Design as Communication

This book explores the architectural history of Christian universities in China, revealing how quasi‑colonial power interaction and cross‑cultural communication of meaning were channelled through religious and educational architecture in modern China.

The Christian universities in China witnessed an experimental representation of Chinese architectural identity, as the country – subject to an informal version of colonialism – struggled to become a modern nation‑state and to rethink its identity. This book offers new knowledge to the prospering postcolonial studies of the architectural history of Asian countries, deepening our understanding of the scope and content of the nuanced colonial encounters between the East and the West, and the relationship between architecture and power. Borrowing ideas from architectural semiotics, this book explores how architectural meaning has been interpreted and sometimes modified by its audience(s), whose voice has been largely ignored in traditional architectural historical studies. It provides a unique scope to further understand the communicative function of architecture, throwing light upon the broader socio‑cultural dialogue between China and the Western world in the twentieth century.

Design as Communication will be an enriching reference for those interested in the architectural dialogue between China and the West, architecture and postcolonialism and the localisation of Christianity in the world.