Author:
Hou Yanan, Master's degree student in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kunming University of Science and Technology;
Yang Yi, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kunming University of Science and Technology;
Zeng Qiaoqiao (corresponding author), lecturer in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kunming University of Science and Technology.
This article is excerpted from "Research on the Inland Relocation Construction Industry in Modern Kunming - On the Impact of Huagai, Xingye and Jitai Architectural Firms on Modern Kunming Urban Construction". The original article was published in the August 2021 issue of "Architect" magazine, total number 212 P112-119. The headline version has omitted all comments, image sources, references and other information in the article. The official version shall prevail.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, many construction factories and construction groups moved inward, joining the wave of Kunming's urban construction, bringing huge changes to the construction of modern cities in Kunming. With the formulation of the "Greater Kunming Plan" blueprint and the completion of various types of public buildings, they not only bring advanced construction experience and modern architectural thoughts from coastal port cities such as Shanghai to Kunming, but also promote the vigorous development of Kunming's local construction and construction industry. This paper collects and organizes historical materials related to the construction industry, key cases, and related groups, to sort out the development of the construction industry in Kunming during the war, and strives to show the impact of the practices of the three major offices of Huagai, Xingye and Jitai on modern Kunming urban construction activities, in order to expand the architectural research in the "Anti-Japanese War" period of Kunming.
Catalog overview
- 1. Wartime urban planning sketch—preface to the climax of construction
- 2. Wartime construction industry management—prelude the climax of construction
- 3. Wartime internal migration factory—start the climax of construction
- 4. Wartime architecture firm and its practice—presentation of the climax of construction
- 5. Conclusion
Kunming was forced to open a port in 1905, and the "Dian-Vietnam-Vietnam Railway" was completed and opened to traffic in 1910. On the one hand, it opened up the "building corridor" between Kunming and Vietnam. New materials such as steel bars and concrete were quickly imported into Kunming, which promoted the beginning of modern Yunnan's construction and construction industry; on the other hand, "All production factors, including capital, labor, and technology are concentrated in Kunming first", which laid the important position of Yunnan in the construction industry in the southwest region. In 1927, the National Government established its capital in Nanjing, and in 1928, the Municipal Organization Law was promulgated and implemented. According to this regulation, Kunming formally established and established a municipal government, opening the prelude to the most important stage of Kunming's modern architectural development.
In the early 1930s, a "French style" craze was set off among large public buildings (such as Kunming Ganmei Hospital, whose street facade is an outer corridor-style continuous arch with rich details). The small buildings on both sides of Kunming's main city street are mostly "one seal" traditional houses and two to three-story brick and wood structure shops. Various architectural styles are mixed, presenting a city style of diverse cultures gathered and integrated. After the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, as the strategic positions moved to the southwest, schools, factories and many cultural groups in the mainland also moved to Kunming. During this period, the architectural thought of "the inherent form of China" gradually faded, and "modernist" style buildings sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Many architectural firms and individual architects set up offices in Kunming to meet the large-scale construction needs of relocated banks, enterprises and local Kunming municipal agencies. The Construction Society also established a Southwest Branch, and conducted field surveys of ancient buildings in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places. Finally, in August 29 of the Republic of China (1940), the "Yunnan Ancient Architecture Survey Record" was completed and submitted to the Yunnan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. In short, Kunming during the war not only became an important strategic position in the rear of the Anti-Japanese War, but also kicked off the prelude to Kunming's "modernist architecture". Various architectural ideas collided here, leaving a brilliant mark in the modern urban history of Kunming.
▲Ganmei Hospital
If it was said that from the establishment of Nanjing in 1927 to the fall of Nanjing in 1937 it was a golden decade of modern architecture, then from 1937 to 1947, it can be called the "ten-year development climax" of modern architecture in Kunming.In contrast, the research on the history of modern Chinese architecture is mostly concentrated in central cities such as Nanjing and Shanghai during the Republic of China, and the research content is mostly architects, firms or urban planning fields. There are few results in studying modern architecture history in the southwest region with the construction industry as the starting point. Therefore, this study attempts to make up for this shortcoming by sorting out the development of Kunming's construction industry in modern times, in order to provide clues for the research on "wartime architecture" in Kunming area.
