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A brief history of ancient Chinese city planning
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tion of widespread private property and the ensuing pressures (and cultural mechanisms) which are placed on property owners in some market societies to demonstrate this. There are, therefore, a number of taken-forgranted assumptions - economic, social, political, cultural - in this particular approach to urban design and if a second edition is to be published, it would be useful at the start to make these more explicit. Unlike older books on architectural design which aim at recreating the environment according to the author’s own (sometimes monumental) ideas, this book represents a more sensitive, even modest approach which aims to integrate new design into existing environments and practice. The question which this provokes is to what extent such an approach is inherently socially and politically conservative in that, by focussing solely on physical data (irrespective of economic and social data) it serves to reproduce existing social and economic relations. This, in turn raises further questions concerning the role, power and scope of the “physical” designer and suggests that architecture and urban design must work in tandem with economic and social planning. A.D. KING Architectural Association The Bungalow Leeds LS8 2P‘4 Ct. Britain
ANCIENT CHINESE CITY PLANNING A Brief History of Ancient Chinese City Planning by Wu Liangyoung, Edited by R. Fletcher and C. Preisert. Sonderband Urbs et Regio, Kassel, 38/ 1986 (Kasseler Schriften zur Geographie und Planung, Gesamthochschule Kassel), first edition, 1985, 132+ 7 pp. index, price DM36, ISBN 388 122-286-3. The enormous planning challenge posed by China’s burgeoning urban population, to-
gether with the welcome and increasingly frequent visits by Chinese academics and planners to Western planning schools underlines the relative scarcity of recent material on Chinese urban planning, not least of knowledge about urban and planning history in China. This brief but interesting well-written and well-illustrated account which the editors’ preface suggests constitutes “the first concise, overall view of ancient Chinese city planning written in a Western language” is therefore very welcome. Written by one of China’s outstanding specialists in the field, Wu Liangyong, a professor of architecture and city planning and Director of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Research at Qinghua University, the book is based on a series of lectures of Architecture, City Planning, Landscape Design and Applied Social Sciences at the Gesamthochschule Kassel in 1980-8 1, and the account skilfully incorporates perspectives from these different disciplines, packing a great deal of detailed discussion into 132 pages. The book is very well organized: Part One deals with the development of the capital city in the feudal period and carries useful summaries of each of the ten brief chapters; Part Two then covers the provincial cities of the same period, including administrative, handicraft and commercial centres, military cities and towns, religious and cultural centres and concludes with a very useful discussion on forms of cities in feudal China. Where previous accounts of Chinese cities have laid especial emphasis on symbolic functions, much of the informed and detailed discussion here gives equal if not more emphasis to the relation of urban form to the economic regional, cultural and political structure of the Chinese feudal states and relates political and miltary functions for example, to the planned urban form. The overriding impression is of both continuity, both in planning principles and in urban form over 2500 years, yet also of development where practices of earlier models are incorpo-
366
rated into new capital construction, culminating in the complex and sophisticated example of Peking. A valuable table (pp. 89-90) on “The Evolution of Chinese Capitals” not only helps to locate the developing forms of some two dozen cities discussed, from 800 BC through the various dynasties (and also according to the Christian calender) up to 1800, but also provides comparative sketches on the area1 extent and form of some contemporaneous cities in Europe (e.g. Rome, Athens, Paris. London). This provides both a useful aide memoire for the text and enables the reader to trace the continuity and development of various elements in the Chinese capitals. In a brief review, it is not possible to do justice both to the wide and systematic generalizations on city planning at different periods as well as the detailed, yet succinct descriptions derived from a wide range of sources-ancient texts. archaeological accounts and fascinating illustrations taken from paintings, murals or street and landscapes on decorative bricks and tiles. Discussion of different capitals of feudal dynasties emphasizes the centralizing power of the feudal state, as well as the relation of urban form to the caste society. Early planning texts deal with city and regional planning and, because of the frequency of wars, reflect the emphasis of state policy on agriculture and warfare in urban plans. Common principles are iden-
titied: the division of cities into two strictly segregated areas; one a residential area for rulers, the other for common people and officials. Likewise. most show an overall grid structure with inner and outer city a recurring feature. The detailed description of Kaifeng, eastern capital of the Northern Sung dynasty from the tenth century, with its flourishing commodity economy, many business streets, markets, fifty theatres or temple for 10 000 worshippers, or the equally detailed description and functional explanation of the intriguing plans of Peking serve to show the enormous cultural richness of China in the history of city planning. Equal attention is paid to the importance of gardens, landscaping and royal architecture of palaces and villas. Whilst the text is printed in camera-ready (typed) copy, the 80 pages of illustrations include many hitherto unpublished maps and illustrations of ancient Chinese cities and help to make this a most valuable introduction to urban and planning history in China. Both the author and editors (whose contribution should be mentioned) deserve commendation. A further volume on post-Maoist urban planning is in preparation in the same series. ANTHONY
