Writing In(to) Architecture

Using detailed examples from field journals and the mass media, Sylvia Chan traces the evolution of architectural journalism in China from 1949 to the present. She takes us from the propagandistic writings of the Mao era, when the government used architectural journalism to enforce successive waves of politically fashionable architectural principles, to the contemporary “free-for-all” discourse—now stretching into the blogosphere—where politics and nationalism sometimes masquerade as architectural debate. Additionally, Chan identifies important issues that transcend China, weaving in broader insights about the role of the architecture critic in society.