Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li

History & Theory Studies Term 2 March. 20th / 2019

Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li: the Spectacular Illusion of Chinese Modernism in the Contemporary

Student / Xuqianqian Cao Tutor/ Dorette Panagiotopoulou

Abstract Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li is not the only subject of this essay, but it is rather the prologue to unfold a broader discussion around Chinese Modernism in the contemporary era. Under the contemporary Chinese context, what is ‘Chinese’? What is ‘modern’? And how can notion of the contemporary be truly defined?

The first part of the essay from paragraph 1 to 8 is centred around the question ‘Is Taikoo Li an ideal urban artefact for Chinese Modernism’? The statement if examined from the perspectives of aesthetics, referential value to urban planning, and the potential merit as a point of reference to understand Chinese identity.

The second part of the essay began by demonstrating the paradoxical nature of both TKL and Chinese architecture in the contemporary time in paragraph 9. Paragraph 10 reveals the dark side beneath the bright inspiration of urbanisation; analyse the drawbacks through the Spectacle Theory of Guy Debord. Paragraph 11-12 account for the prominence of Taikoo Li, discuss the collective unconsciousness of the general public in relation to the ideas of Chineseness and modernity, of which are manifested through urban planning. using Taikoo Li as the frame of reference. In order to clarify all the discussion, in paragraph 13 and paragraphs 14, the concepts of ‘Chineseness’ and ‘modernity’ are defined respectively. In addition, paragraph 15 briefly delineate the progression of Chinese urbanisation since the early twentieth century. The following paragraph 16-17 ground the whole board conversation by directing it back to TKL. Applying the works of Giorgio Agamben’s work “what is the contemporary”, the essay is concluded in the attempt to address the fundamental definition of “contemporariness” itself, as well as to discuss how can such a definition being grounded, again, via the case of TKL.

Located in the Jinjiang region of Chengdu, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li1 is a multi-functional retail and cultural community complex designed by Oval Partnership in 2015.

Amongst recent commercial construction in the southern east China, TKL has received numerous attention from the general public not only because of its large massive size of 114,000 sqm, but also due its innovational integration of modern and traditional building elements in terms of arrangement and form. “The perfect synthesis of antiquity and the modern spirit has made TKL immediately recognised, enjoyed by the general public, and became the new urban icon of Chengdu since its opening in 2015, enabling both the locals and tourists to experience a sense of nostalgic yet more culturally-diverse recognition and belonging.”2 Different from the precedent interior-based shopping centre, TKL is a fusion of the traditional and contemporary architectures. It consists of low-rise and low-density shops, teahouses, and plazas, connecting by a systematic grid-like arrangement of streets and lanes.

Streets that connect all the shops are categorised as either Fast or Slow Lanes. While the three main Fast Lanes stretched from the East to the West plazas link glamorous international fashion brands, the other sixteen Slow Lanes unite cafes and lifestyle stores.Along the lanes, each of the traditional Chuan-xi styled3 house are covered by black tiled slanting roofs, sitting on top of a great span of glass walls. Such a fusion of the traditional architectural forms and the arrangement of the low-rise houses along streets and lanes intend to provoke a nostalgic emotion and experience to the audience.

Does the integration of traditional and contemporary architectures make TKL an ideal urban artefact of Chinese Modernism? The question can be addressed in three aspects: the aesthetic, referential values in term of future urban construction, and its potential capability in provoking the awareness of the ambiguous relationships between secularity and religion in the Chinese context.

In terms of aesthetics, the preservation of Chuan-xi style typology and the application of modern materials and construction methods enable TKL to incorporate the essence of the authentic architectural tradition and the characteristics of the Modernist architecture. Sichuan Architecture, the local authoritative architecture journal recognised TKL’s efforts in “preserving and distilling the characteristics of Chuan-xi style architecture, [as well as] creating a unified architectural style”. In fact, TKL not only consists of newly built shops with black tiled roof preserved, but it also embodies six historical buildings, such as “Guangdong Hui Guan” and “Xin Lu”.4 Such a rich maintenance of the local traditional architecture “retains a sense of memory associating with the context, constructing a more identifiable space.”5 While the authentic form and decorative motif are preserved, the installation of the steel frame structure acquires the simplistic form and deft structural quality of the traditional wooden frame.6 Moreover, the introduction of the concept of “li” as the design tool defines the spatial relationships between the disassociated shopping blocks, granting TKL the referential values for the urban artefact and community constructions

1

Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu is referred as TKL in all the following paragraphs.

