Liang Sicheng (Chinese: 梁思成; pinyin: Liáng Sīchéng; Wade-Giles: Liang Ssu-ch'eng; 20 April 1901^[1] – 9 January 1972) was the son of Liang Qichao, a well-known Chinese thinker in the late Qing Dynasty. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin Events 1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Liang Qichao ( Chinese: 梁啟超 Liáng Qǐchāo; Courtesy: Zhuoru, 卓如 Pseudonym: Rengong, 任公 ( February China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China Liang Sicheng returned to China from the United States after studying at the University of Pennsylvania. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. His first wife was Lin Huiyin and his niece is Maya Lin. Lin Huiyin ( known as Phyllis Lin or Lin Whei-yin when in the United States; 10 June 1904– 1 April 1955 was a noted 20th century Maya Ying Lin ( born October 5, 1959) is an American Artist who has become known for her work in Sculpture and Landscape art

Liang is the author of China's first history on Chinese architecture and founder of the Architecture Department of Northeast University in 1928 and Tsinghua University in 1946. Chinese architecture refers to a style of Architecture that has taken shape in Asia over the centuries Tsinghua University ( THU;) is a University in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He was the Chinese representative in the Design Board which designed the United Nations headquarters in New York. The United Nations Headquarters is a distinctive complex in New York City that has served as the headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1950 New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous

He is recognized as the “Father of Chinese Architecture”. To cite Princeton University, which awarded him an honorary doctoral degree in 1947, he was “a creative architect who has also been a teacher of architectural history, a pioneer in historical research and exploration in Chinese architecture and planning, and a leader in the restoration and preservation of the priceless monuments of his country. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ”

Early life

Liang was born in 1901. For China, the early 20th century was when traditionalism crossed and coexisted with modernity. With the waning of the Qing Dynasty , China’s last feudal regime, and early Republic era - in a time that Chinese people were suffering from not only the agonies of foreign invasion and occupation started in 1840, but also from the vicious domestic politics during that time. Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China

Under such circumstance, the young Emperor of China, Guangxu Emperor, was attempting to save his empire through drastic reforms. The Guangxu Emperor (光緒帝 (14 August 1871&ndash14 November 1908 born Zaitian (載湉 was the tenth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty Liang Qichao, a well-educated and energetic young man, was a leader of this famous movement in 1898, which is often referred to as Chinese Meiji Revolution. Liang Qichao ( Chinese: 梁啟超 Liáng Qǐchāo; Courtesy: Zhuoru, 卓如 Pseudonym: Rengong, 任公 ( February But the movement failed. The emperor’s mother killed her son to regain her power, and Liang Qichao had to take refuge in Japan, where his first and favorite son Liang Sicheng was born on April 20, 1901 (see footnote 1). After 1911, Liang Qichao returned to China from his exile in Japan. He briefly served in the newly established Republic government called the Beiyang (Northern Ocean) representing a faction of warlords located in Northern China. Liang Qichao later quited his government positions and started a social and literary movement to introduce western and modern social thoughts. Liang Sicheng was educated under the progressive environment by his father.

Liang's wife, Lin Huiyin (known in the United States as Phyllis Lin), was an equal legend in China’s history. Lin Huiyin ( known as Phyllis Lin or Lin Whei-yin when in the United States; 10 June 1904– 1 April 1955 was a noted 20th century She was recognized as an artist, architect and poet. Enchanted by her beauty and talent, several famous scholars never married or yearned for her even after their own marriages. Among them there were famous poet Xu Zhimo, philosopher Jin Yuelin and economist Chen Daisun. Brief Biography Xu was born in Haining Zhejiang. In 1915 he married Zhang Youyi and next year he went to Peiyang Univeristy ( Beiyang University Jin Yuelin ( (1895-1984 was a Chinese philosopher and Logician. It was she who led Liang into the field of architecture. She was always the strongest supporter of her husband’s career.

In 1915 Liang entered Tsinghua College, a preparatory school in Beijing. Tsinghua University ( THU;) is a University in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This college later became Tsinghua University, now among the best universities in China. Tsinghua University ( THU;) is a University in Beijing, People's Republic of China. In 1924, the couple went to University of Pennsylvania on a Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship to study architecture under Paul Cret. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program ( was a Scholarship program funded by Boxer Rebellion Indemnity money paid to the United States Paul Philippe Cret ( October 24 1876, Lyon France &ndash September 8 1945, Philadelphia Pennsylvania) was a French-American Three years later, Liang got his master degree in architecture. He greatly benefited from his education in America. It also helped him practice his own professorship back in China.

