "Deren Pushi guanyu Sun Zhongshan lingmu tu'an pingpan baogao" (Report by the German Busch on the designs of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum), in Xu and Wu, Sun Zhongshan Feng'an Dadian, 99-100
40. Guodu Sheji Jishu Zhuanyuan Banshichu (Capital Planning Office), ed., Shoudu Jihua (Planning proposal for the Capital) (Nanjing, 1929)
41. and Charles D. Musgrove, "Building a Dream, Constructing a National Capital in Nanjing, 1927-1937," in Esherick, Remaking the Chinese City, 139-60 (see n. 3)
42. In Xu and Wu, Sun Zhongshan Feng'an Dadian, 101-3
43. Yan Changhong, "Minguo shiqi sangzang lisu de gaige yu yanbian" (The reform and change of the funeral rituals during the republican period), Jindaishi Yanjiu, no. 5 (1998), 173
44. and Harrison, Making of the Republican Citizen, 141-44 (see n. 9)
45. see also Liu Zhonghang, ed., Sun Zhongshan Xiansheng Rongailu (A collection of eulogies for Mr. Sun Yat-sen) (Beijing, 1925), 37
46. Lu Baoqian, "Dai Jitao xiansheng de weijing shiye - Zhili zuoyue" (The incomplete career of Mr. Dai Jitao: Making rites and composing music), in Zhu Huisen, ed., Dai Chuanxian yu xiandai Zhongguo (Dai Chuanxian and modern China) (Taipei, 1989), 87-100
47. Tang Yueshi, "Sun mu tu'an zhanlanhui fangwen ji" (A record of the exhibition of the designs of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum), Shen Bao, 23 Sept. 1925
48. For Lü's life and career, see "Gu Lü Yanzhi jianzhushi xiaozhuan" (A brief biography of the late architect Lü Yanzhi), Zhongguo Jianzhu 1 (July 1933), 1
49. Jeffrey W. Cody, "Lü Yanzhi," in R. Stephen Sennott, ed., Encyclopedia of 20th-century Architecture, vol. 2 (New York and London, 2004), 798-99
50. Lü Yanzhi file, Cornell University Archives, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y
51. For Lü's work with Murphy, see Cody, Building in China, 148; and on Lü's resignation letter dated 3 Mar. 1922, see 167 n. 31
52. "Lü Yanzhi jun zhi tanhua" (Mr. Lü Yanzhi's talk), Shen Bao, 23 Sept. 1925
53. Y. C. Lu, "Memorials to Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Nanking and Canton," China Weekly Review, 10 Oct. 1928, 70-72
54. On the Pan American Union, see Elizabeth G. Grossman, The Civic Architecture of Paul Cret (Cambridge, England, 1996), 26-64
55. His reign of emperorship lasted only eighty-three days, from 1 Jan. 1916 to 23 Mar. 1916
56. Even so, his son and some of his followers buried him as an emperor by dressing his body accordingly. See Wang Qinxiang and Zai Xueming, Yuan Shikai Quanzhuan (A full biography of Yuan Shikai) (Qingdao, 1997), 493
57. "Yang Xizong guanyu Sun Zhongshan lingmu jihua shuomingshu" (Yang Xizong's explanation of the design of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum), in PCFS, Sun Zhongshan Xiansheng Lingmu Tu'an, 17-18 (see n. 29)
58. "Sun Ke zai Guomindang 'erda' huiyi shang baogao Sun Zhongshan zangshi choubei jingguo fayan jilu" (The record of Sun Ke's report on preparations for Sun Yat-sen's funeral presented to the Second National Congress of the KMT), in Xu and Wu, Sun Zhongshan Feng'an Dadian, 104-7
59. The Analects, ch. 3, para. 24: "The guardian of the frontier-mound at Yi asked to be presented to the Master (Confucius), saying, No gentleman arriving at this frontier has ever yet failed to accord me an interview. The Master's followers presented him. On going out the man said, Sirs, you must not be disheartened by his failure. It is now a very long while since the Way prevailed in the world. I feel sure that Heaven intends to use your Master as a wooden bell."
60. Jaroslav Pelikan, ed., Confucianism: The Analects of Confucius, trans. Arthur Waley (New York, 1992). I thank Dr. John Yu Zou for this reference
61. Shang Hai, Kong Fanjun, and He Husheng, eds., Minguo Shi Dacidian (A dictionary of Chinese republican history) (Beijing, 1991), 48
62. Chen (1875-1905) committed suicide by drowning himself in the sea in protest against the Japanese government's 1905 rule restricting Chinese students' activities. His influential works also include Shizi Hou (Lion roaring), which I mention in the current article
63. John Fitzgerald, Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution (Stanford, 1996), 3
64. Chin Tokujin and Yasui Sankichi, eds., Sun Bun Kôen "Dai Tôa Shugi" Shiryôshû (Kyoto, 1989), 107-24; and see n. 69
65. In Awakening China, Fitzgerald also discusses Gao's paintings and their relationship with the awakening cultural politics in modern China. He adopted this point from Ralph Croizier, Art and Revolution in Modern China: The Ling'nan (Cantonese) School of Painting, 1906-1951 (Berkeley, 1988)
66. "Wusa lieshi mu ying zhi jingzhong zhi jianyi" (A suggestion about placing an awakening bell at the grave of the May 30th martyrs), Shen Bao, 25 Apr. 1926. I thank Miss Grace Haoyu Wang for this reference
67. Zhao Shen, "Fakan Ci" (Foreword the journal), Zhongguo Jianzhu, preview issue (Nov. 1932), 1
68. See Ruan Xing, "Accidental Affinities, American Beaux-Arts in Twentieth-century Chinese Architectural Education and Practice," JSAH 61 (Mar. 2002), 30-47
69. and Lai Delin, "Zhezhong beihou de linian - Yang Tingbao jianzhu de bili wenti yanjiu" (An ideal underlying eclectic design: A study of the proportions of Yang Tingbao's architecture), Yishushi Yanjiu 4 (2004), 445-64
70. Zhao Chen, "'Minzu zhuyi' yu 'gudian zhuyi' - Liang Sicheng jianzhu lilun tixi de maodunxing yu beijuxing zhi fenxi" (Nationalism and classicism: An analysis of the contradiction and tragedy of Liang Sicheng's architectural theory), Zhang Fuhe, ed., Zhongguo Jindai Jianzhu Yanjiu yu Baohu, vol. 2 (Beijing, 2001), 77-86
71. Li Shiqiao, "Writing a Modern Chinese Architectural History: Liang Sicheng and Liang Qichao," Journal of Architectural Education 56 (Sept. 2002), 35-45
72. Lai Delin, "Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin Zhongguo jianzhushi xiezuo biaowei" (A historiographical study of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin's Chinese architectural history writings), 21st Century, no. 64 (Apr. 2001), 90-99
73. and Lai, "Idealizing a China Style," paper delivered at the conference "The Beaux Arts, Paul Philippe Cret, and 20th-century Architecture in China," 3-5 Oct. 2003, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia