Chapter 9 6.Professorship

Whatever the Sichengs' doubts, the teaching position at Northeastern University was a particularly big challenge.A student who graduated less than a year from the Department of Architecture at Penn was invited to start a new university's Department of Architecture and form a team. What else could he expect?Moreover, this is one of only two architectural training centers in the country.The other is located in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Nanjing Central University, and it only started recruiting students in the first year (Note 1.). The challenge for young architects comes not only from the university but also from the vast land of Manchuria.Originally a reservation for the Manchus who invaded the Central Plains and ruled it from 1644 to 1911, this vast expanse of northern land remained a frontier region in 1928 despite the influx of Han peasants.That summer they poured in at a rate of 40,000 a week from the nearby densely populated provinces of Hebei and Shandong, and Han Chinese families accounted for 90% of the total population.To open up the region, Russia was the first to build the railway, but Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, ceding control of South Manchuria to Japan.When Sicheng and his wife arrived, the Japanese army stationed in the Zhongchanglu area became the main factor in maintaining order.Most of the immigrants of the Han nationality also lived along the railway, and they were lucky to escape the ravages of the North China warlords.However, Manchuria also had its own warlord, Zhang Zuolin, who ruled from the influence of Japan.Unsatisfied with the dictatorship of Shenyang, he divided his troops into four groups and marched through the Great Wall to Beijing, intending to defeat the warlords in North China, reorganize the government and become the president himself.Zhang Zuolin's final attempt to seize power in Beijing was thwarted when the Nanjing Nationalist Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek sent troops for the Northern Expedition.He returned to Shenyang by train on June 3, 1928, but the train was bombed before it arrived, and he died of serious injuries.

The premeditated role of the Japanese in this bomb-murder was well known, and further threats were made.Before the end of the year, however, the old warlord's son, the "Young Marshal" Chang Hsueh-liang, brought Manchuria (thereafter called the Three Eastern Provinces) into a political alliance with the rest of China.Shenyang thus had an uneasy peace.Normal life was temporarily restored. Despite this insecurity, Sicheng got off to a good start in her university career.He was appointed as "responsible associate professor of the Department of Architecture" when he first arrived, and was promoted to "responsible professor" two years later.Although the title sounds good, there are only two faculty members in the whole department in the first academic year-he and Hui Yin.Both of them taught architectural design, and he opened a course that integrated Western and Chinese architectural history.

As spring eases the severe northern cold in Liaoning Province, new joys are added to the family.Huiyin was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter in August 1929, named "Zai Bing" to commemorate her late grandfather's nickname in the study - "Old Man Drinking Ice". In the summer of 1929, three young people were added to the teaching staff of the Department of Architecture. They were also graduates of the University of Pennsylvania—Sicheng’s old friend Chen Zhi (Benjamin), Tong Xi and Cai Fangyin from Shenyang.They are all experts in teaching Clay-style architecture courses, and their shared education and friendship promise interesting and lively collaborations in the years to come.More than that, the need for architectural planning, design, and construction supervision that Liang Sicheng foresaw was at least recognized.Active architectural practices are needed in Shenyang, so "Liang, Chen, Tong, Cai Construction Office" was established.

Almost immediately, the firm took on two big jobs.The first project is to design the entire campus of Jilin University in Jilin Province.The design and construction of the university's administrative buildings, teaching buildings, and dormitory buildings of granite and reinforced cement was completed in 1931.The second is also the job of designing higher education institutions.Jiaotong University plans to build a branch campus in Jinzhou, Liaoning.The building for this project was designed by this firm and started construction, but was later destroyed by the war.Huiyin participated in the design from beginning to end.She and Sicheng also cooperated in a "public design", designing a park in the suburbs of Shenyang called Xiao He Garden, and also designed private houses for some wealthy warlord families in Shenyang.

Sicheng's strong interest in ancient monumental buildings continues.Shenyang was the "capital" from 1636 to 1644 before the Manchus established the Qing Dynasty in Beijing.In the spare time he could squeeze out, he surveyed the buildings in the "Beiling" on the outskirts of Shenyang.The large tiled roof with raised eaves and the wooden structure with unsupported "curtain wall" resemble the mausoleums of the Qing palace in Beijing.For practice, he carefully measured the building for the first time and made notes on which the final drawings could be based.He learned the technique while studying architectural history at Penn and seeing exhibits of drawings by participants in the Prix de Rome.But his experiments failed, and he found that his measurements did not meet the requirements for the final drawing.Frustrated, he says, "This represents a stage in my pursuit of techniques that I have since mastered." For example, as an improvement, he immediately discarded feet and inches and replaced them with the metric system.

His first attempt to preserve important monumental buildings.The mayor of Shenyang decided to demolish the beautiful Bell and Drum Towers on the grounds of obstructing traffic.Liang Sicheng wanted to salvage it, and he stated the following reasons to the official: "It is easy to destroy and difficult to protect. Once they disappear, they cannot be restored. Why did you choose to destroy it?" As it often happens in the future, His advice was rejected. For the young friends who formed the architectural firm, it was a risky act to design the entire campus from the start.From the establishment of the enterprise in 1929 to 1930, their achievements were brilliant, because the development of higher education was in direct conflict with the imperialist ambitions of Japan stationed in Manchuria. By early 1931, the Japanese military siege had become more blatant.Clearly Chiang Kai-shek was not prepared to use his army against the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria.Without military resistance, China's Northeast is doomed to lose to Japan.

Later in 1930, Huiyin had to leave Shenyang and return to Beijing for treatment due to a diagnosis of lung disease. In February 1931, Chen Zhi left and went to Shanghai to open an architectural firm.After Sicheng moved his family to Beijing, he returned to Northeastern University to teach until the end of the 1930-1931 academic year.Then he handed over the affairs of the department to Tong Xi, and went to Beijing to meet Huiyin and start a new career.When the Japanese military campaign to occupy Manchuria began on September 18, 1931, Tong Shi, a native of Shenyang, was left alone among the ambitious young architects (Note 2.).The Japanese closed the university shortly thereafter, and he and other faculty members and many students traveled south to Beijing and elsewhere.

Note 1. This is the original text, according to other sources, it is the same year. ——Translator's Note Note 2. Tong Xi's interview with the author. (1981)