Huang Zuoshen

In this Chinese name, the family name is Huang.
Huang Zuo-shen
Born1915
Died1975 (aged 59–60)
Other namesHenry Huang; Henry Wong; Huang Zuoxin
OccupationArchitect
Known forMember of Five United
RelativesHuang Zuolin (brother)

Huang Shuqin (niece)

Chennie Huang 黄承妮 (granddaughter)
Chinese name
Chinese黄作燊
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHuáng Zuòshēn
Huang Zuoshen (Henry Huang, centre) with colleagues and students.
Huang Zuoshen and colleagues

[1]Huang Zuoshen (Chinese: 黄作燊; pinyin: Huáng Zuòshēn; 1915 – 1975; also: Henry Huang; Henry Wong; Huang Zuoxin) was a pioneer of modern architecture in China.[2]

Huang attended the School of the Architectural Association in London from 1933 to 1937, and followed Walter Gropius in 1939 to the United States to study at Harvard University, instead of taking an offer from Le Corbusier for an internship in his studio.[3]

He returned to China in 1942, after being invited to found the Department of Architecture at St. John's University in Shanghai – where his teachings would be first in the country to follow the Bauhaus School.[4] He also helped establish a practice called Five United, which was a disparate group of Chinese architects who had mostly studied at British universities.[5] The others in the group were Wang Da-hong, Chen Chan-siang, Luke Him Sau and Arthur Kun-Shuan Cheang.

Huang emphasised Functionalism and Modernism in his teachings at St. John's University, and was later Founding Director of the Department of Architecture at Tongji University 同济大学 from 1952 to 1954.[6][7]

Huang Zuoshen's father once served as Comprador of Shell International Oil Products B.V. for this, during the Cultural Revolution he and his brother Huang Zuolin (an important film director of 20th century China) suffered because of their father's affiliation with a western business entity. Both were subjected to severe interrogation, Huang Zuoshen had been imprisoned under witness by his students at Tonji University 同济大学. (Life and Death in Shanghai[8] Author: Nien Cheng Pg. 23-5, 28; 22-9; Cheng was a close friend of Huang Zuoshen and his wife Winifred Chen. They met in Europe then continued to be friends once upon their return to Shanghai.)

He was survived by his wife Winifred Cheng 程玖 (1924–1977) she was the daughter of 程克 Cheng Ke (1878-1936) an important political figure in the Republic of China, and his three sons.

  1. ^ Chang, Chin-Wei (2023-07-28). The Architect-Teacher’s Role in Formulating Architectural Pedagogy in China before 1952: The Examples of Huang Zuoshen and Liang Sicheng (Doctoral thesis). UCL (University College London).
  2. ^ Peter G. Rowe; Seng Kuan (February 2004). Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China. MIT Press. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-262-68151-3.
  3. ^ Hsiao, Leah; White, Michael (Fall–Winter 2015). "The Bauhaus and China: Present, Past, and Future". West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. 22 (2): 176–189. doi:10.1086/685869.
  4. ^ Wang, H. [王浩娛]. (2008). Mainland architects in Hong Kong after 1949 : a bifurcated history of modern chinese architecture. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b4088793
  5. ^ Anne Witchard (1 March 2015). British Modernism and Chinoiserie. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 264–. ISBN 978-0-7486-9097-8.
  6. ^ "Henry Huang | Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion". Chineseamerican.nyhistory.org. 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
  7. ^ CAUP. "College of Architecture and Urban Planning Tongji University". En.tongji-caup.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
  8. ^ Life and Death in Shanghai. Grove Press. 1987. pp. 23–5, 28, 22–9. ISBN 0394555481.