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ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on the emergence of China’s workers’ villages, and their changes over time in the 1950s in terms of residential planning and housing design characteristics. The new socialist regime realized in the 1950s numerous workers’ villages around China. Along with the fluctuant Soviet impact and China’s domestic realities, workers’ villages built in different phases during this decade show diverse features in their plans and styles. In this article, the characteristics are analysed by selecting typical cases in each phase. The findings show the workers’ village in early New China was driven mainly by triple reason: realistic demand, political commitment, and ideological instruction. In the first years, before the design and construction were Sovietized, the neighbourhoods were realized by following a western way. Since 1952, Soviet models were applied in China’s workers’ villages. But quite rapidly Chinese architects nationalized the Soviet prototype. From the mid-1950s, workers’ neighbourhoods were gradually simplified due to political and economic policy adjustment. By analysing the evolution of worker villages impacted by multiple factors, this article sheds lights on China’s socialist architectural discourse and supplements the existing scholarship on the transnational socialist architecture.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Yang, “History, Identity and Space: Three Dimensions of the Research on Workers’ Villages,” 10; Qi, Space, Place and Identity – Chinese Workers’ Villages in 1950s and 1960s.
2 Heavy industry corresponds to light industry. The department that provides means of production is called heavy industry, and the department that produces consumption goods is called light industry. Heavy industry in China includes iron and steel industry, metallurgical industry, machinery, energy (electricity, petroleum, coal, natural gas, etc.), chemistry, and other industries.
3 Everyday socialist architecture, as a type of socialist architecture, refers to the ordinary socialist buildings widely used during people’s daily life. Unlike the grandiose or monumental constructions, everyday socialist architecture is more accessible to ordinary people and presents a more restrained socialist feature.
4 Dluhosch and Rostislav (edited), Karel Teige, 1900–1951: L’Enfant Terrible of the Czech Modernist Avant-Garde.
5 Humphrey, ‘Ideology in Infrastructure’.
6 Shin and Jung, ‘Appropriating the Socialist Way of Life’; Kim and Jung, ‘The planning of microdistricts in post-war North Korea: space, power, and everyday life’.
7 Sendi and Kerbler, ‘The Evolution of Multifamily Housing’.
8 Zarecor, Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity. 5.
9 May, ‘Planned City Stalinstadt’.
10 Yang, From model community to monumental site – A workers’ village through history, 33–34.
11 Zhao, Socio-spatial transformation in Mao’s China: settlement planning and dwelling architecture revisited (1950s–1970s).
12 Wang, “The Rise of Urban Multiunit Housing in China: Standard Design under the Influence of the Soviet Union, 1949–1957”. 97–101.
13 Bray, Social space and governce in urban China: the danwei system from origins to reform; Lu, Danwei and socialist urbanism. 348–66.
14 Ji, Building under the planned economy: a history of China’s architecture and construction, 1949–1956. 256–86.
15 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited). Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000. 105–8.
16 Lu, ‘Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity and Space, 1949–2005’. 82–83.
17 “Turn consumption cities into production cities”, People’s Daily [17 March 1949]; “Implement the policy of building key cities”, People’s Daily [11 August 1954]. Established on 15 June 1948, People’s Daily is the largest newspaper in China, and also the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
18 Hua, Reconstruction of China – Thirty Years of Urban Design (1949–1979). 150; Lu, ‘Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity and Space, 1949–2005’. 84.
19 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited), Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000. 105–8.
20 Hou, Building for Oil. 69–70.
21 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited), Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000.124–5.
22 Qian (translated), Rational use of standard design of residential building. 1; Korerikov, Charles Mann and Griberg (edited). Standard design of 2–5 story housings. 2.
23 Szelenyi, Urban Social Inequalities Under State Socialism.
24 Mao, Z., Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 6.
25 Like the grain rationing system, housing was also distributed by the state (governments or public agencies) in urban domain under the planned economy system. Housing was regarded as the most important living material.
26 Zhou, ‘The State and Life Chances in Urban China: Redistribution and Stratification, 1949–1994’.
27 Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee, ‘Highlights of the decision of the expanded meeting of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee.’
28 “Implement the policy of building key cities”, People’s Daily [11 August 1954].
29 Yang, Spatial practice of socialist city – Worker’s new village in Shanghai (1949–1978), 37
30 Design Department of Central Ministry of Heavy Industry, General Plan Design of Industrial Enterprises and Workers’ Residential Areas, 36.
31 Yang, From model community to monumental site – A workers’ village through history. 33–34.
32 Tan et al., ‘Third Front’ Construction in China’; Lu, D, “Danwei and Socialist Urbanism”, 348–66.
33 Morris-Suzuki, ‘Beyond Utopia’.
34 Yang, ‘Spatial practice of socialist city – Worker’s new village in Shanghai (1949–1978)’. 37.
35 Ding, The new estate for workers: “Happy life forever”.
36 Liang, From village for commoners to workers’ new village: The continual civilizing mission of Shanghai’s public housing, 1927–1951. 30–35.
37 Yang, From model community to monumental site – a workers’ village through history.
38 Wang, “Discussion on the Planning Design Form of Residential Areas”. 51–57.
39 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited). Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000.
40 Wang, “The planning design of Shanghai Caoyang New Village residential area”. 2.
41 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited). Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000.
42 Ji, “The Incursion of Soviet Socialist Realism and its Influence on Chinese Architecture in the 1950s”. 99–109.
43 Module refers to one-household living space. In China, it is called as Hu户. For a normal apartment in China’s workers’ villages, it can be composed of 2-6 units. On each floor of one unit, there could be 2–4 modules.
