Session 1 - October 13

[cgao]

Learning from East Asia: A View from the West

 

 

Required reading

• Framing the Asian City, by Vinayak Bharne

 

City Form and Planning Concepts: China, Japan, Korea

 

 

Required reading

• The Ancient Chinese City as a Cosmological Symbol, by Paul Wheatley

 

[Kimberly de Berzunza]

Wow, first of all, I had no idea there were cities like Venice in China, and towns full of coloseum-shaped apartment complexes. Those both struck me as very interesting.  And that reminded me of a question I'd had previously, in regard to the extent to which cities are intentionally designed with either beauty or function, or both, in mind, and the extent to which they rise and grow spontaneously into something we might find beautiful now.  I'd be interested to pursue this a bit more in our upcoming discussions.

Another surprise for me was the listing of slums in the list of urban landscapes, because, connected to my question/observation above, slums seem like something that rise organically, not as a result of planning. But obviously they are a clear part of the urban landscape of any city.

I am also curious about these themed towns or neighborhoods in Shanghai- European, American, and whatever... it does seem very Disney-fied, and I'd like to understand better why you feel this is not the right way to look at it- I'm not sure I understood your reasoning in the video.  Not that it's a bad thing in any case, but I wonder if life is lived differently in those neighborhoods, more in keeping with the cultures from which they are borrowed? Because if design is connected to function, and different cultures live differently and this is why their homes, workplaces, and cities are designed the way they are, what sense does it make for them to build in a way that doesn't align to their cultural priorities for daily life?

In Wheatley's article, The Ancient Chinese City as a Cosmological Symbol, the practicality of the life we live on Earth stood out to me in the sentence "The essential Asian mode of urban design was, as it were, refracted through the lens of a Great Tradition whose primary concern was with the ordering of society in this world rather than with personal salvation in a future life."  I found this curious here, but later it was followed by, "...simply expressions of the doctrine which viewed the Emperor as the great mediator between Heaven and Earth, the Son of Heaven whose appropriate locale was at that axis of the universe which was also the axis of the kingdom and the only site for an imperial capital..." It makes more sense in keeping with the article if we see the Emperor as a Son of Heaven, ruling over this life on Earth, that he would be at the center of the city. This article sparked another, albeit related question to my first: Are cosmic beliefs more central than beauty and order in the design of a city, or are they part of and a determinent of what can be considered beauty and order by a society?

[Philip Bramble]

If there is one phrase from this course that is going to stick with me for a long time to come, it is Dr. Bharne's statement: "Colonialism is a subjective terrain."  I think an evaluation of colonialism does not rest simply upon the what or the who, but also the when.  Eventually, the jarring immediacy of colonialism diminishes the further it recedes into history, and what it leaves behind is invariably bound with the culture that survives.  I have a British friend who writes for Lonely Planet; he says that every time he visits India he meets people who are happy to meet him not just as a travel writer but as someone who is British.  People will often speak fondly of the British legacy to him, even when he himself tries to balance the scales by bringing up old atrocities and apologizing for them (he is British, after all.)  But time, like art, can change one's perspective.

On a different note, I was struck by the housing unit in Fujian.  Not only was it a marvelously self-contained unit, but I was immediately reminded of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon.  In the hutongs of Beijing in the early years of the PRC there was always at least one busybody who seemed to be in charge of knowing what everyone in that particular hutong was doing.  Here, though, the building is set up so that everyone can monitor everyone else.  No getting out of line here!

I visited Fujian Province several years ago and spent a little time in the city of Quanzhou.  I've attached a couple of photos of interesting housing I found there while walking through the foothills.

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[Philip Bramble]

Very likely, yes.  Many years ago I taught at one of the major language schools in Japan.  In a discussion with a woman who had gone shopping for a car, I asked her what she had considered: the price, the make and model, the color, and so on.  She responded, "The direction."  I was momentarily confused.  "Oh, you mean you bought a car from a dealer that is in the same direction as you go to work."  She shook her head.  "No, my office is in the other direction."

Now I was thoroughly confused.  "Fusui," she said, and I suddenly realized she was talking about feng shui.  What she meant was that feng shui dictated what direction she should look for a car that would be lucky -- in this case, meaning one that would avoid accidents.  She checked her horoscope, went driving in that direction, and stopped at a dealer to buy a car that she was satisfied with.  Everything else that I might have thought would be more relevant in buying a car was trumped by this one overriding factor.

I changed the conversation.

[Elizabeth Rosales]

You wrote that one of the ancient citadels surrounded a communal bath, rather than a piazza, or communal land space. How do you view the significance of water, and water features, in communities? One place comes to mind when I think of the juxtaposition between water serving architecture, or architecture serving water is the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab, India. When I was there, I saw that water served an integral purpose of the place, other than for drinking or plumbing. I had to remove my shoes and walk through water before entering, and then I saw that the Golden Temple was surrounded by water. There were people there worshipping and, I believe, spiritually cleansing themselves in the water. I wondered if you had more insight on the role that water plays in creating buildings, communities, cities, citadels, and etc.

[Betsy Telle]

I had no idea there were these water cities in China either. They look absolutely amazing. It is interesting that the concept arose in both Europe and East Asia. These cities remind me of Bruges, Belgium as they are all excellently preserved. It says so much about our Global priorities that the building could survive centuries but it is the water that is in jeopardy. We protect what we create, at the peril of our own environment.

