The Tang architectural icon and the politics of Chinese architectural history.(Critical Essay)

From: The Art Bulletin | Date: June 1, 2004| Author: Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman | Copyright information

The discovery in June 1937 of a wooden building, the east hall of Foguang Monastery, reliably dated to the year 857 by two inscriptions, one on the building itself and the other on a small, octagonal, commemorative pillar with Buddhist imagery, was unquestionably the crowning moment in the modern search for China's ancient architecture (Fig. 1). It was made by China's premier architect and architectural historian, Liang Sicheng (1901-1972), his wife and research partner, Lin Huiyin...