1. Wartime urban planning sketch—preface to the climax of construction
In the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931), the Kunming Municipal Government formulated the "New Market Development Plan" to carry out street market transformation. "Demolish old houses along the streets of Zhengyi Road, Jinbi Road, Weiyuan Street, Xiaoximen, Dongsi Street and Daguan Street", builds new shops on both sides of Nanping Street, and then expands the arcade-style shops on both sides of Jinbi Street. These streets and alleys became urban commercial centers after their appearances were completely renewed, which also laid the geographical location selection for a large number of financial buildings such as banks and office buildings designed by Huagai Office during the Anti-Japanese War. With the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Kunming's strategic position in the southwest region gradually improved. In addition, the relocation of institutions and enterprises along the coast and mainland China, the gathering of talents brought advanced urban planning ideas on the one hand, and the excessive population made Kunming's central urban area crowded. The larger demand for urban development forced the Kunming Municipal Bureau of Industry to carry out reasonable urban planning.
1939, the first urban planning blueprint in Kunming's history was born. Ding Ji, then director of the Kunming Bureau of Engineering, proposed the idea in 1936 and handed it over to technician Shen Changtai to write and draw it. The picture is called the "Greater Kunming City Planning Map". This planning map played an extremely important role in the urban construction in Kunming during the war. The entire concept of the "Greater Kunming Plan" is centered on Dianchi Lake. The second one proposes "connecting the Dianchi Lake-around Road to the counties and districts around the lake" to improve the urban road network system. The two north-south short streets opened during the War of Resistance Against Japan - "Xinxiangyun Street" and "Xiaodong Street" were formed based on this. The development of Xiaodong Street adopts the development model of the value of the old houses to make up for the rent, making Xiaodong Street bring together various snacks, restaurants, cafes, and shoe and hat department stores in a short period of time, which is very prosperous. Later, Nanping Theater, a famous building designed by Huagai Office, was also located here. After the completion of this first professional modern theater in Kunming, it attracted a large number of citizens to watch the movies, from officers and merchants to ordinary people, all gathered.
1942, under the tenure of Tang Ying, director of the Municipal Bureau of Engineering, he proposed the "Kunming Construction Plan Outline" based on the "Greater Kunming City Planning", and made preliminary functional zoning and urban road planning for the city center of Kunming. It is worth mentioning that Ding Kishi and Tang Ying both went abroad to study in their early years, while Europe has rich experience in "construction planning" since the Middle Ages. After returning to China, both of them worked at Tongji University (including Mr. Ding Jishi teaches the "urban design" course and Mr. Tang Ying teaches the "housing architecture" course). They not only introduced advanced foreign planning ideas into the domestic education system, but also combined it with Kunming's local landscape at the beginning of Kunming's urban planning. This can be said to be a pioneering move in the modern urban planning process. In addition, Shen Changtai, who was the position of "Ji Zheng" of the Municipal Bureau of Industry at the time, was from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He also studied in Europe. After moving to Kunming, he also presided over the Bogeng Office and had a good relationship with Du Yangeng, who also worked in the Bureau of Industry. Du Yangeng's father opened a construction factory in Shanghai in his early years. He was influenced by his family since childhood and came into contact with architecture. In 1931, he organized and established the Shanghai Architecture Association and served as the executive committee member. He is also the editor-in-chief of the "Architecture Monthly" magazine published by the association. The Shanghai Construction Association is an extremely important construction industry group in modern times, and "Architecture Monthly" is a mainstream journal in modern construction industry. Du Yangeng is undoubtedly a pioneer in modern construction industry. It is precisely based on the talent input such as Du Yangeng and Ding Jishi that the draft of the "Greater Kunming Plan" was initially described, and the preliminaries were prepared for the upcoming climax of construction.
2. Wartime construction industry management - the foundation for the construction climax
The development of the construction industry is closely related to the effective management of the construction factory. Therefore, the research on the construction industry should involve the development process of the legalization of the construction industry in modern times. These regulations control various construction activities in the construction industry to a certain extent, and determine the division of labor between the architect and the construction factory. Therefore, the author starts with relevant laws and regulations on the registration and management of construction factories and construction technicians, and discusses the institutional development of wartime construction industry.