[Betsy Telle]

I found it interesting that when highlighting various buildings in China and Japan, a Stadium was highlighted for both countries. I think there is a fascinating comparison to these stadiums to stadiums in the United States. I had never thought of stadiums as reflections of culture, but the Eastern examples helped me see how much all stadiums are a reflection of the values of their society. With the stadium in Japan there was such intentional connection to the countries values. There was intention in staying connected to its unique history as a country. In China, although it is an increasingly urban and industrial, the stadium reflects the value nature still plays in Chinese culture. In contrast, stadiums in the United States show the country’s value of profit and technology. Selling naming rights is almost as important as the building itself. And each new stadium displays new amazing features, one after another.

[Thomas Pineda]

I enjoyed video lectures and learning more about the intention behind the design and links to a cultural history of urban cities in East Asia that I have previously visited. Looking at the sprawling metropolises, I can envision now the idea that the cities place and relation to the natural landscape around it was a primary consideration. Another interesting point that was made was regarding the influence of colonialism on a city, but also that the city made its own impression on the colonialist style of the time and era in the locale. While the veneer of the city or neighborhood’s style may not seem authentic, its value is actually in the quality of life of those who make up that part of the city. When the temple in Nara, Japan was mentioned, I was interested in learning more about the historical geography and natural events of that area. I had learned that the original structure was much larger, but it had burned down. However, the one that remains, which is ⅔ of the original size and still the largest wooden structure built in the world, had been designed in a way to withstand earthquakes and seismic activity. As an earth science teacher, humans’ impact on nature and vice versa is a standard covered in my classes- this is an intriguing historical link that I’m sure my students would enjoy learning more about.

[Betsy Telle]

I feel that I must have a very Eastern sensibility when it comes to City Planning. The planned cities of China and Japan are similar to the cities I used to design in SimCity. I love the grid pattern that they used and the progression to the Palaces. Although they did not have squares like in Europe, I feel that having the communal meeting places as the streets themselves could allow for a better sense of community, since it was all around you rather than a defined place. I feel like learning about Chinese and Japanese city planning will also be interesting to my students. I have a project where students design their own town. I look forward to adding information from this lecture to the lesson.

[Betsy Telle]

I loved learning about the villages in China and their architecture. I live next to a small hiking hill here in Los Angeles. I love being able to see the hill, trees, and birds just behind my urban house. I love that Chinese villages were intentional about having the same thing. Even though there is a need to live in close quarters does not negate the need to also be connected and close to nature.

 

I also enjoyed the round community buildings. I feel that there is a lot to learn from them, in light of our world’s increasing housing crisis.

[Alison Douglas]

I found it very interesting the difference between the planning of European cities compaired to East Asian gridded cities.  They weren't centered around open areas for socializing.  I didn't realize how the difference was based around democracy and attitude.  It seems like East Asia bases a lot of city planning on nature and feng-shui, which you can see with the zen gardens and the way the building are set-up.  I have always been fascinated with the Forbidden City and found it interesting how elaborate the planning was, and hopefully get to see it one day.  It is also interesting to see the western urbanization that has been transforming cities.  For example, the city of Pudong and how rapid it has changed within 30 years.  The comparison between Venice and Suzhou and how they both have to deal with water contamination, it will be interesting to see how they deal with this issue in time.  The influence of Western society has seemed to quickly influence the lanscape and planning of Asia in a brief period of time.

[Alison Douglas]

I thought that was interesting as well, and how it is very different from the planning of the more open areas throughout Europe.  Yes, this would be a great assignment for kids to create and compare the differents areas.

[Jennifer Lee]

I really enjoyed both of the videos and could already see a lot of ways to connect the materials to AP Art History.  Student have a really hard time understanding that realism doesn't have to be the end goal in art.  Professor Bharne did a really good job of showing the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western thought and I like how he paired the artworks together.   I felt really lucky to have visited many of the sites mentioned in both lectures.  I was surprised by the Hakka dwelling structures.  They were unique in their round shape and vertical living spaces. 

[Philip Bramble]

On p. 155, Wheatley writes, "It also follows that all the interior space of a Chinese city was not always built over immediately after the walls had been raised, or perhaps ever."  This is certainly true in the case of Kyoto, which was built to resemble Chang-an (modern-day Xi'an.)  The eastern half of the city filled up quickly enough, but the western side just sort of petered out into farmland even a century afterward.

Incidentally, reading about feng-shui made me recall how the Bank of China building in Hong Kong was reputed to have been built with a horrible alignment in regards to feng-shui (maybe that was the Communist Party saying they weren't going to pay attention to old traditions?)  I had to go dig up a photo I took of the building in 1994; there's nothing about it that says it is out of whack with the cosmos (it's the tall building at middle left), but it suddenly dawned on me that it might have been an inspiration for Barad-dur when Peter Jackson was filming The Lord of the Rings.

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[Maria Teresa Harris]

Like others have already noted, listening to Dr. Bharne contextualize the perspectives of the East and West through art and architecture is so thought provoking.  Having been to Macau and seeing St. Paul's façade I was struck with the professor's words regarding the "signature of a place" and how humans either add or remove (erase) it.

I found the second reading difficult to get through, maybe I wasn't sitting in an auspicous place when I read it? 

My questions stem from Berthelot's astrobiology and its manifestation in Asian cities. Why would Nelson Wu counter that connection?

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