‘Yesterday meets tomorrow in Shanghai
today’:
The case for Xīntiāndi
All images are
moments, just as any point in space is both the memory of a time x, and the
reflection of a space y.
[C]ulture
is both ‘socially constructed and geographically expressed.’
– Jackson qtd in Kobayashi[2]
Introduction
An American traveling abroad
in 2011, I found myself in a German restaurant in the French part of Shanghai,
China. It was like Russian dolls: A culture inside a culture inside a culture
inside a culture.
How did I end up there?
To begin with, many Americans
have a fascination with Paris, and I am no exception. I studied abroad at
Parsons Paris School of Art and Design in 2002. Because I love to travel, when
my cousin and his family relocated to Shanghai for his job, I visited them for
a month. One of my friends from art school who grew up in Shanghai recommended
that I visit Xīntiāndi, adding that it is where the “jet sets” go and so to
“look but don’t buy anything.” My cousin’s wife reiterated the “go but don’t
buy anything” when I got there. My cousin thought it was too commercialized,
but my friend had suggested it, so I wanted to go. Besides, there was a museum.
Xīntiāndi is two square
blocks in the four-square-mile Shanghai French Concession. An upscale
neighborhood, Xīntiāndi carries expensive luxury-brand stores like Vera Wang. I
looked around the shops, commercialized but quaint, and went to the site where Chairman
Mao led Communist meetings. Along with a few Americans, most Chinese people in
the area wore business suits, apparently heading to power lunches. I thought it
was ironic that the people inhabiting the site that preserves the history of
communism are also the people who have benefited the most from capitalism. Some
academics and tourists criticize Xīntiāndi as being too commercial, like
Disneyland[3]. I felt that I wasn’t
supposed to like it so I could say that I share values of authenticity as well
as an abhorrence for conspicuous consumption. But I liked Xīntiāndi.
The setting reminded me of
studying abroad in Paris. The distinct French architecture is comprised of
stone buildings with arched windows and the cobblestone streets are lined with
trees. A neighborhood over, however, is a completely different space. Modern
skyscrapers and cranes line the streets and fill the skyline, boasting some of
the tallest buildings in the world including the Oriental Pearl Tower, the
highest tower in Asia and the third highest in the world.
Another anomaly I noticed in
Xīntiāndi is Russian churches, distinct with their domed roofs that resemble
ice-cream-cone tops. Xīntiāndi is Paris with splashes of Russia, albeit an Americanized
version, as evidenced by a Starbucks and bilingual signage in English and
Mandarin. With multiple cultures in the same small space, some of it looked
Chinese, but a lot did not.
What was this place doing in
Shanghai?
I could not imagine an urban
planner saying, “Let’s make an area in Shanghai that is a cross between French
and Russian culture that would appeal to Americans who are in China.” Beneath
the surface, this eclectic mix of cultures must have a complex story. Why does
this two-block area – two squares on a map – look like Paris when it is on
another continent?
Insight
through architecture
To begin with, in the mid-nineteenth
century France colonized the area known as the Shanghai French Concession,
which contains Xīntiāndi. The French brought with them their Beaux-Arts style
of architecture when they settled there. After a century of French control
China regained its land and, for about sixty years, the area was home to
working-class Chinese. Then, in 1997, an American architect was hired to redesign
Xīntiāndi. In 2001, Xīntiāndi was gentrified in conjunction with preserving an
historic site located there.
Xīntiāndi was no accident,
but the culmination of history playing out into the present. With architecture
at its core, Xīntiāndi brings insight into current-day issues such as
cultural identity, globalization, gentrification, urban planning, preservation,
environmentalism, and economic justice. To understand Xīntiāndi, we should
begin with the architecture of France in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, the Beaux-Arts style.