1. Management of the construction industry: In February 28, the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939), the Yunnan Provincial Government copied and implemented the "Regulations on the Management and Construction Industry" in accordance with the training order of the Kuomintang Ministry of the Interior. Article 2 of this rule gives a specific definition of "construction industry": specifically refers to construction factories, construction companies and other similar manufacturers that operate construction and civil engineering. At the same time, each construction factory must be registered and registered in accordance with the law, including the address, manager or factory owner's name, chief technician, capital amount, internal composition, business scope and other information. In addition, the construction factory is divided into four levels: A, B, C and D. Each level corresponds to different application conditions and upper limit of the project amount. Among them, the capital amount and application conditions of the construction factory corresponding to Class A are the highest, and the application conditions of the construction factory of other grades are decreasing in turn. Class A construction factory can undertake various projects of all sizes, but B, C and D are not the case. Later, on July 14 of the same year, the construction industry registration application form, registration certificate, registration form and guarantee letter format were unified, and unified construction industry management was implemented throughout the province. According to the information of the Yunnan Provincial Archives, in addition to filling in the above basic information in the "Construction Industry Registration Book", the guarantor's qualifications and supporting documents are also strictly reviewed. If the organizer, capital amount, representative, etc. are changed, you should apply for re-registration, and strict registration and management of the construction industry will begin. At that time, prices rose very fast. In the second year of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1938), the average monthly increase was about 10% compared with the first year. Therefore, the registered capital amount and the amount of construction manufacturers of various levels of construction companies were greatly different from the market due to the rise in prices. Therefore, the Ministry of the Interior revised some clauses and promulgated the "Rules for the Revising Management and Construction Industry" in January 23 of the Republic of China (1934).
▲Construction Industry Registration Form
2. Management of architects: Compared with the formal management of wartime construction industry, the Kunming Municipal Government managed construction practice earlier. Although the National Government issued the "Technician Registration Law" in the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), requiring agricultural technicians, industrial technicians, and construction technicians to register and unify the technician certificate format, Kunming only formulated the "Construction Regulations" and the "Interim Rules for Registration of Construction Project Contractors" in 1933. In December 27 of the Republic of China (1938), the Legislative Yuan issued the "Construction Law", which gave specific explanations on the drawing content of building permits, engineering drawings and instructions, the boundaries of building construction, and the management of buildings. According to the Construction Law, the "Architect Management Rules" and the "Regulations on Construction, Architects and the Draft Implementation Rules" were successively issued in the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943) and 35th year (1946). The Provincial Department of Construction has reviewed and handled relevant procedures in accordance with these rules, and its professional management of architects is becoming more and more perfect.
3. The regulations stipulate the respective division of labor between the architect and the construction factory: According to the "Architect Business Rules", the architect is responsible for all architectural matters, such as pre-planning construction strategies, making sketch plans, bidding patterns, fabricating construction instructions and various contract regulations, providing detailed drawings in size, and issuing the contractor to receive payment vouchers. Therefore, the manufacturer not only needs to know the application of various materials well, but also estimate the usage of various materials, control the cost of unit, and provide an estimation list. Mr. Tong Hu once said "We only complete the construction drawings and construction instructions, hand over them together with the structural drawings, and recruit manufacturers to bid for the owners. The manufacturers with the lowest price must bid for construction" . However, the lowest price is not the only condition for obtaining the target. Many projects often have to interrupt the project due to rising prices or other reasons, or eventually lose money in exchange for reputation and connections. After the construction factory wins the bid, it is necessary to sign a project contract with the owner, architect or firm.From the "Construction Project Contract between China Electric Power Steel Plant and Lugenji Construction Plant", its content includes the contract text (including construction charter, construction instructions, drawings, etc.), project scope, project cost, payment method, completion period and other regulations and violation terms. The construction factory also needs to produce a "engineering manual" to explain specific matters such as foot, steel and cement, water, wood and stone, roof, painted glass, hardware components, etc. However, these water, wood and stone workers are not fixed. There are only some fixed technical backbones in the factory. In addition, construction forces are temporarily convened according to different types of work such as roads and water conservancy to complete the project. During the construction process, the construction manufacturer also needs to fill out the "Bill of Materials" and "Progress Form". After the construction is completed, the architect and the owner need to accept it.
