Chapter 7 4.professional study

The Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia was in 1924 a bastion of the fine arts tradition presided over by the famous French architect Paul P. Kray (1876-1945).Clay himself entered the Paris School of Fine Arts in 1896 and received intensive training that included not only all aspects of architectural design and construction, but also an in-depth study of architectural history and concise and beautiful perspective drawings (and the necessary artistic calligraphy), which he taught Given to his American students and who would play an important role in Liang Sicheng's later career, Clay, a recent graduate of the Paris School of Fine Arts, had already made a name for himself in both architecture and teaching.His early talent was amply demonstrated later when he won competitions for such beautiful buildings as the Pan American Union Building in Washington, the Federal Reserve Building, and the Detroit School of Fine Arts.He continued to be a major influence as a faculty member in Penn's Department of Architecture until his retirement in 1937.

Sicheng and Huiyin registered as students starting in the fall of 1924, and Sicheng's close friend and roommate Chen Zhi at Tsinghua University registered at the same time.According to Chen Zhi's recollection, the three of them came to the United States from China together and spent several summer months at Cornell University in Itseca, New York, taking preparatory classes and adjusting themselves to adapt to the new environment. On July 7th, Sicheng wrote to his family saying that he had selected courses for summer tuition: watercolor still life sketching, outdoor painting and triangle, and hoped that through such preparatory learning, he could "become a second-year or even higher-year student in the Department of Architecture." ".At the same time, he also admired the famous architectural layout of the university overlooking Kayuga Lake. "The mountains and rivers are beautiful here, and the scenery is extremely beautiful."

In the summer of this year, everyone in the family knew that Sicheng's mother was suffering from terminal cancer.In mid-August, Liang Qichao wrote to a friend saying that he had decided to let Sicheng return to China "to fulfill his due filial piety... This disease is very painful, and she cannot do without the care of others... Sicheng's concubine is pregnant I need him to come back to help. (Note 1.)” A whole month later, on September 13, his mother died.Whether the son was actually ordered to go home was irrelevant.Even if he took the three-day transcontinental train to catch the earliest steamer for the long sea voyage across the Pacific, he would not make it in time.

Huiyin, who was studying at Cornell University's guest university with Sicheng and Chen Zhi, received a disturbing news: the Department of Architecture only accepts boys.The leaked explanation was that the architecture students had to draw all night, so the presence of an unaccompanied woman was inappropriate.She had no choice but to enroll in the art department with other female students.Originally, it was her enthusiasm for the Department of Architecture that prompted Sicheng and Chen Zhi to come to Penn University, but she herself was unable to enter the Department of Architecture, which is really unacceptable.In fact she didn't accept it either.University records show that she was an amateur teaching assistant of architectural design from the spring of 1926 and an amateur teacher of architectural design from 1926 to 1927.How she broke the university's rules, we don't know.Anyway, since the first year, she and Sicheng have taken classes together.A young teacher in the architecture department, John Habesson, later a well-known architect, reported that their architectural drawings were done "fantastically".

In the first year of college, Huiyin and Sicheng experienced emotional struggles, which sometimes broke out into violent quarrels.The two of them have very different tempers and temperaments, and they need to make adjustments during the period before they get married. According to the students, the "Boxer students" from China are very rigid and rigid, with the exception of "Phyllis" (that's what people call Huiyin here) and Benjamin Chen.She is uncharacteristically beautiful, vivacious and intelligent, speaks fluent English, and has a natural knack for connecting with those around her.Benjamin Chan, who sang in the chorus club at the university, was the most Westernized of the students and the most popular boy.He was always smiling, very humorous and always cracking jokes.

Speaking of Sicheng, is he rigid and rigid?There was no question that he was a serious and studious student, as he had been all his life.It's in his nature.His understanding of their relationship is consistent with their "not formally engaged" status, and may be far from Huiyin.She is fully appreciating the freedoms of America, and her welcome among both sexes is intoxicating.She has freed herself from the inhibitions of her family's culture and made her mark in the New World.So when Sicheng tried to control her activities because she felt that she not only loved her but also had a responsibility to her, she of course resolutely fought back.