The Beaux-Arts
method was taught at the influential architecture school École des Beaux-Arts in
Paris, which framed the discussion about architecture in a contemplative way. As
Francis D.K. Ching, a trained architect and Professor Emeritus at the
University of Washington, asserts:
[T]he École
elevated architecture into an autonomous and structured discipline. And with
that autonomy came new and complex theoretical questions about the nature of
architectural production. … What is the relationship between the identity of a
nation, its history, and its architecture? (668)
Through aesthetics, art history in
general chronicles how culture has been shaped over time. In examining the past, art
history provides insight into a society’s culture, values, and future. Ching’s statement suggests
that architects and historians of art and architecture in particular would
be well poised to explicate Xīntiāndi’s rich history, converging cultures, and economic rise
reflecting the effects of globalization through its architecture.
One reason
architecture is an ideal way to study these issues is the level of thought
societies devote to architecture. Nancy S. Steinhardt argues, “Unlike a detail in a painting or
one’s personal attire, architecture is monumental, expensive, and seen by
countless people over long periods of time” (4). In other words, architecture
reflects the zeitgeist of an era. Given its expense, architecture is typically
planned out in agonizing detail. While a drawing can easily be erased or a film
re-edited, it is harder to redo a building. It is too costly an error not to
have considered everything. Furthermore, like the architects of the pyramids in
Egypt, architects today still design big imposing structures to leave a mark of
permanence on the landscape.
In addition to
architecture’s real or perceived permanence, in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries in France, architecture was viewed as the highest art form. Architecture
was seen as a more all-encompassing way of reflecting culture than literature,
painting, or sculpture (Norindr 24, 27). In regard to reflecting culture, Edward W. Said made
the case that literature and culture are intertwined (Orientalism 27). Because of France’s view of architecture as a
superior method of expression to that of literature and other art forms, I
would extend Said’s theory to include architecture as another means to reflect
culture. I would also argue that politics and history are reflected in
architecture. Said asserts,
Too often
literature and culture are presumed to be politically, even historically
innocent; it has regularly seemed otherwise to me, and certainly my study of
Orientalism has convinced me (and I hope will convince my literary colleagues)
that society and literary culture can only be understood and studied together. (Orientalism 27)
Therefore, if architecture serves as a superior
surrogate to literature and fine art, architecture can surely be used to understand
politics and history, including that of France, China, and the United States.
During
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while France exercised global dominance,
the world looked to Paris for architecture. This included the United States,
where France’s Beaux-Arts method was taught in architecture schools. Joining
the American students, Chinese students were able to study Beaux-Arts architecture
in the United States as reparations for the Boxer Rebellion[4],
an uprising that took place in China from 1900-1901. Indeed, Xīntiāndi was
partially designed by Chinese architects returning to China in the 1930s and
1940s, influenced by an American interpretation of France’s Beaux-Arts method
during their architecture training in the United States. Contemporary architecture
in China, however, reflects the history of the United States usurping France as
a superpower, resulting in China’s shift from Beaux-Arts-styled buildings to
skyscrapers. Bulldozing old traditional Chinese buildings and replacing them
with skyscrapers also reflects the politics of China’s continuing shift from
communism to capitalism. The combination of French, Chinese, and American
architectural influences and aesthetics are inextricably intertwined with
history and politics in Xīntiāndi.
Beaux-Arts beginnings
Xīntiāndi was a crime-ridden
area neighborhood before 1849, replete with opium dens and gangsters. Then the
French came to China and established the Shanghai French Concession. From 1849
through 1943, French elites resided in the French Concession as well as the
Chinese workers they managed and immigrants from a number of countries,
including many Russian émigrés (He and Wu 9). Most of the Chinese workers
were poor but there was a small semi-elite class of Chinese people who served
as go-betweens for the French colonists exporting goods and the Chinese
laborers. The semi-elite class made sure that the laborers didn’t rebel in
exchange for more power and wealth than the masses, although it was a pittance compared
to the wealth of the French.
This shift in the
socio-economic makeup of the colonists and residents, the mix of cultures, and the
succession in control changed Xīntiāndi’s architecture. The result was larger
residences, hints of different cultures such as a Russian church and, most prominently,
shíkùmén buildings. Similar to townhouses, shíkùmén buildings are a hybrid of
French and Chinese architecture.
