Tomorrow, January 9 marks the 50th anniversary of Liang Sicheng's death.
As one of the important founders of the discipline of Chinese architectural history, Mr. Liang Sicheng constructed the research system of Chinese architectural history through extensive fieldwork and in-depth research in the 1930s and 1940s. The main task faced by Mr. Liang Sicheng at that time was to read the book "Constructing the French Style" and prove the value of Chinese architecture. Although today's scholars are fortunate to have more abundant and in-depth research materials, if they want to learn the essence of ancient Chinese architecture and space design, they should start by reading Liang Sicheng.
Today, movable type Jun shared with book friends the article "Starting from Reading Liang Sicheng" by Mr. Wang Jun, a researcher at the Palace Museum.
Start by reading Liang Sicheng
—
Wang Junwen
This article was originally published in the new issue of Reading Magazine in the first issue of 2022
Liang Sicheng at home no. 12 of The Shengyin Institute of Tsinghua University, photographed by Zhang Shuicheng in 1962
▍"Ancient Books" for Criticism
Liang Sicheng's 1943 book "History of Chinese Architecture", originally titled "Architecture in the History of Chinese Art", was changed to its current name when it was printed in mimeograph in 1955. This book, together with Liang Sicheng's "History of Pictorial Chinese Architecture", was written at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and is the first season of Liang Sicheng's academic career, that is, a summary of the academic process of ancient Chinese architectural investigation and research.
Subsequently, Liang Sicheng devoted himself to the cause of post-war reconstruction, founded the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University to cultivate talents, devoted himself to the planning and construction of the capital of the People's Republic of China, committed to the protection of cultural heritage, advocated the creation of "China and New" architecture, and completed the annotation of "Building the French Style". It is the second season of Liang Sicheng's academic career.
The History of Chinese Architecture was a milestone, but Liang Sicheng only agreed to print the manuscript in mimeograph form as a colloleotype for the exchange of lecture notes at higher schools. In his preface to the mimeograph, he called it an "ancient book written by the ancients" for critical reference. The mimeograph was first printed in Shanghai in February 1955, when the wind reversed, the Architectural Journal launched a "critique of retroist architectural theory headed by Liang Sicheng", and the Ministry of Architectural Engineering held a design and construction work conference to criticize "bourgeois formalism and retroist ideas". Some commentators have pointed out that Liang Sicheng's manuscript "does not ask about the social background, only discusses various structural styles, so it does not explain the reasons for the emergence and evolution of these structural styles", "as a researcher of Chinese architectural history, we should not pay no attention to the 'social, religious, and even political history' of architecture."
Cover of a mimeograph of a history of Chinese architecture
In the complex social environment of the time, the above discussion was quite academic. Unfortunately, Leung si-shing was not given the opportunity to respond publicly. After his death in 1972, the manuscript was finally officially published. This "ancient book written by the ancients" has fortunately not been lost in the dust of history.
However, the academic criticism of Liang Sicheng's research on the history of Chinese architecture has not stopped, and in the early 21st century, it has set off a lot of waves, and representative remarks include: "When Liang Sicheng and his colleagues took one step after another on the road to establishing Chinese classicism, they probably regarded it as the realization of their strong nationalist beliefs and the successful application of the Western classical architectural academic system they had learned in China." However, they did not and could not realize that the architectural academic system of Western classicism on which they were based was based was an inherent contradiction between the Chinese architectural system. This contradiction is even more prominent under the strong 'nationalist' concept of Liang Sicheng and others... This is also the tragedy of Liang Sicheng's view of architectural history. (Zhao Chen: "Nationalism" and "Classicism": An Analysis of the Contradiction and Tragedy of Liang Sicheng's Architectural Theory System) Such criticism points directly to Liang Sicheng's mental approach to the study of Chinese architectural history.
Liang Sicheng, a pioneer in the study of Chinese architectural history, summed up the research on The History of Chinese Architecture in Sichuan Province, which was impoverished during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and summed up the research on Chinese architectural history that he was engaged in as a martyr, which was indeed out of a strong patriotic heart. But did this patriotism, the so-called "nationalist conviction," really lead him into the "tragedy" of the Chinese architectural system in Western classical terms?