Through the above three aspects of discussion, we can roughly understand the professional regulations and respective responsibilities of the construction factory and architect at that time, as well as the entire process of a project from bidding to completion acceptance. It is these regulations that guarantee the urban construction in Kunming during the war.
3. The construction factory for internal migration during the war - the beginning of the climax of construction
Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the local construction industry in Kunming was generally developing slowly. The local construction institutions in Kunming were developed by carpenters and bricklayers from Jianchuan, Yuxi and other places. These shops are called "building companies". By the early years of the Republic of China, the business model of "businesses" gradually changed from traditional individual handicrafts and began to be the nature of a manufacturing manufacturer. As of 1920, Kunming had only 14 manufacturing manufacturers. Zhao Peiren was a famous local contractor in Kunming in the 1930s. The most important project he contracted was Kunhua Hospital. In addition, he also participated in the Yunnan Construction Provincial High School Project and the Yunnan University School of Conscience Committee Office Project. According to letters from the Yunnan Provincial Archives, these projects were concentrated in the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), and the projects he was responsible for were often in arrears and could not be handed over on time.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of famous construction factories in Shanghai, Nanjing and other places also joined the relocation team and went to Kunming to undertake projects. While bringing advanced technology, a group of new types of construction technical workers were also trained, expanding the construction team, so that Kunming's construction industry has made great progress in quantity and quality. According to a document called "Construction Industry Registration Book" of the Yunnan Provincial Archives, from May 29 (1940) to April 2019 (1943), a total of 228 construction factories were registered, of which only 4 were registered as Class B construction factories, and the rest were Class A. Among the A-level construction factories are the famous Zhu Senji Construction Factory, Shanghai Xinchang Construction Factory, Southwest Construction Company, etc. Among them, the Lugenji Construction Factory has the greatest impact on Kunming urban construction.
Lugenji Construction Factory was opened by Lugenquan in the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929). It has undertaken important projects such as the Shanghai Paramount Dance Hall and the Nanjing National Hall. Later, it moved to Kunming in 1939, and the factory site is located on Huashan South Road. Because of his great reputation, he met Long Yun, the chairman of Yunnan Province at that time. The contracting was generally provincial and municipal projects or large-scale projects, such as the construction of the Yunnan Provincial Government's Guangfu Building, the Nanpanjiang Water Conservancy Project, as well as the relocated power steel mill, the Twenty-two Arsenal, the Central Machinery Factory and other factory projects affiliated to the Ministry of Military Affairs. The most important project in Kunming is the Victory Hall of the Anti-Japanese War. The Victory Hall of the Anti-Japanese War was originally named Zhigong Hall. It was originally established to commemorate the outstanding achievements of Long Gong (Chairman of Yunnan Province) in governing Yunnan. It coincided with the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, so it was renamed "Victory Hall of the Anti-Japanese War". At that time, the Kunming Municipal Government publicly solicited the "Yunrui Park Memorial Hall" plan from the public and also held a design competition for this. A total of 9 companies including Liang Yan Architecture Firm, Huagai Architectural Firm, Construction Society, Linghua Engineering Department, Kunming Municipal Bureau of Engineering, etc. Finally, Tsinghua University graduate Li Hua (Linghua Engineering Department) won the first prize. Although this competition is not as large as the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Design Competition and is not an international architectural competition, it indirectly reflects the climax of Kunming's construction at that time.In addition, Lu Genji has also undertaken projects such as Nanping Cinema, Daguangming Cinema, Yunmaosha Factory, Luhan Residential, Yi'an Building (now Kunming Hotel). These buildings have far exceeded the level of pre-war Kunming architectural design and construction in terms of type, style, scale, construction technology, etc.