The Chinese contributed to the
old-style shíkùmén matou (“horse
head”) gable; the top of the building ends at three height levels, like two
staircases joining together symmetrically at the top with the tallest step in
the middle. A traditional curved Chinese roof rests on top of each level. Made
of wood, the roofs are earthy brown with vertical ridges and, near the bottom,
dramatically swing out and curve up.
French contributions to
shíkùmén can be seen in the building materials. Lòngtáng, or shíkùmén-styled neighborhoods
of lane houses, were traditionally made primarily of wood in China; but because
the wood made them susceptible to fires, the French made them out of brick,
often with reddish-orange horizontal stripes. The French placed an emphasis on
permanence in their building materials, favoring stone and later cement when
modern materials were introduced. In addition, arched windows are either
emphasized by bricks outlining them or by the intricate ornamentation above
them, like one would see in Paris.
The shíkùmén’s walls are
lined with large doors, each leading to a unit. The buildings face each other
with alleyways in between. While both countries have alleyways, in France they
are used as a back entrance whereas in China they function as the main entryway.
In China the alleyways are also narrower. Although the alleyway is outside it
is analogous to the hallway of a hotel room, putting residents in close
proximity, encouraging interaction. The French enjoy interacting with neighbors
but appreciate the extra space between dwellings that allows them more privacy.
For the Chinese, the separation between public and private spaces is more
ambiguous. In the narrower alleyways the Chinese wear their pajamas and play
cards with their neighbors.
Many details built into shíkùmén
encourage community and add to a sense of privacy, providing clues into the
culture. Arched entryways made of stone stand on both ends of each alleyway, framing
the space and separating the shíkùmén from the busy streets outside. Shíkùmén
are only two or three stories, which also contribute to its coziness. Additional
research on Xīntiāndi would provide more extensive insight into what these
details can tell us about culture, values, and identity.
Communism and
capitalism’s effect on Xīntiāndi
The next stage in Xīntiāndi’s
evolution was propelled by a shift in China’s politics. Many Chinese were
dissatisfied with the inequality inherent in China’s class structure. Communism
became a part of China’s identity in 1921 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
was established. In fact, the place of its second[5] meeting was in Xīntiāndi.
The Communists valued equality, which is reflected in their slogan: “Serve the
people.” Xīntiāndi was socially stratified by race, a far cry from an equitable
neighborhood. Indeed, the Chinese Communist Party had a much different vision
for Xīntiāndi. The Chinese people in the French Concession resented that they
paid local taxes but the French did not. Chinese citizens wanted a higher share
of the profits from their labor rather than most of it going to the French
middlemen who exported the goods. Even more fundamentally, the Chinese
residents wanted to have a say in the French Concession’s local government.
In 1943, the Chinese finally
got what they wanted: full control of their land. France, Britain, and the
United States all signed treaties relinquishing their power over the French
Concession and International Settlements in China. After the occupation, the
Chinese government divided up the luxurious homes of former French residents
into smaller units, converting the private buildings into public housing (He
and Wu 9). There
was no visible change in the architectural style from the outside, but dividing
up the homes reflected an internal change. This act of
reducing living space size illustrates how economics is reflected in
architecture. With as many as seven Chinese families fit into the living space
of one former French family, this change also influenced interpersonal
interactions. For
about sixty years, the Chinese working class lived in Xīntiāndi. But when the
ownership of the property changed, so did its maintenance. Although Communism had
a noble goal, its practice resulted in Xīntiāndi and its surrounding area turning
into a slum.