!2 Yaru Li, “Analysis on Taikoo Li Commercial Pedestrian Street Design From The Aesthetic Of Street”, (Architecture and Culture, Vol. 159, June, 2017), p. 64.

Chuan-xi style is the traditional architectural form in the southern west China and particularly Sichuan province, of where Chengdu is located; a typical Chuan-xi styled residential house consists of two to three storeys evolving around a courtyard.

3

4

Chen Xuan, “City and Temple: the Design of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li”, (Jiangxi Building Materials, No. 15, 2017), p.62.

Pan Ting and Mu Jiang, “The Construction of Contextual Spirit of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu”, (Sichuan Architecture, Vol. 37, No. 2, April, 2017), p.58.

5

6

Chen Xuan, “City and Temple: the Design of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li”, (Jiangxi Building Materials, No. 15, 2017), p.63.

in the future. “Li”, as part of the name of the shopping complex Taikoo Li, literally means street and lane. As its name suggests, TKL is constituted of a web of intimately connected Fast and Slow Lanes. The implementation of “li” successfully renovates the physical space, revitalising the activities of socialisation and spatial exploration. Evolved around the historical sites, these lanes exhibit a more humanistic tone and scale, attracting the audience to occupy the space. “Standing on the lanes, the audiences feel the surrounding is welcoming and discern stores on the both sides simultaneously”.7 Walking along the lanes, the audiences perceive a sequential intriguing imagery and enjoy their own momentary beings as the result of physical interactions with the space. Benches, street lamps, landscapes, public arts and historical marks are installed around the lanes, adorning the public space and inviting the audiences to gaze and photograph. Such a delightful streetscape not only engages the audience of TKL, but it also harmoniously infuses into the surrounding context, contributing to beautifying the whole urban fabric.8 Additionally, the presence “Li” blurs the boundary between the shopping complex and the city as separated entities by redefining the means of entrance for TKL. About twenty lanes directly are connected to the streets and roads beyond TKL, allowing the potential audience to enter the shopping complex through various directions. By doing so, TKL is presented to the general public in an amiable impression as an integral part of the city itself. The emphasis of “li” as the main design element not only defines the aesthetic identity of TKL, but also enhances both the visual and haptic experiences of the audience. Such an unconventional experience-orientated planning mechanism allow TKL to be regarded as a reference for the future constructions of other urban artefacts, as well as for the urban planning as a whole.

In addition to the aesthetic and referential values, the presence of TKL has the potential value in opening the conversation around the Chinese identity by demonstrating the ambitious state of religion in relation to secularity. The Daci region of which TKL occupies is a contradictory coexistence of the Buddhist practices and commercial activities.

While one is aware that TKL is a renovation construction built upon an authentic residential community, it is critical to mark that the whole region was evolved around the Daci Temple, the religious centre of Buddhism in Chengdu for a passing millennium. Ever since the Daci Temple was firstly built in the third century, it has been one of the grandest monasteries in China, attaining its highest eminence and popularity during the Tang and Song Dynasty. By the end of Ming dynasty, the temple had been momentarily destroyed. It was restored during the mid-seventeenth century, although the size was never comparable to the precedent time. “Unlike most of the temples that were built distant away from secular life, the Daci Temple was the centre of commercial activity in the ancient time.”9 As many Buddhist believers travelled to the Daci Temple, numerous shops and stalls were established around, contributing to the emergence of commercial and social communities including Shamao Street and Kangshi Street. As the result, the Daci region has been the complex of social, economical and religious activities for centuries.