In addition to social factors, Lugenji Construction Factory's own construction and management standards are also very high. According to archival data, the factory has several positions in supervisors, accountants, accounting, worker, material engineer, kitchen chief, and handy servant, with a total of more than 400 people. Although there are many people in the factory, the quality of the project is strictly controlled. According to Li Daichuan and others, "most of the processes rely on manual work, but the quality requirements are relatively serious. In expert words, in brickwork, the proportion of sand and ash ingredients meets the standards, mix evenly, the masonry is horizontal and vertical, the staggered joints are pressed in a straight and uniform manner, and the appearance is clean." . Lugenji Construction Factory strictly implements its own construction method, and the boss often goes to the construction site to supervise the work. Not only can most of the projects he undertakes be delivered on time, but also has received unanimous praise from the government and citizens from design to construction quality.
4. Wartime architecture firms and their practices - the presentation of the climax of construction
The concentration of a large amount of manpower and financial resources during the War of Resistance Against Japan brought about a new look in the modern city of Kunming, and the migration of a large number of people and enterprises greatly increased the demand for construction. If Kunming at that time provided a place for manufacturers to use, then compared to architects, Kunming could be called an architectural trial site under various trends of thought. New residential communities, modern professional cinemas, multi-functional large auditoriums, and financial streets lined with banks are all new types in Kunming City. The famous architects who moved in at that time were Xu Jingzhi, Li Huibo, Yu Binglie, Zhao Shen, Xia Changshi, Zhang Yiwen and others, as well as members of the Construction Society, who made an indelible contribution to the construction of Kunming in modern times. In particular, several famous design institutions, Jitai Engineering Department, Huagai Architects, and Industrial Architects, brought the idea of modern architecture to Kunming as the large army migrated to the southwest region.
1. Jitai Engineering Department
Before the war, Zhang Yiwen from Jitai Engineering Department went to Kunming to guide the construction of Kunhua Hospital. According to literature records, he was the earliest foreign architect in Kunming. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Jitai moved its headquarters base to Chongqing and sent Liang Yan to be responsible for the business of Jitai Engineering Department (No. 133 Tongren Street, Kunming City) in Kunming. According to the Yunnan Provincial Archives, the most important project of the Jitai Engineering Department in Kunming is the Kunming Library (now no longer exists). It officially concluded a project contract in September 28 (1939), and was eventually built by Tai'an Construction Factory. Many projects in the "Kitai Engineering Department" behind the "Southwest" revolve around the "classical" style, but some projects still break through the scope of "classical" and experiment in the direction of "modern architecture". Kunming Library is an example of this "eclectic" language. The library has two floors, and the facade continues the previous "big roof" and the doukou layer; the wall under the doukou layer is divided into two sections, the upper layer is flat, and the lower wall tiles form horizontal lines; the entrance hall protrudes from the main building, with two thick columns supporting the double-slope roof, located on the base, presenting the dignified and elegant style of the "classical" style. However, its plane has the simplicity and functionality of modern architecture. The plane is inverted "Ding". The intersection of the characters Ting is set as a foyer. Each room is arranged along both sides of the walkway, and there are entrances and exits at both ends of the walkway. The Kunming Library Project is the largest project of Jitai Engineering Department in Kunming. From design drawings, bidding for owners, on-site supervision to final acceptance, Jitai Engineering Department is fully responsible for all design drawings, bidding for owners, and selection of construction factories to bidding to on-site supervision to final acceptance. Most of the projects except the main facade of Kunming Library are either only responsible for drawing patterns or supervising the work, or rebuilding and expanding existing buildings, or even repairing river embankments, drawing road survey maps and other types of projects. Even though Kitty Engineering was already very prestigious in the construction industry at that time, the number of projects that architects could receive was still too small.In the Yunnan Provincial Archives, there is a self-recommendation letter from Liang Yan to the expansion project of Yunnan University in the name of "Jitai Engineering Department". The letter reads "The bad engineering department designs school projects all over the country, and its achievements have long been in insight. Kunhua Hospital, which has made more practical contributions to all buildings since the War of Resistance Against Japan, was designed and supervised by the Yunnan Engineering Department, so people in Yunnan dare to claim to be familiar with the construction situation." also listed an example of the Nanjing Jinling University Library he built, but was eventually rejected by the project's first party Yunnan University. It can be seen that although Kunming had a lot of construction needs at that time, it was short of materials, and it was difficult to meet the needs of local urban construction while taking into account the materials needed for the frontline of the Anti-Japanese War.