Toward the end of this
period, in the 1990s, under new governmental leadership China continued to be a
Communist country but also embraced some elements of capitalism. China brought
in foreign investment, increasing their role in globalization. This brought a
lot of prosperity to the country and has largely been successful. The reduction
of poverty in China over the 1990s has been “unprecedented” (Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents 8). Joseph
Stiglitz explains:
China managed
globalization carefully: it was slow to open up its own markets for imports,
and even today does not allow the entry of hot speculative money—money that
seeks high returns in the short run and rushes into a country in a wave of
optimism only to rush out again at the first hint of trouble. China’s
government realized that while the rush in might bring a short-lived boom, the
recessions and depressions that could be expected to follow would bring
long-lasting damage, more than offsetting the short-run gain. China avoided the
boom-and-bust that marked other countries in East Asia and Latin America … ,
maintaining growth in excess of 7 percent every year. (Making Globalization Work 10-11)
China has continued to manage its
growth effectively in the twenty-first century.
However, capitalism and
globalization have also brought with it the ethical and practical concerns of
protecting the environment. While Stiglitz has noted that globalization has led
to an increase in Chinese manufacturing exports, it has also led to high levels
of pollution in China, as well as other countries. In order to reframe the way
political leaders discuss progress, economists could devise a formula that
incorporates GDP, the Gini index, and a model that measures environmental
externalities. While architects cannot control energy usage or production
processes in homes and factories, architects can champion innovations in LEED
technologies that would contribute to a reduction in global warming. It would
also ameliorate the health effects caused by pollution, which disproportionally
affect the poor.
Also affected by pollution
is tourism, which China has sought to boost over the past decade. In
fact, in advance of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the government released
balloons into the sky that burst and brought down with them debris that was
swept up, leaving a temporary blue sky (Bailey, pers. comm.). However, long-term
solutions for the environment are needed.
Another way China
has approached making their cities more attractive to tourists is through urban
planning, adopting the City Beautiful Movement. One of the areas to receive
this treatment was Xīntiāndi.
Xīntiāndi’s preservation
In 1997, the neighborhood of
Xīntiāndi changed once again as part of the beautification of the city and the
preservation of historical shíkùmén architecture. An American architect,
Benjamin Wood, rather than a Chinese architect was hired to design the
renovated Xīntiāndi. Hong-Kong-based developer Shui On Land had planned to
replace Xīntiāndi with a shopping center (The Architectural Review 70). Wood and other Western
architectural firms were invited to submit to Shui On Land's
competition for Xīntiāndi’s redevelopment project (Iovine). Wood, a Boston-based
architect, was internationally known for redevelopment and revitalization
projects in London, Japan, and New York Times Square (Studio Shanghai). While
other architects proposed demolishing the 1860’s French courtyard houses in Xīntiāndi,
Wood proposed integrating them into the new design (Iovine). After a vacation in Tuscany,
Shui On Land’s Chairman Vincent H.S. Lo changed his mind about replacing Xīntiāndi
with a shopping center and hired Benjamin Wood. Lo paid for the project with
$150 million of his personal fortune (The Architectural Review 70).
Although China rarely
preserves architecture, the government teamed up with Lo, Wood, and others in the
private sector to both redevelop Xīntiāndi as an entertainment complex as well
as to preserve the Site of the Second National Congress of the Chinese
Communist Party.
Xīntiāndi’s path to
preservation happened in an unusual way. The relationship between commercial
and historical in Xīntiāndi is a symbiotic one. Xīntiāndi’s restoration was
thought to be a risky venture because preservation is uncommon in China, so a commercial component
was paired with preservation to mitigate risk. The project’s financier
wanted something lucrative, while the Chinese government stipulated that the
project honor the Site
of the Second National Congress of the CCP, making sure the new design was
aesthetically integrated with the area. The decisions behind Xīntiāndi
could provide architects a list of tangible considerations and strategies to
respect the culture in which the architecture functions.
To a certain extent Wood
applied his American aesthetic to this neighborhood. However, Wood also
hired an historian as a consultant and travelled around China in order to
understand the culture and honor it in his design. Architecture is not only
about the structure itself but also considers how the building assimilates into
its surroundings, both aesthetically and within the context of its residents.
Benjamin Wood understood this. Had Wood not considered its geography or
population, Xīntiāndi might have lost its nod to the cultures it was built to
honor. While many
Western preservationists are critical of Woods’s approach that brought in
American influence, that Wood kept many elements of the original buildings is a
big step forward for preservation in China. Xīntiāndi could have easily become
another western idea imposed on another culture.
