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September 26, 2024

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Exhibition charts design development 
in New China

By Wu Huixin | 00:31 UTC+8 September 26, 2024 | Print Edition

“Design for New China: The History of Design in the Early Years of the People’s Republic of China” is shown at the China Design Museum through November 15.

The exhibition has about 500 pieces, including manuscripts, models and archives, as well as paintings on loan from 40 art organizations, universities, institutes and museums. Together these show the development of design and aesthetics during the early years after the New China was founded.

At the exhibition, visitors could view many “firsts” from the 1950s and 1960s, for instance, the first set of national gifts, the manuscripts of the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the national flag and emblem and the products of early industrialization and structures built in that era.

Organizers hope to present the diversity of design in New China and the vitality of China’s modernization process and art development half a century ago. The exhibits are divided into five sections, namely national and people’s image, industrialization, city and urban space, social life and daily perception and designing education and improvement.

When Chinese artists were designing national gifts in the 1950s, Chang Shana, a renowned Dunhuang artist, made a set of cloisonné peace dove plates integrating patterns from Dunhuang frescos and daily chinaware.

Cloisonné is a form of decorative enamelwork where intricate designs created with copper, silver or fine gold wires on metal vessels are either filled with powdered, colored enamel or painted on with enamel before being fired in a kiln.

Chang lived in Dunhuang with her father for over 10 years. As a professional researching Dunhuang culture, she combined traditional heritage with modernity and blended arts with utility.

Visitors can view rare manuscripts from Tsinghua University, which record the original design of the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square.

The architect Liang Sicheng designed the 10-story obelisk, with some elements designed by his wife Lin Huiyin. It was built to commemorate the martyrs in wars during the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, it symbolizes the Chinese people’s bravery and persistence in wartime.

Ten architectural models of pre-eminent buildings show how Chinese architects explored their own styles and learned from Western experience in the 1950s.

Wenyuan Building at Tongji University, designed by Huang Yulin and Ha Xiongwen, features Bauhaus Dessau elements and pragmaticism. The cube-like combination shapes are flexibly arranged to form different functional areas. In history, this building is considered the practice of modernism in the Chinese architectural realm.

Shunde People’s Grand Hall is the largest span concrete thin-shell-structure building in New China. Due to the lack of scarce construction materials, the Chinese designers Luo Mingyu and Kuang Zhengwen used fir and bamboo to complete the scaffolding and formwork, a pioneering trial in modern China.

When New China was founded, the Chinese characters were printed in unfixed forms, which impacted the printing quality and the promotion of literacy. In 1959, the Shanghai Institute of Printing Technology established an office for movable type font design. The fonts of Song II and Hei II have made great contributions to the popularization of simplified characters and the standardization of written language.

In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, the women’s movement entered a new stage, which triggered a trend of neutralization of women’s wear. The Lenin coat, a popular men’s garment at first, evolved into a style for both men and women from the 1950s and 1960s. It symbolized gender equality in New China.

The China Design Museum opened in 2018 inside the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. The museum was built and founded at a time when China started to realize the significance of design and more Chinese manufacturers were seeking an upgrade from “Made in China” to “Created in China.”

Thus far, it has collected thousands of pieces of Bauhaus and Bauhaus-related modern design, several menswear items by Italian clothing designer Massimo Osti and over 100 pieces of Western modern design.

How to get there:

Tickets can be conveniently purchased through the 12306 app or at train stations. Upon arriving at Hangzhou, board Line 6 at Hangzhou East Railway Station and alight at Xiangshan Campus Station.

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