Tag Archives: China

Bad trad and good trad

Posted on January 17, 2019 by

Two articles fished from today’s indispensable ArchNewsNow.com, the thrice-weekly free compendium of anglospherical articles on architecture, edited by Kristen Richards, show the use and misuse of classical traditions on opposite sides of the world. Guess which is which, above and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Changing cities in China

Posted on July 5, 2017 by

Over a half century or so, China has changed from a largely rural to a largely urban country. The communists had brutal power and used it brutally, a sort of cultural revolution without the violence. China went from cities of … Continue reading →

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Kafka on China’s Great Wall

Posted on October 17, 2016 by

Even though I did a post not long ago on the Great Wall of China – linking to magnificent photographs on the website Kuriositas – I lack the knowledge to assess the comments by Franz Kafka on this subject. Kafka … Continue reading →

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The Great Wall of China

Posted on August 22, 2016 by

Who knew that it ended at the sea? It does, at the Yellow Sea, just athwart what we now call the Korean Peninsula. It is over 13,000 miles long, running from east to west. I do not know how successful … Continue reading →

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Tip me over! Faster! Faster!

Posted on February 26, 2016 by

A proposed new megatower is planned in China’s Pearl River delta. The city is not named in either the Curbed or the Building Design & Construction articles, perhaps because the city will not exist until the building is finished. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Oh, to be in, um, China!

Posted on February 22, 2016 by

It seems the People’s Republic of China has finally followed through on its maximum leader’s threat a year and a half ago to bar goofiness from its architecture. I penned a post, “Xi a Chinese visionary?” expressing my pleasure, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Humor, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A day at the dragon races!

Posted on September 6, 2015 by

For three years running we had just missed the dragon-boat races at the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival. This year we made it, and boy did we have fun! We saw contestants slam their cheeks pink in a watermelon-face-splat contest. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shots of China, Bhutan

Posted on June 24, 2015 by

Monday I was invited for a sail out of the Bristol Yacht Club with Michael Gerhardt, recently the temporary director of the Providence Athenaeum, and his friend Ken Gaus. The day was lovely and the wind was low – at … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Books and Culture, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Photography, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Xi a Chinese visionary?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by

Far be it from me to agree with the head of the Chinese Communist Party on anything, but please excuse me for agreeing with Xi Jinping on one thing. Speaking to a literary symposium last week, the Chinese president said, … Continue reading →

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Zaha “Ha Ha” Hadid’s thing

Posted on December 15, 2013 by

Even I don’t have the London City Halls to photomontage the People’s Daily into Qatar’s proposed World Cup Stadium, designed by Zaha Hadid. I refer, of course, firstly to Norman Foster’s London City Hall, called the “glass gonad” by London … Continue reading →

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