Xīntiāndi’s
identity
As reflected in the hybrid
architecture of French and Chinese style, Ching’s assertion that national
identity, history, and architecture are inter-related becomes apparent when
analyzing Xīntiāndi. With the added perspective of an American architect, the
identity of Xīntiāndi’s space was affected through design decisions. Wood added
an American layer to the Chinese national identity, which was already layered
with French and other immigrants’ national identities.
To be sure, most
populations’ identities encompass influences from other cultures; for example,
languages have borrowed words from other languages and lent words to others. When
these cultural appropriations from other nationalities become integrated,
however, it leads to questions of where the tipping point is concerning
adopting culture versus taking on another cultural identity. Just as Stuart
Hall asked what it means to be French (7), Xīntiāndi compels us to ask what it
means to be Chinese.
Perhaps we might ask whether
the French occupation became part of the collective experience of the Chinese
who lived in the French Concession and embraced parts of French identity. The
Chinese’s appreciation for French culture and simultaneously their resistance
to losing their culture, along with their sovereignty, is manifested in the
architecture. Under French control, architecture in the French Concession was a
hybrid rather than an exclusively French style, reflecting this dichotomy of
embracing and rejecting cultural influences. Whether the decision was for
aesthetic or pragmatic reasons, the French embraced parts of Chinese style. In
fact, when newly-minted Chinese architects returning from the United States
designed part of Xīntiāndi they did not abandon their Chinese heritage. Some
buildings look like they are straight out of Paris except that they have
traditional Chinese roofs. Researching Xīntiāndi could help explain how French
imperialism has – and has not – become a part of the Chinese identity.
Influence
goes both ways, however. “I’m trying to change China, and China has definitely
changed me,” Wood told the New York Times
in 2006 (Iovine). This statement sums up the reciprocal relationship between
the West and China. And this exchange of culture is apparent in Xīntiāndi’s design.
Xīntiāndi retains part of
its identity from the colonial period by preserving some of its original
structures, a physical manifestation of that identity. Most of the buildings
were demolished and rebuilt, but Wood salvaged what was possible. While
rebuilding would have been a less expensive option, the Chinese apparently
thought it was important to hold on to this artifact, a link to the past in the
form of pieces from the original buildings. While many criticize Xīntiāndi as
being Disneyfied, the authenticity of the historic sites makes the new buildings
around it credible, creating a bridge between old and new. By keeping new
construction in the style of the historic sites, the new is not new per se, but
rather new material repairing an old authentic object. It is like a painting
refurbished with a few brushstrokes rather than a whole new canvas never
touched by the master.
By
analyzing Wood’s model, architects can learn how to emulate Xīntiāndi’s success
elsewhere, as many Chinese cities are already doing. In fact, Xīntiāndi has become a verb to mean redeveloping
a neighborhood with the success of Xīntiāndi. However, various sources define
the verb differently. Julie V. Iovine describes it as redesigning a
neighborhood using “aspirational China-lite designs.” Paul Goldberger considers
it to mean transforming an historical neighborhood into a trendy commercially-viable
area commemorating the past. By pairing the commercial with the historical in Xīntiāndi, the
historical was saved (He and Wu 12). In this way,
architects can honor the past while creating something modern that is
financially sustainable.
Xīntiāndi’s
preservation is all the more incredible because of its sharp contrast to the overall
pattern of newness of Shanghai’s architecture. Outside of the French Concession, tall skyscrapers dominate
the skyline instead of two- or three-story buildings. A particularly stark
contrast to Xīntiāndi’s traditional lilongs is exemplified by the monumental
skyscrapers in Lujiazui, the financial district in Shanghai built to impress
the world as a means of bringing in foreign investment.[6] These Western-style buildings designed by
Westerners demonstrate that China is losing some of its culture to
globalization. While
the trend in China is to bulldoze the old and rebuild the new, Xīntiāndi has
been preserved. Xīntiāndi and the greater city serve as a foil to each other.