The awareness and discussion of the relationship between religion and secularity in the Chinese context is important in grasping the sense of Chinese identity. For instance, such a coexistence reflects the spiritual beings of the general public as the result of correlative historical view and the absence of a dogmatic form of religion. Unlike the West, monotheism has never prevailed in the prolonged history of China. Before the concept of ‘guo’ (state) was widely spread in the nineteenth century, “the ethnically legitimate object of loyalty was Chinese culture or ‘tian-xia’ (human civilisation; or all-under heaven) for the cultivated elite, and ‘chao-dai’ (dynasty) for the masses”.10 Moreover, Confucianism, the

Pan Ting and Mu Jiang, “The Construction of Contextual Spirit of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu”, (Sichuan Architecture, Vol. 37, No. 2, April, 2017), p.59.

7

Zhou Rong, “Learning the City From Internet: Exploring the Fundamentals of the Design of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, Chengdu”, (Architectural Journal, April, 2016), p. 34-35.

8

Yue Haiyang and Feng Qian, “The Coexistence of the Preservation of Historical Architecture and Commercial Development”, (Sichuang Building Materials, Vol. 43, No. 11, Novermber, 2017), p. 56.

9

10

Chi-shen Chang, The Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies. (London, 2016), Chapter. 2, p. 56.

house of thinking which dominated the country’s political administration and social protocol for nearly two millenniums, praises on ‘li’, the proper conduct of a superior human being rather than emphasising the presence of a godly figure.11 Religious organisations based on Buddhism never gained as much political power as Christianity once obtained in the West, and there is never a clearly announced distinction between secular and religious lives.

While the Daci region displays an ambiguity sacredness and secularity in the Chinese historical context, the very presence of TKL demonstrates a paradoxical relation to Modernism and Post-modernism12 —two seemly opposing concepts in the western sense. TKL acquires modernist characteristics13 in terms of materiality and construction. Each of the free-standing house, mainly constructed out of steel beams and glass walls, presents a simplified open plan comparing to its previous authentic form. Meanwhile, TKL also exhibits the post-modernist spirituality14 —as one may recognise it in the highlight of the Chuan-xi styled facade consists of black slanting tiles, as well as in the construction of spatial experience based on ‘li’.The paradox of TKL is also seen in between its Chinese form and its western deed.

While the aesthetic of architectural form and the logic of streets arrangement of TKL can be traced back to the authentic building tradition, the programs and functions of the shopping complex, as the way it is called, are intrinsically a western concept. Not to mention the consumerist culture is another recent social phenomenon since the open-door policy. 15 The very nature of TKL is dualistic. TKL is a paradox of Modernist characteristics and Post-modernist spirit, a contradiction of Chinese motifs in the exterior and Western commercial framework in core.

While some regard TKL as the coexistence of historical architecture protection and commercial development, some criticise TKL as cultural packaging and discourse hegemony16. On one hand TKL is an exquisite balance of architectural tradition and contemporariness. On the other, TKL is an accumulation of spectacles, a mere tool to manifest capitalist fetishism. The dualistic presence of TKL, however, mirrors the current conflicting condition of urbanisation and identity of Chinese architecture in general. In both the cultural and architectural senses, Chinese identity is indefinite, conflictual, and ever-evolving. In the same manner, claiming that TKL is the ideal example of an urban artefact against the broad background of Chinese Modernism.

Despite either condition of presence for TKL, it is doubtless that its aesthetics, the distinct Chinese characteristics of the local authentic architecture attracts numerous audiences. The spectacle satisfies the business agenda, and such a phenomenon implicates the longing for the affirmation of culture identity among the Chinese public. According to the Quarterly Operating Statement published in February 2019 by Swire Properties Limited and Swire Pacific Limited17 , the rate tenant occupancy of TKL Chengdu in the last quarter of 2018 reached 97 percent, the percentage of sales increased as much as 21.5.

11

David Wang, A Philosophy of Chinese Architecture: Past, Present, Future. (London, 2016), Chapter. 2, p. 50.

12

In this essay Modernism and Post-modernism are both referring to the architectural movements undergo in the twentieth century.

Modernist architecture refers to analytical approach to the function of buildings, a rational application of new materials and innovation technologies of construction, an openness to structural innovation and the strict rejection of ornament.

