Visiting the Ancient Relics in the Southeast Shanxi

Summer 2014
Tianjin University – University of Hong Kong Architectural Field Study

上黨訪古

2014年 天津大學 – 香港大學 暑期中國建築研習營

Participants

28 students of the Department of Architecture, HKU led by Prof. Weijen Wang
10 students/teachers of the School of Architecture, Tianjin University

The Southeast Shanxi (晉東南), centered with the two cities, Changzhi (長治) and Jincheng (晉城) that were historically called Shangdang (上黨), is a geographically rather autonomous region surrounded by Taihang (太行山脈) and Taiyu Montains (太嶽山脈). In ancient time, it served as both the cradle of Xia Civilization (夏文明，21 BC) and the gateway for the northern civilizations to periodically enter China’s Central Plain (中原). Culturally, the area belongs to the Central Plain Cultural Sphere, while it also retains its own unique local traditions. Shanxi Province is well known as “the Museum of Chinese Ancient Buildings,” as it possesses more than 70% of China’s early constructions built before the 13th century, out of which 60% are located in its southeast region.

This field Study will organize students to visit an extraordinary set of classical structures in the Southeast Shanxi, including the City God Shrine of Lu’an Prefecture (潞安府城隍廟), the City Gate of Shangdang (上黨門), the Qinglian Temple (青蓮寺), the Dayun Monastery (大雲院), and the Two Immortals Shrine in Xixi (西溪二仙廟). This program will be an invaluable lesson for students to gain firsthand knowledge and insight about the Chinese architecture with its thousands of years of history, as well as the splendid natural landscape and human culture in the region.

Program

1. Visit and study a group of Chinese classical structures in the Southeast Shanxi (山西).
2. Visit the School of Architecture, Tianjin University and Tianjin City.
   (All tours guided by the teachers of Tianjin University will be conducted in Putonghua.)
3. All Students are required to make study reports, to join the exhibition and review at Tianjin University at the end of program. HKU students are also required to hold an exhibition to share their learning experience with other students in  the coming fall semester at the Department of Architecture, HKU.

Fees

Each HKU student will be responsible for his/her own round-trip flight tickets between Hong Kong- Tianjin. Tianjin University will cover all participants’ lodging, food, transportation, site-seeing entry fees during the field trip in Shanxi and Tianjin.

Registration

The program is open to all fulltime students registered in BAAS, MArch, MLA, MSc in Conservation, MPhil and PhD programs in the Department of Architecture, as well as students interested in history of Chinese architecture from HKU. Interested applicants please send a one-page CV to BAAS secretary, Ms. Angela Ting (aklting@hku.hk) at the Department of Architecture by May 30th.