Career

When the couple went back in 1928, they were invited by the Northeastern University in Shenyang. Northeastern University, abbreviated NU or NEU, is a private University in Boston Massachusetts. Shenyang ( Ch: 沈阳 pinyin Shěnyáng, or Mukden ( in Manchu) is a Sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning At that time Shenyang was under the control of Japanese troops, which was a big challenge to perform any professional practice. Anyway, they went, established the second School of Architecture in China but also the first curriculum which took a western one (to be precise the curriculum from University of Pennsylvania) as its prototype. It was a pity that their effort was interrupted by Japan’s occupation in the following year, but after 18 years, in 1946, the Liangs were again able to practice their professorship in Tsinghua University in Beijing. Tsinghua University ( THU;) is a University in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This time a more systematic and all-around curriculum was discreetly put forward, consisted of courses of fine arts, theory, history, science, and professional practice. Fine art is any Art form developed primarily for Aesthetics rather than Utility. This has become a reference for any other school of architecture later developed in China. This improvement also reflected the change of architectural style from the Beaux-Arts tradition tot the modernist Bauhaus style since the 1920s. Beaux Arts architecture denotes the academic classical Architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. ("House of Building" or "Building School" is the common term for the, a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts and was famous

In 1929, Liang and his colleague, Zhang Rui, at Northeast University won an award of the physical plan of Tianjin. This plan incorporates the contemporary American techniques in zoning, public administration, government finance and municipal engineering. Liang's involvement in city planning was further inspired by Clarence Stein, the chairman of the Regional Planning Association of America. Clarence Samuel Stein, ( June 19, 1882 - February 7, 1975) was an American Urban planner, architect and writer a major proponent They met in Bejping in 1936 during Stein's trip to Asia. Liang and Stein became good friends and in Liang's visit to the US in 1946/7, Liang stayed in Stein's apartment when he came to New York City. Stein played an instrumental role in the establishment of the architectural and planning program at Tsinghua University.

In 1931 Liang became a member of a newly-developed organization in Beijing called the Institute for Research in Chinese Architecture. He felt a strong impulse to study Chinese traditional architecture and that it was his responsibility to interpret and convey its building methods. It was not an easy task. Since the carpenters were generally illiterate, methods of construction were usually conveyed orally from master to apprentice, and were regarded as secrets within every craft. In spite of these difficulties, Liang started his research by "decoding" classical manuals and consulting the workmen who have the traditional skills.

From the start of his new career as a historian, Liang was determined to search and discover what he termed the “grammar” of Chinese architecture. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. Chinese architecture refers to a style of Architecture that has taken shape in Asia over the centuries He recognized that throughout China’s history the timber-frame had been the fundamental form of construction. He also realized that it was far from enough just to sit in his office day and night engaged in the books. He had to get out searching for the surviving buildings in order to verify his assumptions. His first travel was in April 1932. In the following years he and his colleagues successively discovered some survived traditional buildings, including: the Temple of Buddha's Light (857), the Temple of Solitary Joy (984), the Yingzhou Pagoda (1056), Zhaozhou Bridge (589-617), and many others. The Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple ( of Ying County Shanxi province China, is a wooden Chinese pagoda built in 1056 during the The Zhaozhou Bridge ( is the world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental Arch bridge. Because of their effort, these buildings managed to survive.

After the war, Liang was appointed to establish the architectural and planning programs at Tsinghua University. In 1946, he stayed at Princeton University as a visiting fellow and served as the Chinese representative in the design of the United Nation Headquarters Building. In 1947, Liang received an honorary doctoral degree from Princeton University. He visited major architectural programs and influential architects in order to develop a model programs at Tsinghua before returning China.