Liang Sicheng and Mo Zongjiang in the studio of Lizhuang Construction Society (Source: archsom.org)
▍Competing "battlefield"
Liang Sicheng officially joined the China Construction Society founded by Zhu Qizhao in 1931 to specialize in the study of Chinese architectural history, and this research field has become a "battlefield" for Western and Japanese scholars to compete.
In 1901, the year of Liang Sicheng's birth, the Japanese scholar Tadano Ito and his party were sent by the Japanese cabinet to photograph and map the Forbidden City when the Eight-Power Alliance occupied Beijing. Influenced by Tadata Ito, a group of Japanese scholars joined in, followed by European scholars. From the early 20th century to the 1930s, they carried photographic equipment and conducted a continuous survey of ancient Chinese architecture, which was published in the form of "plates + commentaries". Before Liang Sicheng joined the China Construction Society, western and Japanese scholars had published such works as Les grottes de Touen-houang by the French scholar Paul Pelliot in 1920; and The Mission archéologique en Chine by the French scholar Victor Segalen, published in 1923-1924. Two volumes); Baukunst und landschaft in China, published in 1923 by the German scholar Ernst Boerschmann; Chinesische Architektur (two volumes), published in 1925; Ando Architecture, co-authored by Tadata Ito and the Japanese historian of architecture, Sadashi Kanno, published in 1925; The History of Buddhism in China (volumes 1-5), co-authored by Sadashi Sekino and the Japanese Buddhist historian Tokiwa Daisuke, published 1925-1928; A history of early Chinese art, edited by Tadata Ito and Sadatsu Sekino, and Japanese historians of architecture, edited by Tadao Ito and Sadashi Sekino, published in 1928-1929; Vol4. Architecture）。
In this academic competition, Ito Tadata is an important figure. In 1905, in Fengtian (present-day Shenyang), he and the Japanese architectural historian Ōkuma Kibang copied the Fengtian Palace BunkoKu Cun Siku Quanshu "Construction french style" and stored the copy in the architecture classroom of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tokyo. He also published a history of architecture in China in 1931, commenting on the rare Official Book of Architecture of the Song Dynasty: "Chinese neither emphasis was placed on architecture, so there were very few such books. Only the Song Dynasty compiled "Constructing the French Style", and the Ming Dynasty wrote "Tiangong Kaiwu" and several books in the present. These several books are not difficult to explain, and there is no scientific organization, so there is a regret of itching in the boot. In his book, he asserts: "It is more appropriate to study the vast expanse of China, regardless of art or history, and to regard it as the Japanese." He also admitted: "The strengths of the Japanese are the weaknesses of the Japanese." The people who cover the Japanese know, the skin of China, so they cannot get their true essence, and they cannot have fundamental new insights. Then he set his sights on the West: "Because Europeans and Americans did not have a Chinese concept in the past, they were able to make original investigations with new ideas and sudden efforts." "Among them, there is no Chinese academic position.
Comparison of straight and curved roofs by Ito Tadano. (Source: History of Architecture in China, 1931)
In June 1930, Ito Wasota was invited to give a speech at the China Construction Society, suggesting that Chinese and Japanese scholars cooperate in the study of Chinese architectural history: "In china, the research literature is the mainstay; on the Japanese side, the research on relics is the mainstay. ”
Ito Tadao was a scholar of architectural history with modern scientific and technological knowledge who grew up after the Meiji Restoration in Japan, and liang Sicheng was one of the representatives of such talents in China after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. In terms of age, Ito Tadao and Liang Qichao, the father of Liang Sicheng, are of the same generation, which means that the study of Chinese architectural history has a whole generation gap compared with Japan. This was naturally the reason why Ito Tadao suggested that "in China, the research literature should be the mainstay; on the Japanese side, the research on relics should be the mainstay", because at that time he did not know where the Chinese scholars who mastered the techniques of surveying and mapping and photography and were able to record and study the physical objects of architecture with modern scientific and technological knowledge were.
However, this suggestion of Ito Tadao stung the hearts of Chinese scholars. At that time, China's internal and external troubles and humiliation by the great powers made people feel that "no one in China" was born. This also prompted Zhu Qizhao to immediately mobilize Liang Sicheng, then head of northeastern university's department of architecture, to join the China Construction Society to catch up.
