In the afternoon of May 20, "100 Years of Architecture, 100 Years of Hujiang" Architectural Aesthetics Forum was held in the Music Hall of the historical building on the campus of USST. The forum was co-organized by the Shanghai Society of Aesthetics, the International Affairs Office and the School of Environment and Architecture of USST, and co-organized by Shanghai Jue Mu Decorative Design and Engineering Co. The forum aimed to deepen the understanding, appreciation, interpretation and dissemination of the beauty of USST's historical architecture, to promote academic research on architectural aesthetics, and to further expand the interdisciplinary scope and practical dimension of aesthetic theory and research. More than 30 experts and scholars from Tongji University, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai Business School, Shanghai Normal University, East China Normal University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and other units attended the forum. Some USST teachers and students observed the forum.
Xu Lin, Deputy Director of the USST International Affairs Office, presided over the opening ceremony. Huang Yuandong, Dean of School of Environment and Architecture of USST, delivered a welcome speech. Professor Qi Zhixiang, President of the Shanghai Society of Aesthetics and Professor of the Institute of Humanities and Arts of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, delivered the opening speech. They reviewed the aesthetic characteristics, humanistic values and the red genes of the university's 100-year history of architecture, and looked forward to strengthening cooperation between the two sides to explore the inner meaning of architectural aesthetics and promote the development of architectural aesthetics. As the "closed disciple" of Mr. Xu Zhongyu, President Qi Zhixiang also introduced the origin of Mr. Xu Zhongyu and Hujiang University, and presented a special edition of "Biography of Mr. Xu Zhongyu" compiled by himself to USST as a souvenir. Xu Lin accepted the book on behalf of the university.
Huang Yuandong's speech
Speech by Qi Zhixiang
Book Presentation Ceremony
The forum was divided into two sessions, chaired by Mr. Zhao Jianfeng, Chairman and General Manager of Shanghai Juewu Decoration and Design Engineering Co., Ltd. and Professor Zou Qichang, Director of the Design Aesthetics Committee of the Shanghai Society of Aesthetics and School of Creative Design of Tongji University. Six scholars made keynote speeches on topics such as architectural design, aesthetic integration and cultural inheritance.
Professor Huang Song, Director of Cultural Industry Research Center of Tongji University, g**e a speech entitled "Aesthetic Search of University Campuses in China and the United States". Professor Huang Song firstly made a comparative historical review of the evolution of university campuses in China and the United States, and analyzed the concept of architectural aesthetics in six dimensions: ontology, epistemology, methodology, values, science and technology museum, and development concept. He summarized the characteristics of Chinese and American university campuses from three aspects: spatial form at the level of overall planning, stylistic features at the level of individual buildings, and cultural implications at the level of landscape vignettes. Based on the accelerated increase of information content in architecture, it is necessary to reconstruct the hierarchical and dynamic value system studied by architectural aesthetics from a higher latitude. Although there are differences between Chinese and American university campuses, there is a more fundamental isomorphic relationship at the level of architectural aesthetics, and only by finding this relationship can we truly realize the so-called " Appreciate the value of each other, and the world will become a harmonious whole".
Mr. Xiao Kexiao, a famous hotel sleep tester and author of the best-selling book "The Bund Hotel", g**e a speech on the theme of "Talking about Murphy, the architect of Hujiang University, from the beauty of the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures", introducing in detail the origin, representative works and influence of Henry Murphy on the architectural design of Hujiang University and Chinese university campuses during the period of the Republic of China. He also summarized Murphy's success in fusing East and West from both the perspective of conformity to the times and personal professionalism. Mr. Li Lin, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Jue Mu Decoration & Design Co., Ltd. talked about the inspiration of the USST historical for today's public decoration design from three aspects: integration thinking, material borrowing, and the rationality of space layout.
Huang Song g**e a keynote report
Associate Professor Kong Na, Director of USST Archives, g**e a speech on the theme of "Multiple Narratives of University Historical Buildings", introducing in detail three distinctive features of USST, namely the layout and planning style of the American university campus, the Gothic architecture of the college, and the cultural heritage of the century-old university. Associate Professor Li Wenjia, head of the Department of Environmental Design of USST, g**e a speech on "Cultural Memory and Spirit of Place", Through the two concepts of "spirit of place" and "cultural memory" of the USST campus, he proposed the proper meaning and focus of the campus environment construction for universities. Sun Bing, a young teacher from the School of Environment and Architecture of USST, g**e a speech entitled "Preservation of Historical Buildings of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology", introducing the many initiatives of the university for the preservation and development of USST historical buildings.
Kong Na g**e a keynote speech
The expert's speech unveiled the veil of the designers of historical buildings at Hujiang University, and provided a lot of historical information that had never been covered before, which aroused the great interest of the audience. In the interactive session, students asked questions enthusiastically, and Huang Song, Xiao Kexiao and Kong Na in turn g**e the answers.
The closing ceremony of the forum was hosted by Prof. Zhang Yonglu, Secretary General of the Shanghai Society of Aesthetics and Professor of the Chinese Department of Shanghai University. President Qi Zhixiang summarized the forum. He quoted the famous line from the Book of Psalms, "Invest in a papaya, you will be rewarded with Qiongyao", which summarized and compared the effect of the keynote speeches made by experts from both inside and outside the university on the beauty of the historical architecture of Hujiang University.
After the forum, the experts and scholars wandered around the beautiful main campus of USST and enjoyed the unique beauty of the 100-year old historical architecture of Hujiang university.
Group photo
【Related】
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, located on the shore of the Huang Pu River, is a beautiful university with a hundred-year historical heritage, rich cultural heritage and distinctive red genes. Its predecessor is Hujiang University, which was founded in 1906. The main campus building was designed and built by Henry Murphy, an American architect who was the chief advisor of urban planning in the capital city during the Republic of China, and who designed the campuses of Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Jinling Women's Normal University, and who is known as "the architect who reshaped the university campus in the Republic of China". While Murphy's Chinese university campuses were characterized by "adaptive architecture" that combined East and West and the exchange of civilizations, the architecture of Hujiang University imitated the architectural style of American university campuses, mainly in Gothic style, in an attempt to cater to the Westernized mentality of modern Shanghai from the government to the people. The name "Hujiang University" was chosen for its location at the entrance of the Huangpu River, with the intention of making the university a model with an international perspective.
In the early days of the university, not only did Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi came here to preach the new culture, but Sun Yat-sen and others also sowed the seeds of revolution here, and after patriot Liu Zhanen became the first Chinese president in 1928, the university developed into a cradle of anti-Japanese and patriotic progressive intellectuals. Mr. Xu Zhongyu, a democrat and a famous literary theorist, was employed as a professor at Hujiang University from August 1948, and co-organized with Yao Xueyin the weekly newspaper Report, criticizing the evils of the times and continuing the red gene of Hujiang University. After the founding of New China, Hujiang University changed its name to Shanghai Institute of Machinery Engineering and later University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and became the "Huangpu Military Academy" of China's manufacturing industry. In 2019, these 36 historic buildings, the largest group of outstanding historic buildings in Shanghai, were announced by the State Council as "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units ", enjoying the same level of protection as the Forbidden City.