Works

To spread and share his understandings and appreciation of Chinese architecture, and most importantly, to help save its diminishing building technologies, Liang published his first book, Qing Structural Regulations in 1934. Qing Structural Regulations (清式营造则例, a monograph on Qing dynasty architecture by theChinese architect Liang Sicheng, first published in 1934. The book was on the study of the methods and rules of Qing architecture with the 1734 Qing Architecture Regulation and several other ancient manuals as the textbook, the carpenters as teachers, and the Forbidden City in Beijing as teaching material. Year 1734 ( MDCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial Palace from the mid- Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Since its publication, for more than seven decades, this book has become a standard textbook for anyone who wants to understand the essence of ancient Chinese architecture. Liang considered the study of Qing Structural Regulation as a stepping stone to the much more daunting task of studying Song dynasty Yingzao Fashi(Treatise on Architectural Methods ), due to the large number of special terms used in that manual differ substantially from the Qing dynasty architectural terminolgy. The Yingzao Fashi (營造法式 'Treatise on Architectural Methods' or 'State Building Standards' is a technical treatise on architecture and craftsmanship written by the

Liang's monumental study of Yingzao Fashi spanned more than two decades, from 1940 to 1963, and the first draft of Annotated Yingzao Fashi was completed in 1963. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[2]. However due to the eruption of Cultural Revolution in China, the publication of this work was cut short. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China that manifested into Liang's Annotated Yingzao Fashi was published posthumously by Qing Hua University Architecture Department Yingzao Fashi Study Group in 1980(it now occupies the whole vol 7 of the ten volume Collected Works). Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar)

Liang considered the Yingzao Fashi and Qing Structural Regulations as "two grammar books of Chinese architecture", he wrote:"Both government manuals, they are of the greatest importance for the study of the technological aspects of Chinese architecture. "^[3]

Another book, History of Chinese Architecture^[4], was "the first thing of its kind". In his words, this book was "an attempt to organize the materials collected by myself and other members of the Institute during the past twelve years. " He had divided the previous 3,500 years into six architectural periods, defined each period by references to historical and literary citations, described existing monuments of each period, and finally analyzed the architecture of each period as evidenced from a combination of painstaking library and field research. All of these books have become a solid basis for the following scholars to explore evolution and principles of Chinese architecture and still have their eminent meanings today.

Liang's posthumous manuscript "Chinese Architecture, A Pictorial History", written in English , edited by Wilma Fairbank was published by MIT Press in 1984 and won ForeWord Magazine's Architecture "Book of the Year" Award" ^[5]. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar)

Restoration works
Liang's first experience of participating in restoring an old building was in 1932, when he was asked to restore a two-story imperial library, the Wenyuan Pavilion, erected in 1776 in the southwestern part of the Forbidden City. In 1935 he was selected the advisor of the restoration project of the Temple of Confucius. In his proposal he expressed his attitude toward historic buildings. He said: in face of all the old buildings dating from different periods of time, it is our responsibility to protect and restore them. Before starting our work, we need to carefully look into its background, to fix it in a rational way in order to extend its existence as long as possible. Liang's attitude toward traditions is typical of the Chinese spirit of being conservative.

Design works

Monk Ganjin memorial Hall, Yangzhou, designed by Liang Sicheng

The same reverence toward history was reflected by most of Liang's design works. One example was in around 1950, when the couple was appointed to the groups designing the new national emblem. They urged that the emblem should have Chinese characteristics, not a hammer and sickle. They succeeded and in the end a representation of the façade of the Tiananmen in red and gold became the emblem that is still used today. The Tian'anmen ( literally the "Gate of Heavenly Peace" is a famous monument in Beijing, the capital of People's Republic of China.

In 1951 they were commissioned to design the Monument to the People's Heroes, which was to be erected in the center of the Tiananmen Square. The Monument to the People's Heroes ( Beijing, is a ten-story Obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the People's Republic of China. Tiananmen Square ( is the large Plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen (literally Gate of Heavenly Peace Liang's advice that it should resemble the stone memorial stele universally found throughout China swayed the design group. It is noticeable that although Liang received a totally western education in his youth, he and his works were still dominated by a conservative and tradition-oriented spirit, which was probably influenced by his father, and which was also authentic and sincere for a real Chinese scholar.