▍ Liang Sicheng's vision
Tadata Ito's evaluation of "Constructing the French Style" was presumptuous and arbitrary. Although the "Construction French Style", which he painstakingly copied, was stored in the architecture classroom of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tokyo, before Zhu Qizhao founded the China Construction Society to study this document, the research of Japanese scholars was neglected, because of Ito's prejudice against this book. This not only limited the depth of Japanese scholars' study of Chinese architectural history, but also had a negative impact on the study of ancient Japanese architecture.
The University of Pennsylvania Fine Arts Library in the United States holds the pottery book of "Constructing the French Style". This is a gift from Yang Tingbao to Professor Paul P. Cret (1876-1945) in 1926. From 1924 to 1927, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin studied under Professor Paul Crane. Wang Jun in August 2014.
"Construction French Style" is a special book of architectural design and construction officially ordered by the Northern Song Dynasty, and its nature is slightly similar to today's design manual plus building code, which is the most complete building technology book in ancient Chinese books. In 1918, Zhu Qizhao found the Qing Daoguang Yuannian Ding's manuscript "Building the French Style" in the Jiangnan Library in Nanjing, which was printed by the Commercial Press. Later, he asked Tao Xiang to survey and proofread the various books, and in 1925, he republished the imitation Song Pottery Book "Building the French Style". Liang Qichao sent a letter to Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin (who used to use the name Lin Huiyin), who were studying architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, with an inscription outlining the achievements of Li Jiezhi, the compiler of "Building the French Style", and instructing "Sicheng Huiyin to be Yongbaozhi".
In 1927, Liang Sicheng entered Harvard University to study Oriental architecture, and systematically read the results of japanese and Western scholars' investigations of Chinese architecture and art. Liang Sicheng commented in 1947 on Xi Longren and Bochmann, two representative figures of European academia: "None of them understands the 'grammar' of Chinese architecture, and the description of Chinese architecture is not essential. Of the two, Xi Longren was better, and he quoted "Building the French Style", but he was careless. In 1945, Liang Sicheng wrote: "What is the 'grammar' of Chinese architecture? Of all the writings of outsiders in the past, no one knows about this. Studying the literature of a language without knowing the grammar of that language is certainly not the way to go. Without knowing the 'grammar' of Chinese architecture, it is equally impossible to study Chinese architecture. ”
And to crack the "grammar" of Chinese architecture, how difficult it is! Liang Sicheng admitted in the "Annotations and Preface to the Construction of the French Style" that in the study of the "Construction of the French Style", "There is no teacher. We can only learn from the examples of the Song Dynasty. And where is the physical object? Although some foreign travelers mention some of them in their writings, they need to be verified in person." He actually called those well-known foreign architectural historians "foreign travelers" because they were not accustomed to "Building the French Style" and could not study it in depth.
In the field of Chinese architectural history research, although Liang Sicheng is a late descendant, he interprets "Constructing the French Style" with his firm will, through physical investigation and literature examination, trying to open the "only way" in the study of Chinese architectural history. This is precisely the academic division between Liang Sicheng and his predecessors of foreign scholars.
In 1937, Liang Sicheng surveyed and mapped the main hall of Foguang Temple
▍ "grammar" exploration
Liang Sicheng recounted his research process in the "Preface to the Construction of the French Style": "To study the Song "French Style", we should start from the "Engineering Practice" of the Ministry of Qing Gong; to understand these masterpieces, we should start from the living people who seek to teach the industry, the old craftsmen. Therefore, I first worshiped the old carpenter Yang Wenqi and the painter Zu Hezhou as teachers, and took the Forbidden City and many other buildings in Beijing as teaching materials and 'specimens', and finally understood the "Engineering Practices" of the Ministry of Works. The understanding of the "Engineering Practices" of the Ministry of Qing Gong laid a preliminary foundation and created conditions for further retrospective study of Song's "Construction of French Style". ”
The "Engineering Practices" of the Ministry of Qing Gong stipulates that the buildings with bucket trees take the bucket mouth of the bucket as the modulus, and the buildings without the bucket are based on the wide surface of the Ming Dynasty, and the degree of house names is consistent. This method is consistent with the System of the Song "Construction Of the French Style" with the cross-arch section of the bucket (i.e., a "material") as the unit of measurement (i.e., "material as the ancestor"), which takes a certain component of the building as the modulus, makes all the spaces multiples or fractions, and expands and contracts according to the modulus hierarchy, expanding and contracting in equal proportions, generating a musical spatial order. In January 1934, Lin Huiyin pointed out in the "Introduction to the Rules of Qing-style Construction" that this system "is actually the essence of Chinese architecture". This is a direct response to the quote Tadata Ito said, "Those who cover the Japanese know, the skin of China is also the same, so they cannot get their true essence."