13

Post-Modernism is the reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modernist agenda. In this essay, Post-modernist agenda specifically refers to the embracement of cultural and history as the sources of inspiration for the decorative appearance.

14

“Open Door policy” refers to the economic reform advocated by Deng Xiaoping, the chairman of the Chinese government from 1978 to 1990s.

Both the installation of market economy and influx of foreign investments are regarded as the results of the policy.

15

Zhang, Yaoyan, “Discourse Hegemony beyond the Cultural Packaging: A View on Re-establishment of Value from ‘Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu’ in Postmodern Theory”, (Xichang Academic Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2, June, 2015, p. 140.

16

17

Swire Properties Limited and Swire Pacific Limited are the parent companies of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu.

But why? How does the architectural form of TKL and the sequential imageries provoke and contribute to the lasting popularity of the shopping complex? One of the possible answers may lay on the passion and urge of the general public and intellectual society to reaffirm the Chinese cultural identity18 in the modern era. Such a search for Chineseness19 and modernity can be dated back to the late nineteenth century.

The term ‘Chineseness’ carry three connotations. ‘Guo’, the geographical connotation, refers to state or country. The cultural connotation ‘hua-xia’ specifically refers to Chinese civilisation, whereas the ethic connotation ‘zhong-hua-minzu’ means Chinese ethnicities. The three connotations were once referred equally until the Song dynasty. From the eleventh century to the end of Qing dynasty, the ethnic connotation began to gain more prevalence, mixing with the modern idea of ‘nation’ in the early twentieth century. The change of primacy among the three connotations of Chinese marks the emergence of Chinese nationalism.20 Chinese nationalism is also the result of the increasing sense of modernity. The traces of modernity in China can be seen through the emergences of consumerism, tourism, entertainments, new professions and civic organisations in the midnineteenth century. Unlike the West,21 in the Chinese context, modernity in terms of architecture stresses the discontinuation of traditional urban form and “modernity eventually paved the way towards urban development which reflected processes of increasing industrialisation and capitalisation”. 22 In the recent time, however, modernity suggests the combination of the renewal of traditional aesthetics and belief in the relentless urbanisation.

Modernity is marked by urbanisation. The early sign of Chinese urbanisation was seen through the gradual emergence of industrial infrastructures. From the mid nineteenth to early twentieth century, modern planning practices in China was based on the tradition of the Beaux-Arts, of which exhibits imperialism and advancement by emphasising central plazas and classical forms.23 Between the early 20s and late 30s, the Nationalist Party of the Republic of China directed systematic urban planning in major cities in the Southeast China. In the North, Japanese occupied Manchuria and practiced the western urban planning approach.24 During the 50s25, the objective of urban planning was subservient to industrialisation and economic growth. Site selection was the sole focus in the expense of considerations on the social impacts of heavy industries. Between the 1949s to 1978s, there was essentially no systematic urban planning.

Construction was paying no attention, and buildings were constructed randomly on any vacant sites. Urbanisation was hugely influenced by the combination of political ideology, central planned economy. As the result, three iconic urban

18

The term ‘Chinese cultural identity’ is sometimes referred as ‘Chineseness’ in the following paragraphs.

19

The term ‘Chineseness’ refers to Chinese identity with a trio of geographical, ethical and cultural connotations.

Chi-shen Chang’s words in The Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies, Chapter 2, page 57, brief but precisely explains the yearning for Chineseness, an argument present in the later paragraph. “The shift from culturalism to nationalism produced an identity crisis, as the allegiance to the Chinese state could not satisfy the Chinese intellectuals’ need for a cultural identity, and neither could Western culture, as it would never be regarded as their own. The spiritual schism caused by the need of abandoning the previous cultural identity on the other hand, and the sense of homelessness in a Westernised world on the other, caused the Chinese intellectual trapped in a state of spiritual rootlessness, and formed the essence of Chinese modern intellectual history.”

20

In the western architectural sense by the late nineteenth century, modernity is represented by hygienic condition, advanced transportation, and systematic urban planning.