44 Wang, “The Rise of Urban Multiunit Housing in China: Standard Design under the Influence of the Soviet Union, 1949-1957”, 97–101.
45 Qian (translated), Rational use of standard design of residential building. 1; Korerikov, Charles Mann and Griberg (edited). Standard design of 2-5 story housings. 2.
46 Bray, “From Danwei to Xiaoqu: The Spatialization of Government”. 140–55.
47 Ibid.
48 Li, “The design method of industrial housing in Soviet Union”. 62
49 Wei, “Study of industrial technology of the industrial residential design standard transfer from the Soviet Union to China combined with the first automobile and the first tractor manufacturing”.
50 Wang, “The Rise of Urban Multiunit Housing in China: Standard Design under the Influence of the Soviet Union, 1949-1957”, 97–101.
51 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited). Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000. 128.
52 Wei, “Study of industrial technology of the industrial residential design standard transfer from the Soviet Union to China combined with the first automobile and the first tractor manufacturing”.
53 US$1 equals RMB¥ 2.227 according to the 1952 exchange rate.
54 There is no evidence recording the name of the planners or architects. We are prone to believe the prototype of the planning and housing design of this village came from the Soviet Union. Soviet experts, possibly by cooperating with local architects, appropriated a few Chinese decorations on the façade.
55 “The development brings new happiness: The government is housing for workers”, Shenyang Daily [7 September 1952].
56 Liu, The changes of workers village – The history of workers village’s changes for 60 years in Tiexi district.
57 After adopting Big Block theory to plan its urban neighbourhoods, Micro-district (Mikrorayon in Russian) theory was later transplanted to China. Generally, Micro-district theory was seen as a developed Big Block planning theory to deal with huge residential areas. Except this, the difference was not obvious between these two theories.
58 Wei, “Study of industrial technology of the industrial residential design standard transfer from the Soviet Union to China combined with the first automobile and the first tractor manufacturing”.
59 Hubei Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, “Fifty Years of National Building Standard Design”.
60 Design Department of Central Ministry of Heavy Industry, General Plan Design of Industrial Enterprises and Workers’ Residential Areas, 36.
61 Lv, Rowe and Zhang (edited). Modern Urban Housing in China 1984–2000; Hua, Reconstruction of China – Thirty Years of Urban Design (1949–1979).
62 Liang Sicheng (梁思成, 1901–1972) was a Chinese architect and architectural historian, known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. Acting as vice-chairman of Beijing Urban Planning Committee in the 1950s, Liang was one of the strongest supporters of Soviet Socialist Realism. He believed China should develop its own architectural style in the name of Socialist Realism.
63 Ji, “The Incursion of Soviet Socialist Realism and its Influence on Chinese Architecture in the 1950s”.101.
64 Ibid.
65 Wei, “Study of industrial technology of the industrial residential design standard transfer from the Soviet Union to China combined with the first automobile and the first tractor manufacturing”.
66 FAW Edition Committee, FAW Chronicle Records 1950–1986 (Volume 1).1–114.
67 Hua, Reconstruction of China – Thirty Years of Urban Design (1949–1979). 143–4.
68 Tong. Soviet Architecture – with a discussion on modern architecture in East Europe. 24–47.
69 Khrushchyovka (Khrushchev apartment) is a low-cost, three- to five-storey box-type or masonry structure apartment. It was built in large quantities in the Soviet Union during the Nikita Khrushchev administration in the 1960s and was named after him. Now they are gradually being eliminated, but they are very common in former Soviet republics such as Russia and Ukraine. They are also imitated in socialist countries such as Yugoslavia, the People’s Republic of China, and North Korea.
70 Choate. From “Stalinkas” to “Khrushchevkas”: The transition to minimalism in urban residential interiors in the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964.
71 Ji, “Discussion on the Layout Plan of Residential Buildings”, 103–7; Wang Hua, “Discussion on the Planning Design Form of Residential Areas”, 51–57.
72 Bray, “From Danwei to Xiaoqu: The Spatialization of Government”. 144.
73 Ibid.
74 In early 1958, Great Leap Forward (大跃进) embarked for three-year’s intensive efforts and urgent works in agriculture and industrial production. During this period, industrial production was prioritized unrealistically, accompanying with the dramatical shrinking in all life consumption areas. The people’s commune (人民公社) was set as a combined institution with governmental, political, and economic functions. The people’s commune was commonly known for collectivizing living and working practices, especially during the Great Leap Forward.
75 Zhang, “Re-uncovering the collectivism in Mao’s China, 1950s–1970s: The workers’ villages in Northeast China”, 131–44; Tan, “Retrospect of the built environment and space will in Chinese collective forms”, 12–16; Jacoby, Sam, “Urban Design and Spatialised Governmentality: Collective Forms in China”, 3–15; Jacoby, Sam, and Jingru (Cyan) Cheng, “Collective Forms in China: An Architectural Analysis of the People’s Commune, Danwei, and Xiaoqu”, 17–69.
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Notes on contributors
Yiping Zhang
Yiping Zhang is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Architecture, KU Leuven. His PhD project is on the collective spaces in workers’ villages in post-industrial Northeast China from a socio-spatial perspective. His research interest mainly lies in urban history, industrial heritage, collective space, and community regeneration.
Yves Schoonjans
Yves Schoonjans is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, KU Leuven. His research is structured in two lines (1) Practices and discourses in a recent and contemporary context – relation between theory and practices; and (2) Everyday local identity, appropriation and urban development.
Gisèle Gantois
Gisèle Gantois is Professor in Architecture and Development of Community Heritage at KU Leuven and an architect who specializes in the restoration and adaptive use of built heritage. Since 2020 she has been teaching at the post-master at Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC) at KU Leuven in Belgium.