Less than three years after joining the China Construction Society, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin revealed the basic methods of Chinese architectural construction, which is deeply related to the rigorous Western classicism training they received during their study in the United States. The method of building construction in Western classicism must start with Orderer (Liang Sicheng translated as "type model", now translated as "column style"). This system is found in the "Ten Books of Architecture" by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, that is, the column diameter is used as a modular unit, so that all architectural spaces are multiplied or scored, which is consistent with the "material as the ancestor" system of "Building The French" and the "Engineering Practice" doukou modulus system.
Liang Sicheng was keenly aware of this phenomenon. In his first investigation report on ancient architecture published in 1932, "Examination of guanyinge mountain gate of Dule Temple in Jixian County", he not only interpreted for the first time the "material as ancestor" system of "Building the French Style", but also pointed out for the first time that the position occupied by Dou Li in Chinese architecture was "the influence of The Order on European architecture is of great importance". This conclusion of his is not based on the application of "Xigu", but points out a basic fact - both Eastern and Western classical architecture uses a certain building component as a modular unit, so as to establish the method of expansion and contraction of various spaces in the building and the balance of proportions. This is undoubtedly an important discovery, which is of great significance for the study of the history of architecture in both the East and the West.
Liang Sicheng explains the hand-made hand drawing of the Doukou modulus of the Qing Dynasty in "History of Image Chinese Architecture" "Qing Engineering Practices And Examples of Large-style Large Wooden Patterns" (courtesy of Lin Su)
After this breakthrough was made in the investigation of the architecture of Dule Temple, Liang Sicheng did a non-stop survey and research on the three major shidian liao structures of Guangji Temple in Baodi( Hebei (now part of Tianjin) and the ancient architecture of Zhengding in Hebei. The existence of important buildings from the Tang Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty has given Liang Sicheng a deep understanding of the evolution of the ancient architectural system. On this basis, Liang Sicheng, Liu Dunzhen and Lin Huiyin went to Datong to investigate in 1933. Datong is where Japanese scholars such as Tadao Ito and Sadashi Sekino work very hard, and they try to explore the source of ancient Japanese architecture through the study of the Unoka Grottoes and the Bhagavata Temple of the Lower Huayan Temple.
In contrast to the research methods of Japanese scholars, the "Datong Ancient Architecture Survey Report" co-written by Liang Sicheng and Liu Dunzhen lists the mapping data of the modulus unit of the local Liaojin architecture, the material (栔 is also the architectural design modulus unit stipulated in the "Construction French Style", which is the height of the upper and lower adjacent two gaps), and compares it with the relevant provisions of the "Construction French Style".
In July 1937, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin discovered the Tang Structure of the East Hall of foguang Temple in Wutaishan, Shanxi, and conducted an in-depth study of its modulus system, which confirmed the key judgment made by Liang Sicheng in the investigation report of Dule Temple in 1932: "The system of measuring with materials as a measure, the Liao and Song Dynasties have been conformed, and its old system left behind by the Tang Dynasty must be unquestionable." ”
The above investigation and research enabled Liang Sicheng to confidently summarize the structural technology of ancient Chinese architecture during the War of Resistance Against Japan, dedicate this "History of Chinese Architecture", and draw the famous "Order" illustration of chinese architecture for his English work "History of Pictorial Chinese Architecture", in which it is noted: "The douli and the whole building are measured in proportion to the material or its fraction or multiple." He uses the English word Order to indicate that Chinese architecture is "based on materials as ancestors", which is because the internal logic of the two systems is consistent, which can be described as "the East Sea and the West Sea, the psychology is the same", and there is no deformed mentality of clinging to Western classicism to promote nationalism.
