From South China to the Global South: tropical architecture in China during the Cold War

Abstract

In the early 1960s, Architectural Journal [建筑学报], one of China’s most respected architectural periodicals, shifted its focus from Soviet and Western architecture to tropical architecture in the Global South. Based on their similar encounters in history, China and other countries in the Global South have formed mutually supportive relationships. Taking the above-mentioned shift in Chinese architectural research as a starting point, this article uses publications from Architectural Journal and related books between the 1960s and the 80s as a clue to illustrate the trajectory of China’s early tropical technoscientific network during the Cold War. By analysing relevant projects in China’s southern regions and the Global South countries, the authors depict the production and exchange of tropical knowledge between domestic and international architectural development. The authors argue that, in the process of the country’s engagement with tropical countries via architecture during Mao’s era, China has exported its indigenous low-tech, low-cost, and rapid construction methods to the tropical regions while absorbed knowledge related to tropical architecture to promote climate-responsive design and domestic architectural development.