Liang Qichao described this mutual struggle to the eldest sister in strong terms: "This year, Sicheng and Huiyin have been in the Buddhist hell for several months. They have to break through the sword mountain and the sword forest. This kind of hell on earth is worse than real hell. The thirteen torture chambers in hell are even more terrifying. But if you can reform, you will be in heaven after the punishment.” He also commented, “In fact, we are all in a cycle of constant regeneration. None of us know ourselves. You have to go through heaven and hell several times in your life. (Note 2.)”

Sooner or later they learned to tolerate each other without sacrificing their own personalities and very different tempers.When they were college students, the differences in their personalities were reflected in their work styles.The creative Huiyin often draws a sketch or architectural drawing first.As the work progresses, suggestions for corrections or improvements are suggested and adopted, which are themselves discarded as better ideas are suggested.When the deadline for drawing submission is approaching, even working overtime in front of the drawing board and rushing to work hard can not deliver the required neat and tidy finalized design drawings.At this time, Sicheng joined in, and with his accurate and beautiful drawing skills, he turned the messy sketch into a clear and neat finished product that could be handed in for the paper.This collaboration of theirs, each contributing his (or her) special gifts to the cause of architecture, has persisted throughout their joint professional careers.

Sicheng once recalled an event that happened shortly after he arrived at Penn in 1924, but he has never forgotten it for a long time.Architectural history professor Alfred Gumier taught a class for second-year students in which Sicheng also participated.After a few lectures, he went to Gumier and said that he liked the history of architecture very much and that he had never known such interesting knowledge in the world.In his answer, Gumir asked him about the history of Chinese architecture.Sicheng replied that as far as he knew there was no writing, and the Chinese never considered architecture to be an art and did not value it.But he himself was skeptical.Those who studied architecture at that time were all students of dynastic architecture.Sicheng did several exercises on Chinese architecture based on Ernst Buchman's photography collection of architectural types with Chinese characteristics.

Years after Sicheng completed his architecture studies in the United States, the spirit of the fine art tradition would be infused into the international Bauhaus by Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and other influential leaders in the Sri Lankan curriculum.In the later 1930s and 1940s, I heard Sicheng express his regret from time to time, saying that he just missed the gate of architecture towards modernity.However, certain aspects of his training in fine arts must have been very important to his future success as an architect destined to head the only school that revived the tradition of Chinese architectural history.