Liang Sicheng's "Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture" in "Order of Chinese Architecture" (courtesy of Lin Su)
▍ "Wrong Positions and Historical Views"
In the preface to the mimeographed edition of The History of Chinese Architecture, Liang Sicheng mentions the "erroneous positions and historical views" of the book, including "the historical view centered on the imperial dynasty, which only describes the architectural activities of feudal lords and nobles, and fails to recognize that those glorious buildings are the creation of the labor of millions of people in various periods and the accumulation of wisdom." To a large extent, this represents Liang Sicheng's state of mind after the 1951 ideological reform movement.
The architectural investigation activities carried out by Liang Sicheng are indeed mainly aimed at palaces and temples. He first investigated the Forbidden City in Beijing, focusing on it, so as to read through the Qing Ministry's "Engineering Practices"; then he devoted himself to finding early buildings, focusing on religious architecture, combined with actual research, to read through the Song "Construction of The French Style". Practice has proved that such a choice is completely correct, because the early buildings in China are mainly religious buildings, and non-religious buildings, such as residential buildings, have undergone frequent destruction and construction, and it is difficult to survive the early regulations.
But this does not mean that Liang Sicheng does not attach importance to the study of non-religious architecture.
In 1934, Liang Sicheng published the "Rules of Qing-style Construction", and the first figure published after the introduction, "The Name of the Plane Part", compared the four-in-one residence of the two courtyards with the four-in-one temple view of the two courtyards, and pointed out that "the configuration method of the ordinary plane is uniform, whether it is a palace temple or a residence, it is composed of several buildings". Earlier, Liang Sicheng pointed out in his article "Buddhist Temples and Palaces of the Tang Dynasty As We Know" published in 1932: "China's religious architecture is not fundamentally different from non-religious architecture, unlike European churches and residences. Based on this understanding, Liang Sicheng's survey of architectural history will not exclude non-religious buildings. In 1934, Liang Sicheng and Lin Hui went to Shanxi to investigate, and the following year published the "Chronicle of The Pre-investigation of Ancient Buildings in Jinfen", that is, a special section on "Shanxi Residences".
In 1937, Liang Sicheng Lin Hui went to the Golden Pavilion Temple on Mount Wutai
In the book "History of Chinese Architecture", Liang Sicheng also slightly divided the Qing Dynasty residential buildings that existed in large numbers at that time into four districts. He pointed out: "Among the types of architecture, only the residence is most closely related to life. "Many plane layouts of Chinese architecture, large to a city and a city, small to a house and a garden, are the answers to our life ideas, worthy of our re-examination." Therefore, in the "Compendium of Important Architectural Relics in China" compiled in 1949, he listed "All of Beiping City" as the first cultural relic; in the 1950s, he instructed the student Wang Qiming to investigate and study the residences of the Beijing Courtyard.
Nowadays, some people still think that Liang Sicheng "faced two different types of civilizations, but used the method of governing the history of Western architecture to govern the history of Chinese architecture." This method is fatal to the end of Chinese architecture. He adopted the more mainstream method of Western architectural history at that time- the architectural history with the emperor and general as the core, in fact, the western architectural history is not exactly like that. This makes Chinese folk architecture completely out of the scope of the architectural history he discusses. However, we formulated the Law on the Protection of Architectural Relics from his point of view, resulting in each city retaining only a few famous traditional buildings, and the others were demolished. You can see how the method of governing history will have on reality" (Zhu Xiaojia: "The Last Thing They Listen to Designers— The Trouble of Architect Wang Shu").
Obviously, such a claim is unfounded.
▍Creation system
Quoted above in the 1955 criticism of architectural thought, some commentators criticized the "History of Chinese Architecture", saying that it "does not ask about the social background, only discusses various structural styles, so it does not explain the reasons for the emergence and evolution of these structural styles", and "should not pay any attention to the 'history of architecture in society, religion, and even political activities'".