21

22

Chen Fei, Chinese Urban Design: the Typomorphological Approach. (New York, 2016), Chapter. 2, p. 27.

During the post-Opium War period, Western colonisers and religious organisation built churches, schools and hospitals, applying systematic urban planning in foreign concessions within the major portal cities.

23

Since the invasion and occupation of Manchuria in 1931, Japanese attempted to build the Changchun as the capital of Manchuguo and other major cities.

24

During the period of First Five Year Economic Plan from 1953 to1957, the Soviet mode urban planning was employed. Such an objectives are epitomised by the rapid industrial of inland cities to counter-balance the far-more advanced coastal cities and the restriction on demographic migration.

25

forms emerged in Chinese cities: dan-wei26, broad boulevard27, civic square28 . These new urban forms contributed to the demolition of the traditional urban fabric. Since the 1990s, the yearning for the metropolitan city image of the city planners pushed the constructions of sky scrappers in trade of the traditional streets and communities.

The rapidly perceivable disappearance of the Chuan-xi styled residential buildings provokes to the public’s nostalgia and appreciation towards TKL, which contributes to the popularity of the shopping complex.The arrangement of streets and lanes in TKL, which is derived from the traditional urban units, implicates a new form of urbanisation and is different from both the Western urbanisation methodology and the Communist urban forms between 1949 and 1978.

The emphasis on the traditional street arrangement in the recent decades not only suggests the country’s to reestablish its cultural identity, but it also mirrors a subtle rejection of the Western-rooted urban design. Such a preference to the remainder of the traditional street arrangement can also be seen as an urging emphasis on the cultural connotation of “Chineseness” to reinforce the Chinese identity in the contemporary time.

Returning to the initial question, is TKL an ideal urban artefact of Chinese Modernism? The question is not demanding for a yes-or-no answer of if TKL is the ideal unban artefact of Chinese Modernism, but rather, it is a discussion of whether the discussion around the object could actually be grounded in the contemporary.

Conclusion: What is the Contemporary?

According to Agamben, “contemporariness is, then, a singular relationship with one’s own time, which adheres to it and, at the same time, keeps a distance from it […] it is that relationship with time that adheres to it through a disjunction and an anachronism.”29 The nature of contemporariness is barely unfolded through dualistic connotations.

Contemporariness is one’s subjective experience of time and one’s ability and urge to perceive the darkness30, to detect the intimate obscurity beyond the light of the present century. The sense of contemporary can be partially grasped through a specific point of reference. TKL and all the previous discussion developed around it presented may intemperate contemporariness in its own way.

Most of the subjects of TKL, mainly the audiences and the consumers, those who promote, advertise and appreciate it and those who question, criticise and despise it, are not in the contemporary31 because they do not perceive the darkness. In the context of TKL, darkness refers to the accumulation of spectacle. The inability to detect the darkness is the incapability of the subjects of TKL32 to perceive the shopping complex’s potential drawbacks due to the dominance of superficial visualities and the oppression of reality. TKL becomes the facilitator to provide the ground for its subjects

Dan-wei refers to huge urban block containing state-owned work units which attempts to combine working and living spaces in close territorial proximity. Dan-wei minimises and discourages socialisation of travelling; it fulfills the concepts of equal accessibility to resources and fosters strong commune sense. All the units of dan-wei are highly uniform and standardised, highlighting uniformity and senes of community while repressing individuality and creativity.

26

27

These boulevards are named after socialist terms. They are often long, straight and wide to symbolise a bright socialist future.

28

These squares acquire out-of-scaled dimension as the mean of gathering and emphasising the government’s hegemony.

29 Agamben,

Giorgio. What is Apparatus and Other Essays. (Stanford, 2008), Chapter. “What is the Contemporary”, p.41.

30 According

to Agamben, “the darkness of the present is the light that strive to reach it but cannot; and, to perceive such a darkness means to be contemporary.” Darkness refers to the intimate obscurity, the unknowable, the invisible jeopardy. Turning directly and singularly into to the contemporary more than any light, the darkness is the light which strive but cannot reach the present.