Sicheng himself mentioned some examples of exercises given by the University of Pennsylvania to students of architectural history, which are very useful for his future work in China.Typical assignments are to complete the design of an unfinished church in an appropriate style, to redesign a triumphal arch without departing creatively from its context, or to restore a destroyed building.Also useful were the scaled-down drawings of Roman architecture that he had seen at some exhibitions made by students on scholarship to Rome.During Sicheng's final year at Penn, he conducted extensive research on Italian Renaissance architecture.Beginning with comparative sketches, elevations, and other architectural features, he traces the development of architecture throughout the period.The importance of this training cannot be overemphasized.We do not have his Renaissance architectural drawings to refer to, but we do have an important batch of mock drawings he produced during the next fifteen years, showing his understanding of the history of Chinese architectural evolution.His draftsmanship was undoubtedly important in his execution of these assignments; as for painting, he had always had a soft spot. During Sicheng's university days, his talents were confirmed by two gold medals in design and other awards.Still, sometimes he felt dissatisfied and wrote to his father about it.The advice Liang Qichao gave him in the form of aphorisms is: "You feel that your genius cannot meet your ideals, and you feel that you may become a painter if you have devoted yourself to mechanical work for the past few years. If you feel this way, it means that your knowledge has not been improved during this period. I like it very much when I hear that there will be progressive characteristics. Mencius said, "If you can behave well with others, you can't make them clever." All the things taught and learned in schools are nothing more than rules. If you are clever, you will leave the school. Only then can we find out....As for whether or not to achieve great success in the future, of course it is determined by genius. In my life, I remember Zeng Wenzheng's two words: "Don't ask about the harvest, but ask about the hard work."... Do your best Do it, do it where it is, so that no one can be self-satisfied, and there will always be a lot of contributions to society. (Note 3.)” As for Hui Yin, we can get a glimpse of her student life at the University of Pennsylvania from an interview written by an American classmate of hers to her hometown newspaper in 1926: Sitting in a chair near a window overlooking a campus path, she leaned over a drafting table, her gaunt figure crawling over the huge architectural problem set as it hung with thirty or forty other problem sets. When on the wall of the huge judging room, there will be great rewards.It's not pretentious to say this, because she always gets the highest grades for her assignments or occasionally comes in second.She is unsmiling, humorous and humble.Never talk about your achievements. "'I traveled all over Europe with my father. During the trip, I had the dream of studying architecture for the first time. Modern Western classical architecture inspired me and filled me with the desire to bring some back home. We need a Good architectural theory that immortalizes buildings for centuries.' "'Then I went to secondary school in England. British girls don't start out as friendly as American girls do. Their heritage seems to make them unnaturally reserved.' "'What do you think of American girls—those little teals?' "The answer was a slight smile. A pair of beautifully colored, shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks. Her thin eyebrows were lifted up to her temples, which were combed strictly in the style of college girls. "At first my aunts and aunts refused to let me come to America. They were afraid of those little wild ducks, and they were afraid that I would be influenced by them and become like them. I have to admit that I thought they were stupid at first, but Later when you look under the surface, you will find that they are the best couples in the world. In China, a girl's value depends entirely on her family. Here, there is a democratic spirit that I like. '(Note 4.)" In the middle of her life as a Penn student, Huiyin was traumatized by the sudden death of her dear father.He was killed by a stray bullet when he was going to the northeast to escape a coup in Beijing. He was forty-nine years old at the time.His close friend Liang Qichao took up the responsibility of informing Huiyin of his misfortune and wrote a series of letters, initially reporting rumors and fears and finally confirming his death.In letters then and later he told them that they must now realize that all their future plans would be affected.Lin Changmin's second concubine will take her child back to her hometown in Fujian, and Huiyin's biological mother will rely on Sicheng for the rest of her life.So Sicheng had to find a job quickly.From then on, my father was more concerned about Sicheng's future, especially finding him a good job when he returned to China. Both Sicheng and Huiyin graduated from Penn University in 1927.He was awarded a bachelor's degree in architecture in February and a master's degree in July.She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with high marks in February, completing four years of study in three years.Perhaps the reward they cherish most is that Klay hired them as assistants this summer. Now that the studies were completed, it was time for the long-delayed formal engagement.Sicheng's father's letter from Tianjin made it clear that he demanded strict observance of all traditional customs.He invited a friend to check the "Bazi" for the two people, find out the place and time of their birth and the names of the previous three generations.As tokens of the engagement ceremony, I bought two precious jade pendants and a pair of jade seals.The fact that the parties are on the other side of the world does not detract from the grandeur of the protocol. "Nine out of ten weddings are held