In fact, Liang Sicheng had noticed this problem when writing this book, but he frankly said: "This work is a study of the Chinese Construction Society for more than ten years on the mutual reference between philological books and physical relics, the performance of Chinese dynastic architecture, a brief description, a slight review of the evolution of the transformation and the characteristics of the times, and an analysis and comparison to illustrate the source of this structural system." The study of Chinese architectural history has yet to be explored and investigated in the field of architectural archaeology in the future. ”
Liang Sicheng's "Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture" contains a longitudinal section and façade of the East Hall of Foguang Temple (courtesy of Lin Su)
In his view, what he has accomplished is only a monograph exploring the origin of Chinese architectural structural technology, which is only part of his ideal research system for the history of Chinese architecture. In this regard, he clearly stated in the introduction to the "History of Chinese Architecture": "The reason for the formation of architectural distinctive characteristics is due to two factors: there are those who belong to the technical methods and development of physical structures, and there are those who are related to the tendency of environmental thought. In this regard, those who govern the history of architecture must grasp and understand the facts first, and never confuse the criterion of the architecture itself, and do not confuse the similarities and differences between the architecture of other tribes and me when he was confused. The historians of Chinese architecture are concerned about this, and can only have a correct view of Chinese buildings, and do not make a reputation for extremism. ”
Here, he pointed out the basic path of Chinese architectural history research, that is, "structural technology + environmental thinking".
He explained the study of the structure of the ancestors: "The ancient political canonical system, to the prosperity of Confucianism, especially the emphasis on etiquette. Therefore, the buildings contained in the biographies of the Pre-Qin and Western Han Dynasties were heavily assigned to their name orientation, and the layout was regulated, and the structure of the hall was rarely involved. Later, the architecture is found in historical records, mostly in the Five Elements And Liturgical Chronicles. The temple view of the Jigongyuan temple also details its plan layout system, while the shape and structure of its façade are omitted. Therefore, he locked in the "Construction of the French Style" with structural technology as the main content, because he could not interpret this book, and he could not open the door of Luban.
The world didn't have much time left for him. From the time he joined the China Construction Society in 1931 to the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937, he had only six years to do fieldwork.
After the "July 7 Incident", he and Lin Hui fled to Kunming and both fell ill. At the beginning of his recovery, he and Liu Dunzhen led a team to do fieldwork in the Chuankang area from September 1939 to February 1940. Since then, the work of the society has faced many difficulties, and the fieldwork has to be stopped.
In 1966, Liang Sicheng completed the annotation of "Constructing the French Style"
In a limited period of time, he harvested important fieldwork results such as the East Hall of the Foguang Temple in the Tang Dynasty and the discovery of the Zhaozhou Bridge in the Sui Dynasty, interpreted the Song "Building The French Style" "Material as the Ancestor" system, the Qing "Engineering Practice" Doukou Modulus System, understood the "grammar" of Chinese architecture, pointed out the consistency of classical architecture in the East and the West in modular design, and wrote the "History of Chinese Architecture", which can be described as a brilliant achievement. But he wasn't content with that. After summarizing the structural techniques of Chinese architecture, he is also eager to further explore the environmental ideas of Chinese architecture. He believes that "politics, patriarchy, customs, etiquette, Buddhism, feng shui and other Chinese ideological spirits are pinned on the architectural plane... Distribution, especially deeper than the factors that make up other units also".
He cited four aspects that need attention in the study of Chinese architectural environment thought: first, the concept of not seeking the survival of the original; second, the construction activity is sanctioned by moral views; third, the planning of emphasis on deployment; and fourth, the master and apprentice of architecture, not books. He has decided to explore this area further. However, after the critique of architectural thought in 1955, his academic space was rapidly reduced, and related research was no longer sustainable. However, the research system of Chinese architectural history of "structural technology + environmental thinking" that he constructed opened the way for future generations of scholars.
Today, with generations of scholars coming forward and back, research in related fields continues to deepen, and a large number of achievements have emerged. We can already see that modular design penetrates the structural technology and environmental thinking of ancient Chinese architecture, which can be proved by many classic cases since the Neolithic Era, which is the essence of ancient Chinese architecture and spatial design. Liang Sicheng's exposition on the idea of The Chinese built environment has its own distinct spiritual orientation, which cannot be defined by the narrow "mechanical materialism" of later generations; the broad vision shown by the research system of Chinese architectural history that he constructed is by no means hidden by the "structural rationalism" concept of "structural rationalism" in which later generations of commentators see only trees and do not see forests.
Liang Sicheng's bumpy fate in the study of Chinese architectural history has reminded us again and again that if we want to know Chinese architecture, we must calm down, have a sympathetic understanding, seek truth from facts, do not mix any attempt to sell fame and reputation, and do not do any extreme reputation, starting from reading Liang Sicheng.
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