When Liang Sicheng's name is mentioned, he has many well-known labels, such as Liang Qichao's eldest son, a scholar, a talented woman Lin Huiyin's husband, a designer of the national emblem, the father of modern Chinese architecture, and so on. Since 1937, the couple has traveled to more than 200 counties in 15 provinces in China, surveying and photographing thousands of ancient architectural relics preserved by the Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. When the Allies attacked Japan, Liang Sicheng proposed to protect Kyoto and Nara, and in the War of Liberation, architectural relics were marked on the battle map, requesting the protection of the ancient city of Beijing, and even had fierce arguments with relevant leading experts for the ancient buildings and city walls of Beijing.
Such an outstanding architect and scholar has made great contributions to the study of the history of Chinese architecture, and at the same time, he has also shown helplessness and compromise in the contradictions and dilemmas in his personal and political life, such as the book "History of Chinese Architecture", which promotes the foundation of Chinese architecture from ignorance to modern disciplines. Throughout the book, even an architectural layman will be amazed by the abundance of precious historical materials and hand-drawn drawings.
Liang Sicheng restores the original appearance and details of traditional Chinese architecture according to the historical development dynasties through fine drawings, so that readers can more intuitively feel the charm of traditional Chinese architecture.
In the article "Why Study Chinese Architecture", we can see that Liang Sicheng attaches great importance to the artistic accomplishment of modern architects, which traditionally destroys more and protects less, and traditional scholars also despise the craftsmanship of craftsmen, and explores the grammar of Chinese architecture, so as to reform and innovate and carry forward the national architectural skills, so that the architecture meets the needs of the city and the society of the times, which not only requires personal enthusiasm, but also needs to learn to collect information and cultivate aesthetics. This is the greatest significance of studying Chinese architecture. ”
As he wrote to the first graduating class of Northeastern University:
What is your business? Your business is the business of architects. What is the profession of an architect, directly speaking, is the creation of buildings, to solve the problem of living in the three categories of clothing, food and housing for the society, and indirectly, it is the recorder of culture and the mirror of history. So your problems are very difficult, and your responsibilities are very heavy.
In the eyes of Liang Sicheng, who has received academic education and studied "Constructing the French Style", Chinese architecture has a distinctive characteristic, that is, the character of the nation. The unique timber system, such as the "frame system" of the "beam-and-column building", "bucket arch", etc., many of the seemingly professional words, Mr. explained in concise words, most of the name drawings, both cross-section, and three-dimensional drawings, Chinese and English annotations, clear and clear. Friends who play Lego puzzles will be surprised to see that they are more detailed than the manual.