Caroline Mills explains, “[D]efining a social identity by a geographical
referent depends on a code of oppositions and differences which thus define at
the same time what a person is not
(Williamson 1978). The sign only has value in relation to other signs” (159). Because
the rest of Shanghai contains mostly skyscrapers, Xīntiāndi stands out as a
statement for the importance of preservation and cultural identity.
Xīntiāndi’s
gentrification
In
addition to cultural concerns about globalism, there are also more direct ethical
concerns. Behind the architects are the builders and the economics of
construction. Despite China’s economic success, the laborers building China’s
architecture still live in poverty. The construction process, including
construction workers’ hours, compensation, and working conditions suggest an
increasing gap between profit and living wages. The Gini model applies a
coefficient between zero and one, with zero being perfect equality and one
being perfect inequality (Bourguignon 11). The Gini coefficient shows that
inequality between countries decreased between 1988 and 2005, but the
inequality within both America and China has increased (Bourguignon 14). By
studying Xīntiāndi economists and activists can devise new approaches to the
infrastructure process that is more equitable and reflects values of social
justice.
This growing income
inequality in China can be seen in the redevelopment of Xīntiāndi. Indeed,
Xīntiāndi is a case study of gentrification that could provide data
concerning what happens to populations post-gentrification in order to mitigate
the negative impacts development projects can have on low-income residents. In Xīntiāndi
the residents could not afford higher rent, so they were forced to re-locate to
the periphery of the city. This made it difficult to commute and forced many
people to lose their jobs. Meanwhile, rich Chinese and ex-pat Americans began residing in Xīntiāndi
en masse (He and Wu 9). While redeveloping Xīntiāndi
transformed a slum into a desirable neighborhood bringing in tourists and
revenue, nearly 4,000 families lost their homes. Strategies should be devised
to improve communities without displacing the people who live in them.
Another
consequence of inequality, and the gentrification that accompanies it, is that
most decisions are made are by elites while the majority of people being
affected by those decisions have little or no say in the process. The Chinese
government was not transparent with the plans for Xīntiāndi until right before
it materialized. Citizens did not have a reasonable amount of time to organize,
protest, or hold a town hall to discuss the proposal. With gentrification so
ubiquitous and its outcomes affecting people around the globe, citizens and
governments must work together to ensure fairness before redevelopment projects
move forward. The
environment in which people live has a tremendous impact on society. It is
important that everyone contribute in the decision-making processes concerning
urbanism. Studying Xīntiāndi could provide urban planners best practices to balance
city beautification and tourism with the needs of local people, economics with
ethics.
Relational aesthetics
While I felt that I
shouldn’t like Xīntiāndi intellectually, aesthetically Xīntiāndi is quite
attractive. Like a film using beautiful cinematography for a
disturbing subject, the architecture in Xīntiāndi shows a duality; it is
beautiful on the surface but simultaneously represents the oppression of
colonialism. Like a film that leaves scenes out of a chronological narrative,
the construct of the neighborhood shows parts of history and tries to delete
others; or, at least diverts viewers’ attention elsewhere. Americans visiting
the French Concession experience nostalgia for the West of a bygone era that
tries not to remind them of the place’s origin. Yet, next to the modern
lifestyle center, there is a museum dedicated to the place where the Site of
the Second National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held. This
history is permissible, however, because it does not involve exploitation, at
least not foreign exploitation.
Relational
aesthetics can help explain the harmonious relationship between a person and
architectural structure acting on that person. The term
‘relational aesthetics’ can refer to art staging an experience, turning a passive
viewer into an active participant. The environment in a space has a tremendous
impact on what occurs in the space: actions and thoughts. The environment of
Xīntiāndi would be different if the architecture were traditional ancient
buildings with curved roofs rather than its contemporary upscale version of Beaux-Arts
architecture where no inch of space has been left to chance. People typically take
cues from their environment and act and interact differently depending on that
environment. For example, open spaces in Paris’ town squares were designed to
be expansive yet small enough to distinguish someone one knew on the opposite
side. The architects wanted a magnificent place where citizens could gather,
but one that was not too overwhelming and made people feel insignificant in
relation to the space.
