Abstract:Liang Sicheng’s 1950s publications are full of political slogans like bourgeois idealism, revivalism, and “against waste in building” which were effective phrases used in political campaigning back then. Seen against the background of the time, it is unfortunate but hardly surprising that his writings seemingly fail to address architectural design issues like “order” (xingfan), “standard” (fashi), and “ practice” (zuofa). Without doubt, Liang advocated the inheritance and development of the modular design method of traditional Chinese architecture, as recorded in the two historical texts of Yingzao fashi (Building standards) from the Song and Gongcheng zuofa (Engineering manual) from the Qing, to create a new and modernist style of Chinese architecture. But without adapting his writing style to the Communist Party doctrine, this was an intellectually challenging and almost impossible endeavor in 1955.
