"Inscribing science and specialized activities in socialist China: a spatial analysis of science buildings in China 1953-55,”

1. Inscribing Science and Specialized Activities in Socialist China: A Spatial Analysis of Science Buildings in China 1953-55

Inscribing Specialized Activities in Socialist China: A Spatial Analysis of

Architectural Motifs in China, 1949-1957

by

Christine Luk Arizona State University

July 12 2012, Philadelphia, PA The 7th Joint Meeting of the HSS, the British Society for the History of Science, and the Canadian

Society for the History and Philosophy of Science

Research emphasis

• What? the reform of engineering education

• Where? Southern China (South China Institute of Engineering 華南工學院）

• When? 1949-1957

Research emphasis



• When? 1949-1957

“全日制高等教育”《中國教育年鑑1949-1981》（中國大百科全書出版社, 1984), p. 233

--> Education is a contested site for the governing regime to establish political legitimacies.

Areas of study No. of specialitiesEngineering 107

Science & Maths 16Humanities 19Agriculture 16Forestry 5Medicine 4Education 21

Finance and Economics 13Law and Government 2

Physical Education 1Arts 11

Arrangement of specialized areas of study, 1952-1965

“1952－1965年的專業設置和調整情況”《中國教育年鑑1949-1981》（中國大百科全書出版社, 1984), p. 239

Areas of study No. of specialitiesEngineering 107

Science & Maths 16Humanities 19Agriculture 16Forestry 5Medicine 4Education 21

Finance and Economics 13Law and Government 2

Physical Education 1Arts 11

Arrangement of specialized areas of study, 1952-1965



Adjustment of specialized areas of study, 1953-1957

Areas of study No. of specialitiesNo. of specialities1952 1957

Engineering 107 183Science & Maths 16 21

Humanities 19 26Agriculture 16 18Forestry 5 9Medicine 4 7Education 21 21

Finance and Economics 13 12Law and Government 2 2

Physical Education 1 2Arts 11 22

Adjustment of specialized areas of study


Research emphasis



• When? 1949-1957

《建國以來的北京城市建設資料》第一卷城市規劃（内部資料）1987，北京建設史書編輯委員會編輯部, p. 79

Statistics of areas of construction in Beijing by types of architectural buildings between 1949 and 1983 (in 10,000 sq. m)

The constituent institutes of South China Institute of Engineering (SCIE), 1952

• Institute of Engineering, Sun-Yat Sen University

• Institute of Engineering, South China United University

• Schools of Civil Engineering & Electrical Engineering, Lingnan University

• The Canton Engineering School

• The Agricultural Processing Unit from the Agricultural Chemistry Department from Sun-Yat Sen University

• Chemical Engineering departments from Nanchang University, Hunan University & Guangxi University

Research emphasis



• When? 1949-1957


8 years for socialist transformation of engineering education (1949-1957)


Adjustment of specialized areas of study, 1953-1957

“SCIE preparing for class commencement”

“Questions about architectural ethnic structures”

“Questions about architectural ethnic structures” cont’d

“Guidelines and missions of the First Five Year Plan” (第一個五年計劃的方針與任務）

• focus of FFYP: heavy industry

• between 1952－1957，the expected increase of students in higher-education institution is 127%; that of senior high school is 178%, junior high school is 78.6%, of primary school/grade school is 18%

• efforts in cultivating productive cadres include adjusting, expanding and building new high schools and middle vocational schools

《李富春选集》（中央计划出版社, 1991), p. 147

The relationship between FFYP and SCIE

• political mission drove engineering education

• higher education intertwined with economic modernization

“The New Construction Mission: bettering education for

embracing the construction mission of the mother land”

FFYP and SCIE II

• Qualitative change of higher-education management: towards centralized management of high-education institutes


“A new born new-type engineering school––SCIE” Guangzhou Daily, Dec 10,1952

FFYP and SCIE III

the boundary between teaching venues, experimental sites, and industrial shops was not sharply drawn.

“Schools are factories, factories are also schools, agricultural co-ops are also schools. They should be well-run.” Chairman Mao August 13, 1958

Political imperatives of socialist space-making

《奔驰在红专道路上的華南化工学院: 介绍勤工俭学活动初步成果》（華南化

工学院学报第二期, 1958) p. 35

The lack of territorial

demarcation in SCIE, I

《向共产注意迈进的華南工學院》（華

南工学院, 1958) p. 19

The lack of territorial demarcation in SCIE, II

《一九五四年祖國經濟建設的新成就》

（香港：經濟導報社, 1954) p. 36

Division of interior space in SCIE

1954 1958《一九五四年祖國經濟建設的新成就》

（香港：經濟導報社, 1954) p. 36 《向共产注意迈进的華南工學院》（華

南工学院, 1958) p. 17

South China’s Daily, August 22 1953

Summary: FFYP changed the SCIE engineering education

• quantitatively (no. of engineering specialties, population of incoming students)

• qualitatively (towards centralized management and distribution of teaching resources)

• spatially (destabilization of spatial boundary)

Implications

• Engineering education in 50s China offered an alternative site to shed light on a different connection between space, power, and knowledge

• The socialist transformation of engineering education speaks to the political nature of space-making and science-making

• Alternative imagination to the social construction of science and its relations to the public order in the early years of PRC

Avenues of further research

• comparative study of quantitative, qualitative, and spatial aspects of engineering education between Nationalist and Communist regimes

• longitudinal changes of engineering education in Communist China (from 1950s to 1970s and beyond)

Acknowledgement

• University Archive, South China University of Technology (Guangzhou, China)

• The History of Science Society, British Society for the History of Science, and the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science