KING
Grudmtc School ~rchitectural.lssociut;~)~~ London Gt. Britain
tion of widespread private property and the ensuing pressures (and cultural mechanisms) which are placed on property owners in some market societies to demonstrate this. There are, therefore, a number of taken-forgranted assumptions - economic, social, political, cultural - in this particular approach to urban design and if a second edition is to be published, it would be useful at the start to make these more explicit. Unlike older books on architectural design which aim at recreating the environment according to the author’s own (sometimes monumental) ideas, this book represents a more sensitive, even modest approach which aims to integrate new design into existing environments and practice. The question which this provokes is to what extent such an approach is inherently socially and politically conservative in that, by focussing solely on physical data (irrespective of economic and social data) it serves to reproduce existing social and economic relations. This, in turn raises further questions concerning the role, power and scope of the “physical” designer and suggests that architecture and urban design must work in tandem with economic and social planning. A.D. KING Architectural Association The Bungalow Leeds LS8 2P‘4 Ct. Britain
ANCIENT CHINESE CITY PLANNING A Brief History of Ancient Chinese City Planning by Wu Liangyoung, Edited by R. Fletcher and C. Preisert. Sonderband Urbs et Regio, Kassel, 38/ 1986 (Kasseler Schriften zur Geographie und Planung, Gesamthochschule Kassel), first edition, 1985, 132+ 7 pp. index, price DM36, ISBN 388 122-286-3. The enormous planning challenge posed by China’s burgeoning urban population, to-
gether with the welcome and increasingly frequent visits by Chinese academics and planners to Western planning schools underlines the relative scarcity of recent material on Chinese urban planning, not least of knowledge about urban and planning history in China. This brief but interesting well-written and well-illustrated account which the editors’ preface suggests constitutes “the first concise, overall view of ancient Chinese city planning written in a Western language” is therefore very welcome. Written by one of China’s outstanding specialists in the field, Wu Liangyong, a professor of architecture and city planning and Director of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Research at Qinghua University, the book is based on a series of lectures of Architecture, City Planning, Landscape Design and Applied Social Sciences at the Gesamthochschule Kassel in 1980-8 1, and the account skilfully incorporates perspectives from these different disciplines, packing a great deal of detailed discussion into 132 pages. The book is very well organized: Part One deals with the development of the capital city in the feudal period and carries useful summaries of each of the ten brief chapters; Part Two then covers the provincial cities of the same period, including administrative, handicraft and commercial centres, military cities and towns, religious and cultural centres and concludes with a very useful discussion on forms of cities in feudal China. Where previous accounts of Chinese cities have laid especial emphasis on symbolic functions, much of the informed and detailed discussion here gives equal if not more emphasis to the relation of urban form to the economic regional, cultural and political structure of the Chinese feudal states and relates political and miltary functions for example, to the planned urban form. The overriding impression is of both continuity, both in planning principles and in urban form over 2500 years, yet also of development where practices of earlier models are incorpo-
366
rated into new capital construction, culminating in the complex and sophisticated example of Peking. A valuable table (pp. 89-90) on “The Evolution of Chinese Capitals” not only helps to locate the developing forms of some two dozen cities discussed, from 800 BC through the various dynasties (and also according to the Christian calender) up to 1800, but also provides comparative sketches on the area1 extent and form of some contemporaneous cities in Europe (e.g. Rome, Athens, Paris. London). This provides both a useful aide memoire for the text and enables the reader to trace the continuity and development of various elements in the Chinese capitals. In a brief review, it is not possible to do justice both to the wide and systematic generalizations on city planning at different periods as well as the detailed, yet succinct descriptions derived from a wide range of sources-ancient texts. archaeological accounts and fascinating illustrations taken from paintings, murals or street and landscapes on decorative bricks and tiles. Discussion of different capitals of feudal dynasties emphasizes the centralizing power of the feudal state, as well as the relation of urban form to the caste society. Early planning texts deal with city and regional planning and, because of the frequency of wars, reflect the emphasis of state policy on agriculture and warfare in urban plans. Common principles are iden-
titied: the division of cities into two strictly segregated areas; one a residential area for rulers, the other for common people and officials. Likewise. most show an overall grid structure with inner and outer city a recurring feature. The detailed description of Kaifeng, eastern capital of the Northern Sung dynasty from the tenth century, with its flourishing commodity economy, many business streets, markets, fifty theatres or temple for 10 000 worshippers, or the equally detailed description and functional explanation of the intriguing plans of Peking serve to show the enormous cultural richness of China in the history of city planning. Equal attention is paid to the importance of gardens, landscaping and royal architecture of palaces and villas. Whilst the text is printed in camera-ready (typed) copy, the 80 pages of illustrations include many hitherto unpublished maps and illustrations of ancient Chinese cities and help to make this a most valuable introduction to urban and planning history in China. Both the author and editors (whose contribution should be mentioned) deserve commendation. A further volume on post-Maoist urban planning is in preparation in the same series. ANTHONY
KING
Grudmtc School ~rchitectural.lssociut;~)~~ London Gt. Britain