Likewise, James Duncan and
David Ley argue that space informs human relationships. Both the knowledge of a
place’s colonial past and signifiers of gentrification can affect a current
space such as Xīntiāndi. Duncan et al.
asserts:
Landscape is of
the longue durée, seemingly fixed and natural when experience is
not, expressing actors long past and intents no longer relevant. Yet landscape
may also have the capacity to reproduce and confirm social relations, such as
the status gradients of unequal societies. (14)
Landscape is the lens in which one
sees the world, for better or worse. A landscape with poverty out of sight can more
easily put it out of mind. Living among people of the same high socio-economic
class can reinforce a conclusion many hold that those at the top work harder
than others and therefore deserve their wealth[7]. The
geography of Xīntiāndi
and ideas conferred by interaction in the geography impede interaction
with other classes. However, just as there are negative effects, there are
positive outcomes as well. Seeing beautiful buildings can be inspiring and make
one feel that there is no end in possibilities. Such a thought can lead to
reality. The goal of the architect should be to maximize positive outcomes of
interaction and minimize negative ones. This makes the study of space and
interaction all the more important.
The art concepts discussed
in Nicolas Bourriaud’s book Relational
Aesthetics regarding intervention art in a gallery can be applied equally
well to architecture in a public space without the connotations of a gallery.
The intention of the creator of the experience in a space, whether designed by
a fine artist or an architect, affects both the gallery participant and the
person from the general public unaware of the space acting on them. How people
interact in a space is affected by the aesthetics of that space.
The
shíkùmén homes, for example, create spaces conducive to interaction exemplified
by residents sitting on their terraces talking with their neighbors across the
alleyway. Benjamin Wood’s designs are well aligned with Chinese culture’s
affinity for the communal outdoors. Wood’s website states that his priority is “to design
environments that support life. The goal is simple – to create places, mostly
outdoors, where people meet” (Studio Shanghai). In Relational
Aesthetics, Bourriaud describes a project where an artist sets up games and
food in a space for artists to form friendships (32). Relational artists’ works
concern “a/ moments of sociability” and “b/ objects producing sociability”
(Bourriaud 33). Bourriaud asserts, in fact, that artists
employing relational production “perceive their work from a threefold
viewpoint, at once aesthetic … , historical … and social … ” (46).
Wood
employs a similar approach to that of interventionist artists, but applied to
architecture, in his case well suited to the Chinese culture of friendship and
interaction in public space. Wood envisioned how he wanted
people to interact in Xīntiāndi and ensured that the historical
translated into the new design. The mode of construction is something
economists should research and propose changes to in order to move toward an
egalitarian society.
Relational aesthetics adds to our understanding of
interaction in space, which can provide insight into how the public reacts to
architectural spaces. Applying this knowledge, architects can plan designs that
build on the work of relational artists and theorists of relational aesthetics
by employing designs that encourage positive interactions and promote community.
As social stratification increases and city populations increase, creating
further anonymity and isolation, reversing the negative consequences of these
trends requires architects to take on a more important role. In order to
mitigate these adverse consequences of social stratification and
gentrification, architects must counter these trends with new ideas. A deeper
understanding of relational aesthetics can contribute to new approaches that
promote positive social changes in society.
Conclusion
My goal in researching
Xīntiāndi is to elucidate the dynamics between architecture, architectural
space, culture, and people. A conservationist and historian of architecture and urban
development, Jeffrey W. Cody and other scholars of East Asian
architecture are
examining the traditional Chinese, Beaux-Arts, and other old styles of
architecture being demolished and replaced by new Western buildings. These
scholars have called for more research on why historical buildings are being torn down to make way
for Western buildings. Cody asserts:
In China, architectural
challenges are compelling, in part because China’s historic architecture has
suffered enormously in the recent past from so-called “modernization”
(xiandaihua), in part because reconciliation between conservation and replacement
is still being resolved, and in part because the impulse in China to be “new”
or “avant-garde” is engaging not only so many younger Chinese architects, but
also a multitude of renowned architects from around the globe.