31 According

to Agamben, “those who coincide too well with the epoch, those who are perfectly tied to it in every respect, are not contemporaries, precisely because they do not manage to see it; they are not able to firmly hold their gaze on it.”

People who lost themselves in the accumulation of spectacles, constructing their fake social lives along with the glamorous imageries of TKL and their selfie.

32

to embrace the fake reality. The authentic architectural culture of TKL is reduced, its innate value is removed and its presence is degraded into a superficial spectacle, a mere tool to promote the celebration of capitalist fetishism.

The interpretation through the lens of TKL demonstrates that “contemporaries are rare.…[thus,] to be contemporary is a question of courage…it is like being on time of an appointment that one cannot but miss.” In order to avoid the darkness33, the subjects must look beyond the superficial symbols, motifs and imageries, must inspect the hidden, ambiguous, and ungraspable nature and essence of the fundamental existence of the Chinese culture. Thus, only the one who is not only aware, but is also capable in perceiving and thinking about the darkness34 , is truly regarded as in the contemporary. The true contemporary subjects35, who is looking beyond the current discourses and conflicts associating themselves into the consideration and discussion, is relevant, yet simultaneously not too relevant to occurrences in the present time. Such an urgency of the contemporary subject to perceive the darkness is inevitably an untimeliness and an anachronism, of which one can simultaneously grasp his or her time as both “too soon” and “too late”, “already” and “not yet”.36 The state contemporariness 37 always sits on an ungraspable threshold between a “not yet” and a “no more”, the object, TKL, can never to grounded on the contemporary. Thus, the statement regrading TKL as the ideal urban artefact of Chinese Modernism is a fallacy itself. In fact, such an urban artefact of Chinese Modernism can never possibly come to exist. The moment of “now” in contemporary is ambiguous and ungraspable.

33

In this sentence, darkness refers to the accumulation of spectacle in developing the consciousness of the concept ‘Chineseness’

34

Darkness refers to the same ideas as the above foot note no. 33.

35 As

the previous passages already stated and emphasised, the term “contemporary subjects” in this sentence is regarded in relation to TKL as the point of reference.

36 Agamben, 37

Giorgio, What is Apparatus and Other Essays, (Stanford, 2008), Chapter. “What is the Contemporary”, p.47.

In this sentence, “the state of contemporariness” refers to the architectural ideology and aesthetic at the present time.

Bibliography Agamben, Giorgio. What is Apparatus and Other Essays. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.

Chang, Chi-shen. The Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017.

Chen, Fei. Chinese Urban Design: the Typomorphological Approach. London : Routledge, 2016.

Chen, Xuan. “City and Temple: the Design of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li.” Jiangxi Building Materials, No. 15 (May, 2017): 62-69.

Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacles. New York: Zone Books, 1995.

Li Yaru and Li Ang. “Analysis on Taikoo Li Commercial Pedestrian Street Design From The Aesthetic Of Street.”

Architecture and Culture, No. 6 (June, 2017): 64-65.

Pan, Ting and Mu Jiang. “The Construction of Contextual Spirit of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu.” Sichuan Architecture, Vol. 37, No. 2 (April, 2017): 59-62.

Wang, David, A Philosophy of Chinese Architecture: Past, Present, Future. London: Rutledge, 2016.

Yue, Haiyang and Feng Qian, “The Coexistence of the Preservation of Historical Architecture and Commercial Development.”, Sichuang Building Materials, Vol. 43, No. 11 (Novermber, 2017): 56-57.

Zhang, Lingling. “The Exploration of Creational Urban Community: Taikoo Li Chengdu.” Architectural Forum and Design. No. 3 (March. 2017): 129-130.

Zhou, Rong. “Learning the City From Internet: Exploring the Fundamentals of the Design of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, Chengdu.”Architectural Journal, No.5, (April, 2016): 30-35.

Zhang, Yaoyan. “Discourse Hegemony beyond the Cultural Packaging: A View on Re-establishment of Value from ‘Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu’ in Postmodern Theory.” Xichang Academic Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (June, 2015): 140-142.