Saturday University: Mao’s Great Leap Forward in Tian’anmen Square 1958-59

We're wrapping up Sites of Memory in Asia: Remembrance and Redemption with a trip to China where we'll dissect how monumental structures encapsulate poignant events and memorable moments in history. Their construction, demolition, or remodeling often illustrate larger sociopolitical movements. Catch the last lecture in the series

Mao’s Great Leap Forward in Tian’anmen Square 1958-59
Tao Zhu, University of Hong Kong

Tian’anmen Square, located in the city center of Beijing, is one of the biggest public spaces in the world and the most significant in China. The square went through a radical transformation between 1958 and 1959. The square renovation project, along with Beijing’s 'Ten Great Buildings built in the same period, was considered as a part of an architectural and urban initiative of Mao Zedong’s 'Great Leap Forward.' This lecture examines how the architects and artists working on the project became embroiled in an ongoing struggle to devise a style that would be suitable for the new socialist regime. It also explores how the project, which consumed enormous resources and labor, was built in 10 months to meet the government’s deadline to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the ‘New China,’ at the very moment that China was experiencing one of its most dire socioeconomic crises.

About the Presenter

Tao Zhu is Associate Professor and Co-director of the Center for Chinese Architecture and Urban Design, The University of Hong Kong. He received his Master of Architecture and PhD in Architecture History and Theory at Columbia University. As a scholar, his research focuses on contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism. He has published essays in AA Files, AD, a+u, Bauwelt, Domus, and Time + Architecture. His recent writings include the book Liang Sicheng and His Times (Imaginist, 2014), which examines Chinese architectural development in relation to Mao Zedong’s socio-political campaigns of the 1950s, and the chapter “Architecture in China in the Reform Era 1978-2010” for the book A Critical History of Contemporary Architecture 1960-2010 (Ashgate, 2014). As an architect, his practice engages with public projects in various scales, ranging from urban planning, urban design, to architectural and landscape design. He also serves as an advisor for Shenzhen and Dongguan, to assist in the cities’ urbanization process, especially their development of public buildings and spaces.