In addition, the large demand for construction talents in cities, coupled with the relocation of various universities, has led to an unprecedented boom in architectural education in Kunming. In the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), the Kunming Municipal Government appointed Liang Yan and Zhao Shen as preparatory members of the "Engineering Association" to develop related professional groups. The two were invited to teach the "Architectural Design I" and "Architectural Design II" courses in the first and second semesters respectively, with 4 hours a week. In the 34th year of the Republic of China (1945), Liang Yan was hired as a permanent construction consultant of China Expatriate Bank Company. In short, while the "Kitai Engineering Department" was engaged in architectural education, the project contract types ranged from roads and bridges to architectural renovations. This was the basic state of architects at that time, which was different from the "each strengths" of today's architectural design and civil engineering design. The author has included all the projects found in Kunming in Table 1 for readers to refer to.
2. The new residential practice of Industrial and Industrial and Commercial Building Firm
Like the "Jitai Engineering Department", Industrial and Commercial Building Firm has also undertaken many road and bridge types, such as Cuihu Lake trench and various effluent culverts, and repairing Baoxiang River embankment projects. But unlike the Jitai Engineering Department, Xingye Architects Firm has received more government projects. This is because the Yunnan Provincial Government hired Xu Jingzhi as an engineer of the "Provincial Construction Committee", so many projects related to the Resources Committee, the Provincial Construction Department, and air defense and disaster prevention were acquired by Xingye Architects Firm. The most important thing about Kunming’s urban construction is in residential areas. It presided over the design and construction of “Zhutang New Village”, making it a model for Kunming’s modern residential communities. Since the War of Resistance Against Japan, the urban population has suddenly increased to more than 200,000, and the original houses are not distributed enough, making living a major problem. In view of this, Mu Yuntai, the president of Fudian New Bank, initiated fundraising and other investments to open the new residential area of Kunming to accommodate a large number of people to solve the problem of housing. In the 27th year of the Republic of China (1938), the first emerging residential area in Kunming was built, Zhuangtang New Village, the first emerging residential area in Kunming. Zhuangtang New Village is located north of Jinbi Road and east of Huancheng South Road. The village is jointly funded by various investment agencies such as the municipal government, the central bank, and hired Kunming Construction Engineering Firm, a merger of Xingye Architects and the Public Welfare Business Company to design this community. Zhuangtang New Village has five apartment types: A, B, C, D and E. Each apartment has two entrances and exits and outdoor platforms. The reception room and kitchen and bathroom are combined on the plane, and the bedrooms (4 per household) are arranged together. Considering the needs of ventilation and lighting, each household has an appropriate courtyard and open space. In order to meet the needs of air defense, all residential units use bungalows. Wartime buildings were mainly simple and simple, economical and affordable, so a large number of local materials were used, with the sloped roof of "cylindrical tiles", earthen wall foundation, matte stone foundation and local earthen wall planes. The entire community is designed and well-built, and has complete water, electricity, communications, transportation and air defense facilities. In order to prevent the majority of residents from overburdening, the municipal government stipulates that their profits shall not exceed 12% and that the houses shall be sold out as soon as they are completed. After accumulating successful experience, the business company continued to develop residential communities such as Jingguo New Village, Xunjin New Village, and Daguan New Village, all of which are mainly single-family villas.
▲Type B residential
In the 33rd year of the Republic of China (1944), Xingye Architects also designed a dormitory-type residence located in Taihe Street, but no relevant drawings and information were found yet.In addition, in the 36th year of the Republic of China (1947), the Yunnan Provincial Government commissioned Xingye Architects to design the provincial government office building, facade, road and expand the rear office building, and other eight phases of projects, including the Chairman (Lu Han)’s mansion. The mansion is located in Xishan, and is a two-story brick and wood villa built by Lu Genji Construction Factory. The overall plane continues the layout of Zhuangtang New Village apartments, but the stairwell and the living room are newly added, and are now converted into hotels (see Table 1 for other engineering projects).