in the United States," my father wrote, "so this engagement ceremony is particularly solemn and prudent. In the morning, we pay respects to our ancestors, and both the male and female families pay homage to the elder relatives with the whole post. Bin, a family feast at night." A post in honor of ancestors was sent to Sicheng for him to keep. The young Sicheng cared about his future just as much as his father.Penn had already qualified him as an architect, but he wanted to stay in the United States for a few more months so he could learn how to teach.At that time, he may have known that his father was desperately trying to get Tsinghua to want him, even though it did not have an architecture department at the time.In any case, he understood that teaching required a broader knowledge of academic literature; in particular, he wanted to know what books had been published in the West about Chinese architecture, which he was particularly interested in.He therefore applied to Harvard's Graduate School of Science and Arts in August 1927, stating that his purpose was to "study Oriental architecture. The study of those buildings and the extreme importance of their preservation prompted me to make this choice."His application was accepted, and in September 1927 he left Philadelphia for Cambridge.Lin Huiyin, who had long been longing for the show business, decided to study stage design at the Yale School of Drama. Sometime during Sicheng's years as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, his father sent him a reprint of a recently discovered book, "Building French" (Architectural Standards).This book was written by Li Jie, Minister of Industry of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, in 1100 AD and published in 1103. It is a manual for the construction of palace buildings in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.Liang Qichao read the book carefully before sending it to his son, and he commented in the attached letter: "There is this masterpiece a thousand years ago, and it is the glory of our culture." Sicheng read the book immediately. He later admitted that he did not fully understand it, but he saw that his father had opened an important door for him to study the history of Chinese architecture. At the same time, he wanted to get acquainted with other relevant documents written in Eastern and Western languages ​​through the collections of the Harvard Library.He devoted the first semester of the 1927-1928 academic year to intensive reading.Langdon Warner, a lecturer in Oriental art at Harvard, helped him find the main reference books that enabled him to understand how Westerners viewed Chinese art and architecture.Much of the material here is familiar to him, but how the disciplines and books are organized in these areas interests him—Arthur Valle and Ernest Fennerosa on Chinese painting, R. L. Hobson and A. L. Hetherington studied Chinese ceramics, Berthold Laufer studied jade, and Oswald Xirenlong studied sculpture.At that time, there were two pioneers in the study of Chinese architectural history in the West. One was Xi Renlong, who wrote "The Walls and Gates of Beijing" (1924 London edition) and "Beijing's Royal Palace" (1923 New York edition), and the other It is Ernst Buchmann, whose books include "Picture China" (New York edition in 1923) and "Chinese Architecture" (Berlin edition in 1925, volumes 1-2).Sicheng made this comment on them in 1947: "None of them understand the laws of Chinese architecture. They describe Chinese buildings, and write nonsense if they don't understand. But Xi Renlong is slightly better of the two, and he uses "Constructing the French", but not carefully." Sicheng also searched for Chinese books on architecture in the Harvard library.There are very few books, just the beginning.He reported that he had found almost nothing but a few loose pages.Some of those loose pages can be found in "Ancient and Modern Book Collection", which contains detailed records about temples.Among the works of Japanese scholars, there are several volumes of books on Chinese Buddhist inscriptions by Tokiwa Dading and Sekino Sada. At that time, the rubbings had been printed, but the text had not yet been published. During his few months at Harvard, he made a lot of cards filled with notes that might be useful in the future.But he also found that, as far as the history of Chinese architecture was concerned, he had learned very little. By February 1928, Sicheng had learned what he had come to Harvard to learn.Meanwhile, Whein, with her usual dynamism, has earned a special place among aspiring stage designers at the Yale School of Drama.Her superb training in architectural design and drafting makes her so much more than just an average classmate, she's an emergency friend and even a mythical godmother, which is sure to be true for her fellow students as the due date approaches .Stewart Cheney, then a teenager and later a budding stage designer, was a special pet.Eight years later, in February 1936, she wrote in a theater art monthly she found "my Stewart Cheney has really become a famous designer on Broadway! Come to think of it, that The little rascal who couldn't get along with anyone and always needed my mother's protection was now a well-known Broadway designer with four plays running at once." It may be difficult for Sicheng to convince Huiyin to cut short her stage design course and leave her new friends.But he can now propose marriage.Huiyin accepted, and they went to Ottawa, where the elder sister's husband was the consul general. They were married at the Consulate General on March 21, 1928. March 21 is the only date on the inscriptions erected for Li Jie in the Song Dynasty. They chose this date to commemorate this great architect-analyst of their predecessors.Immediately after their marriage they set off for Europe.

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Note 1. "Chronicles", August 12, 1924, page 662. Note 2. Chronicle, July 10, 1925, pp. 676-678. Note 3. "Chronicles", February 16, 1927, p. 722. Note 4. The Montana Gazette (Billings), January 17, 1926.