The National Style
When Liang was later given the responsibility to develop a national style of architecture by the Communist Party of China, his intention was to pass on the essence of Chinese architecture. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the This specific "essence", was considered to be the "large roof", the temple-style concave curved roofs and overhanging eaves to denote their Chinese origin. Though he was severely criticized for this, a wave of the National Style had already spread out and even had its influence after one or two decades. The famous examples include: China Fine Arts Gallery (1959), National Library of China (1987), Beijing west railway station (1996), which are all typical of their large roofs. The National Library of China ( in Beijing is the largest Library in Asia and with a collection of over 22 million volumes (which includes individually Beijing 's West Railway Station or just abbreviated as Beijing West ( Hanyu Pinyin: Běijīng Xīkèzhàn Simplified and Traditional

Biggest frustration—the urban planning of Beijing
With such a deep respect to the old, Liang came up with his biggest ambition of preserving the old Beijing as a whole. Under the Communist government, he was named Vice-Director of the Beijing City Planning Commission. In his early recommendations for transforming Beijing into the new national capital, he insisted that the city should be a political and cultural center, not industrial. He later put forward a proposal that a new administrative center for government buildings with a north-south axis be established west of the Forbidden City, far away from the Inner City. He also advocated that the city walls and gates be preserved; he even published an article entitled "Beijing—a Masterpiece of Urban Planning", hoping to win the support of the general public. Very regretfully, these dreams of Liang never came true. His biggest ambition only ended up with the biggest frustration. The walls were torn down without exception. However, Liang's suggestion to preserve architectures in Kyoto and Nara was adopt by Alliance in World War II.

Beloved Educator
Liang was also respected by his colleagues and students as a humorous, dedicated and responsible teacher. He founded two design programs and searched to integrated modernism and best practice into design education. He considered that architecture should be placed in the context of a bigger physical environment and students should learn an array of subjects in an integrated manner.

Repression and criticism under Communist rule

Despite Liang's contribution to designing national emblem of the People's Republic of China and helping with the reconstruction of Beijing, his theory of architecture, which emphasized the greatness of Chinese building tradition, was severely criticized by the Communist Party. In 1956 Liang was forced to self-criticize and admit that he had made mistakes. (Chou p. 283)

During the Cultural Revolution, Liang Sicheng was condemned as "an authority of counter-revolutionary scholarship" and suffered severe persecution. He died in Beijing in 1972, three years before the Cultural Revolution ended. ^[6]. He was subsequently redressed.

Footnotes

1. ^ Liang reported his birth year as 1902 at University of Pennsylvania and to the United Nations Design Board
2. ^ Preface to Annotated Yingzao Fashi, Liang Sicheng, Aug, 1963, Collected Works of Liang Sicheng, Vol 7 Yingzao Fashi, p16 ISBN 7-112-04431-6
3. ^ Liang Ssu Cheng: Chinese Architecture, A Pictorial History, p14 ISBN0-486-43999-2
4. ^ Liang Sicheng. Zhong guo jian zhu shi. Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House. 2005
5. ^ Liang Ssu-Cheng CHINESE ARCHITECTURE, A PICTORIAL HISTORY
6. ^ *Chou, Chih-p'ing. "Literature and Society. " Princeton University Press, 1999. p. 284 ISBN 0691010447

References

• Chou, Chih-p'ing. "Literature and Society. " Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 0691010447
• Hu, Xiao (胡晓) 2006. “Preserving the Old Beijing: The First Conflict between Chinese Architects and the Communist Government in the 1950s” Paper presented at the 1st Annual James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities, Lincoln, Nebraska. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=historyrawleyconference
• Li, Shiqiao (李士桥) 2002. “Writing a modern Chinese architectural history: Liang Sicheng and Liang Qichao,” Journal of Architectural Education 56(1): 35-45.
• Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman. 2002. “China: Designing the future, venerating the past,” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 61(4): 537-48.
• Ruan, Xing (阮昕) 2002 “Accidental affinities: American Beaux-Arts in Twentieth-Century Chinese architectural education and practice,” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 61(1) (March): 30-47.
• Fairbank, Wilma. Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China's Architectural Past. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1994. ISBN 081223278X
• Xue, Charlie Q. L. Building a Revolution, Chinese Architecture Since 1980. Hong Kong University Press. 2006.
• Sennott, R. Stephen Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. page 767-6. 2004. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN-13: 978-1579584337.
• Wong, Sidney (黄振翔). "Lin Huiyin (林徽因) and Liang Sicheng (梁思成) as Architectural Students at the University of Pennsylvania (1924-27)" Planning and Development Volume 23, No. 1, page 75-93, 2008.