Liang Sicheng - The Guardian of China’s Architectural History
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
- Venue
- Russell Square: College Buildings
- Room
- RG01
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
Mark O'Neill will talk about his book 'Liang Sicheng – The Guardian of China’s Architectural History'.
Liang Sicheng ( 梁思成) was the Father of Architecture in China. During the 1930s and 1940s, he and his wife travelled to more than 200 counties in the interior and found 2,738 ancient buildings. The two discovered the richness and diversity of China’s architectural heritage and, through their books and drawings, made them available to the world, both Chinese and non-Chinese.
In the 1950s, he pleaded with the new Communist government to preserve the historic city of Beijing. He designed a new administrative centre in the west of the city. But his demand was rejected by Chairman Mao who wanted to live next to China’s emperors. The ancient walls of Beijing were demolished — Liang and his wife were devastated. It is the story of a remarkable man and his wife, who lived through wars, revolution and persecution but maintained their work and their ideals.
Photo credit: Weichao Deng
About the speaker
Mark O’Neill was born in London, England and educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford. He worked in Washington, DC, Manchester and Belfast before coming to Hong Kong in 1978. He has lived in Asia ever since. He worked as a journalist for 30 years here, in Taiwan, India, the PRC and Japan, for Reuters, SCMP and many other publications. Since 2006, he has been writing books on Chinese history and society.
He completed 17 so far in English. Eight have been translated into traditional Chinese and three into simplified Chinese. He speaks French, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese and lives in Hong Kong with his wife.
- Chair: Dr Lars Laamann, Department of History, SOAS University of London
Registration
This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
This event is taking place on campus and will not be recorded or live-streamed.
Organiser
Contact
- Email: sci@soas.ac.uk