3. Huagai Architectural Firm and Public Building New Types
In modern Kunming, the one who has made the most new types of public buildings is Huagai Architectural Firm. Huagai Architects was established in Shanghai in 1931, with Tong Hu in charge of drawing houses, Zhao Shen had strong organizational skills and was responsible for external business contact. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Zhi stayed in Shanghai, Tong Hu went to Chongqing in 1938, and Zhao Shen went to Kunming in 1938 to set up a Huagai Office. "At that time, there were many people in the business and education circles from Shanghai to Kunming. Through these people, Zhao Shen began to know many local landlords, bureaucrats, and capitalists, and received multiple tasks" . After classification and sorting, the author describes the impact of these works of Huagai Architectural Firm on Kunming's urban construction by two types of architectural types: bank office buildings and cinema theaters.
(1) About the bank and office building construction on Nanping Street: Since 1930, Kunming City has demolished the "Recent Building" to "Guo Guomen" city walls, built Nanping Street using the city wall and moat foundation, and changed the pavement to asphalt pavement in 1937. It was precisely because of the urgent war that industrial and commercial enterprises and major banks moved in. They all needed their own business places, which coincided with the construction of Nanping Street. Therefore, a large number of new types of banks, office buildings, business buildings and other financial buildings were newly built on both sides of Nanping Street, as well as some new cinemas and clothing stores, which led Jinbi Road to the south of Nanping Street and Huguo Road to the east to become the financial centers of Kunming at that time. Among the many bank buildings on this street, the designs of Xingwen Bank, a local Yunnan bank moved from Chongqing, are from Huagai Architects. Xingwen Bank is a six-story brick and wood structure. The facade is divided into two sections. The outer wall of the upper water-brushed stone is also arc-shaped. The windows are evenly arranged and divided by vertical lines. The lower one and two floors are high, and 8 pillars form an arc-shaped colonnade entrance, giving people a straight and agile feeling. At that time, there were fewer buildings with curved appearances in Kunming, so it was also called "concave building". Xingwen Bank is very conspicuous on Nanping Street. The upper part of Juxingcheng Bank and Xingwen Bank are similar. The difference is that the vertical lines are flush with the walls under the roof instead of protruding the roof, and the second is that the latter has a square but not an arc. The designs of several office buildings on Nanping Street are balanced in proportion to the bank, highlighting vertical lines and outlining the roof contours to form a unified mass style, which is very "modern" architectural characteristics.
▲Xingwen Bank
(2) Nanping Grand Theater and Dayile Cinema: Nanping Grand Theater (designed in 1939, constructed by Lugenji Construction Factory,) is also another important building left by Huagai Architects for Kunming. It was founded by the funding and contribution of Mrs. Long Yun, Mrs. Lu Han and other upper-class people at that time. It was the first professional and completely modern theater in Kunming and was known as the "No. 1 Cinema in the Far East". The cinema can accommodate 1,400 people. On the floor plan, the first floor is a foyer, the first floor is connected by elevators, the second floor is a corridor with a viewer's rest, and the second floor is a building and an exit are set up on the street. It makes full use of the two-story podium on the street side, and has multi-functional rooms such as teahouses, dance halls and other commercial services. There are slender columns standing along the curved glass window on the upper part of the facade, and there are protruding eaves under the window as the entrance to the hall. The connection between the curved wall and the straight wall is narrow and high vertical wall protruding from the roof, enhancing the facade level. The theater also signed film rental agreements with film companies such as Hollywood in the United States, which greatly enriched the lives of citizens. Later in 1940, Huagai Architects designed the Dayile Grand Theater, which was undertaken by Shanghai Heji Construction Factory. However, several sunset bombs near the gable behind the theater house caused some collapse.The reason is that the design did not consider the requirements for air strike warranty. The upper section of the gable behind the house tilted inward by nearly one foot due to violent air vibrations, and the gable in front tilted outward, which was very serious. The remedy proposed by Zhao Shen is "The gables and roof strata are inclined. It is necessary to use steel frames to reinforce the roof strata, repaint the roof, and add steel cement under the top of the hill." . This was one of the rare safety accidents at that time, because Zhao Shen was detained by the judicial authorities for about half a year before he was released from prison. Later, Zhao Shen re-educated and designed Longyun's private Nanjing Middle School (the other projects of Huagai Architects in Kunming were included in Table 1 together).
