Architectural production of Shanghai in modern times

Abstract

The research was mainly focused on Shanghai’s architectural production in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, Shanghai was once called “the Paris of the East” and “the New York of the West”, which is easy to take credit for foreign architects who came to Shanghai with the colonists, and the first generation of foreign-trained Chinese architects. However, there is little discussion of how the political and economic climate affected architectural production, especially the interaction between international and local factors. Through the exploration of the historical materials and using qualitative and quantitative analytical methods, the paper would examine how international and local political-economic actors synergistically produced the architecture and urban landscape at that time, as well as how they stimulated the boom of the Shanghai construction industry and real estate appreciation. This study also has significant implications for reflection on the contemporary transnational architecture and urbanism of Shanghai.