The infectious dynamism in China associated with
architectural design, production, and implementation—as well as with urban
design, planning, housing, infrastructure, and environmental
degradation/conservation—is so extraordinary that the scale and scope of the
implications arising from this integration are almost unimaginable. (vii-viii)
Unlike Cody and other scholars of Asian architecture
who focus on what architecture is disappearing, why, and what it is being
replaced with, I want to research the outlier: Xīntiāndi, the place that was
saved. Examining Xīntiāndi’s preservation has the potential to contribute not
only to our understanding of Shanghai, China, but to the world.
One would not expect to find
multilayers of culture and meaning under a superficial shopping area, but Xīntiāndi’s
architecture is an artifact showing the transient colonization of empires
interacting in China. Xīntiāndi is a place in China that could not exist
without France. Said asserts, “Partly because of empire,
all cultures are involved in one another; none is single and pure …” (Culture and Imperialism xxv-xxvi).
While French
imperialism is an ugly chapter, the architecture that resulted from it is a
beautiful mix of Western and Asian culture. Xīntiāndi’s
past has mostly been physically destroyed, but some of it remains and some of
it has been re-made and re-imagined. The past, present, and future all co-exist
in one space. Fittingly, Xīntiāndi’s slogan is ‘‘Yesterday
meets tomorrow in Shanghai today.’’ It should be evident that Xīntiāndi
is more than an upscale, trendy neighborhood. Although gentrification has attempted to wipe away the
influences of the past, the palimpsest that is Xīntiāndi still comes through to
those who look. And, in the process, solving the puzzle that is Xīntiāndi
could provide insight into how cultures respond and react to each other, how a
colonial past is transformed into a new society.
Paris and Shanghai plates (photographs
by author unless otherwise indicated)
Tree-lined streets
Paris, 2005 French
Concession, Shanghai, 2011
First National Congress of the CCP, Xīntiāndi, 2011
Alleys
Paris, 2005
Architecture
Westernization
World Financial Centre and Shikumen in Xīntiāndi, 2006
Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, 2011 Photo by Peter Verkhovensky courtesy of Wikipedia
Traditional Chinese architecture in the old part of
Shanghai, 2011
Russian influence in Xīntiāndi in Shanghai, 2011
Chairman Mao public sculpture in Xīntiāndi in Shanghai, 2011
Business people in Xīntiāndi walk by a commemorative
sculpture in Shanghai, 2011
The Pearl Tower, located in Lujiazui,
the financial district in Shanghai, 2011
One family lives in one room in Shanghai, 2011
Xīntiāndi before the renovation Courtesy
of New York Social Diary
“The Langham Xintiandi Shanghai” Courtesy of China Air Travel
“Xintiandi,
Shanghai, China, 2001”
Diptych photograph courtesy
of Studio Shanghai
Thank you: Dr. René Johnson (a.k.a. Mom) and Thalia Drori for reading drafts and offering invaluable feedback.
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[1]
Nicolas Bourriaud (80).
[2] Jackson (3) qtd in Kobayashi (207).
[3]
See, for example, Goldberger and Iovine for further discussion.
[4]
“[T]he U.S. government asked instead that Chinese authorities establish a Boxer
Indemnity Fund to provide scholarships for promising Chinese students to study
in U.S. universities. This fund made it possible for at first only a trickle of
students pursuing a variety of professional ambitions, but by the end of World
War I, many had left their homeland to study abroad, including the fifty
Chinese students interested in architecture.” (Cody xii)
[5]
The Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was also
held in Xīntiāndi but was interrupted by authorities and re-scheduled at a
different location.
[6]
It worked.
[7]
This is despite economists’ skepticism of marginal productivity theory
(Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality 77).
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