▲Nanping Grand Theater
5. Conclusion
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of industrial and commercial enterprises, architectural firms, and construction factories moved back to Shanghai, and the loss of equipment and talents made Kunming feel depressed. By 1949, Yunnan's construction industry had withered and declining, and the situation was getting worse and worse. The number of foreign construction factories had sharply decreased, and local construction factories were facing bankruptcy. However, since the War of Resistance Against Japan, the architects and construction factories that moved in have brought new urban changes to Kunming, injected new blood into urban construction, and laid the foundation for the development of Kunming's construction industry after the establishment of the Republic, especially in the following three aspects:
1. Tufang and construction factories have trained a large number of outstanding architects and construction industry practitioners. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Daichuan and others who worked in Lugenji Construction Factory remained at Kunming Construction Company as chief architects, and Mr. Ma Tizheng stayed at Kunming Municipal Government as technicians; He Lizheng, who interned at Huagai Architects, received training in the modern architectural ideas of Huagai Architects, and linked "function" to "practicality" for the first time, and published this view in the paper "Overview of Modern Architecture" in the magazine "Chinese Architecture". Later, in the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946), the Guanghua Engineering Department was established in Kunming and began to practice construction. There were also a large number of Kunming local architects trained by Kunming Construction Industry Union and Kunming Architects Joint Firm, forming a local team of architects. Faced with the construction needs of everything to be developed after victory, Tao Guilin, manager of Fuji Construction Factory, established the China National Construction Industry Association, aiming to assist the government in taking on construction responsibilities and benefiting its peers. In response to the call, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guilin, Hankou, Qingdao and other places successively established construction trade unions, and Kunming also joined in it, and Lu Genquan was one of the permanent directors.
2. Introduce modern architectural ideas and new architectural types. During this period, many new modern buildings of the nature of cinemas, bank buildings, office buildings and shopping malls appeared in Kunming, breaking the previous public architectural style of Kunming under the influence of colonial outdoor corridors, French Renaissance, Gothic and religious culture. The newly emerged modern architectural space is continuous and flowing, the plane is simple and flexible, the various functions of the rooms are reasonably arranged and the appearance is simple, and complex decorations are removed, such as the curved glass curtain wall of Nanping Cinema, the T-shaped plane of Kunming Library, etc.
3. Development of building materials. In order to adapt to the serious shortage of modern building materials such as steel and cement in wartime states, has to "learn from traditional folk architecture and achieve low-cost rapid construction with the 'simple construction technology' of local materials" . The "national rejuvenation" style buildings such as Kunming Library and the Anti-Japanese War Victory Hall and the construction of various "new villages" have used a large amount of local blue bricks, tiles, limes, sand and gravel, which promoted the development of local building materials; the power steel mill is composed of the original "National Central Research Institute", and its migration broke the situation of Kunming's dependence on imports of steel; in the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939), Kunming Cement Co., Ltd. was also established, becoming the first cement industrial enterprise in Yunnan, providing a large amount of cement for the construction of highways, railways and national defense projects, and used for the construction of the Anti-Japanese War Victory Hall and the Anning Hot Spring Hall.
Yunnan has a "slash-and-burn" culture, which means that land burned by fire will be easier to plant grain crops.The "Ten Years of Development Climax" in the modern Kunming architectural history was born in the war. On the one hand, the barren land of Kunming provided architects with the practical soil for "modern architecture". The relocated construction factories and architects also acted as "seeds" to bring prosperity to Kunming's urban construction; on the other hand, the relocated construction firms and construction factories cultivated a large number of construction talents, and these buried "seeds" opened a new chapter in Kunming after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
