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Ten Great Buildings
The Ten Great Buildings (Chinese: 十大建筑) are ten public buildings that were built in Beijing in 1959, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They were part of an architecture and urbanism initiative of Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward; most of the buildings were largely completed in a time span of ten months, by the deadline of 1 October 1959. In addition to the construction of these buildings, there was also an expansion of Tiananmen Square, and a campaign of art commissions to decorate the majority of the buildings by the time of their completion. Two subsequent art campaigns for these buildings were conducted in 1961, and 1964–1965. The buildings' styles reflect the influence of modernism, socialist realism, and traditional Chinese styles.
The Ten Great Buildings transformed Beijing. These monumental new buildings, constructed on a grand scale and providing modern facilities and services, helped to establish and celebrate an image of Mao Zedong's New China. They redefined Beijing as modern and up-to-date, a part of the international socialist vision of the future, and yet still distinctively Chinese; perhaps most important, as a city comparable to other globally important "superpower" capitals such as London, Washington, D.C., and Moscow.
The ten buildings are:
In August 1958, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to construct the buildings, mandating that they must be completed before National Day 1959 in order to commemorate the first ten years of the founding of "New China". Wan Li, who was Beijing vice mayor and Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, conveyed this instruction to the Beijing municipal government on 5 September 1958.
On 8 September, 1,000 experts from Beijing's design institutes and construction units assembled for a mobilization conference for the project. Addressing the mobilization conference, Wan described the buildings' purpose as reflecting "the great achievements in industrial and agricultural production, as well as in many other areas, after ten years of development of the New China." Wan stated that "the architects who design these projects are not participating for their own individual fame but for the honor of the 600 million Chinese people that these buildings represent – each of us is only one of those 600 million."
Participants in the design proposal process could submit their proposals individually or in groups. At the end of the submission process for each stage of the designs, the groups would come together to discuss each other's work, with the idea that they would learn from each other and to be able to compensate for individual shortcomings. Once a consensus was reached, designers would separate again for work on their proposals at the next stage. This was described as a process of "centralization" or "integrating all the different parties' strengths."
Design proceeded quicker for the seven buildings not on Tiananmen Square, and slower for the three buildings on the square, which were considered the most prestigious. To encourage innovation on these projects, Zhou Enlai encouraged submissions from the general public and students. Ultimately, more than 400 designs, originating from both amateurs and professionals, were submitted for the Ten Great Buildings.
As a result of financial constraints, in a February 1959 meeting Zhou held at Zhongnanhai, the scope of the Ten Great Buildings was modified, with some buildings previously envisioned now reduced in scale, combined, or replaced by smaller structures.
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Ten Great Buildings
The Ten Great Buildings (Chinese: 十大建筑) are ten public buildings that were built in Beijing in 1959, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They were part of an architecture and urbanism initiative of Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward; most of the buildings were largely completed in a time span of ten months, by the deadline of 1 October 1959. In addition to the construction of these buildings, there was also an expansion of Tiananmen Square, and a campaign of art commissions to decorate the majority of the buildings by the time of their completion. Two subsequent art campaigns for these buildings were conducted in 1961, and 1964–1965. The buildings' styles reflect the influence of modernism, socialist realism, and traditional Chinese styles.
The Ten Great Buildings transformed Beijing. These monumental new buildings, constructed on a grand scale and providing modern facilities and services, helped to establish and celebrate an image of Mao Zedong's New China. They redefined Beijing as modern and up-to-date, a part of the international socialist vision of the future, and yet still distinctively Chinese; perhaps most important, as a city comparable to other globally important "superpower" capitals such as London, Washington, D.C., and Moscow.
The ten buildings are:
In August 1958, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to construct the buildings, mandating that they must be completed before National Day 1959 in order to commemorate the first ten years of the founding of "New China". Wan Li, who was Beijing vice mayor and Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, conveyed this instruction to the Beijing municipal government on 5 September 1958.
On 8 September, 1,000 experts from Beijing's design institutes and construction units assembled for a mobilization conference for the project. Addressing the mobilization conference, Wan described the buildings' purpose as reflecting "the great achievements in industrial and agricultural production, as well as in many other areas, after ten years of development of the New China." Wan stated that "the architects who design these projects are not participating for their own individual fame but for the honor of the 600 million Chinese people that these buildings represent – each of us is only one of those 600 million."
Participants in the design proposal process could submit their proposals individually or in groups. At the end of the submission process for each stage of the designs, the groups would come together to discuss each other's work, with the idea that they would learn from each other and to be able to compensate for individual shortcomings. Once a consensus was reached, designers would separate again for work on their proposals at the next stage. This was described as a process of "centralization" or "integrating all the different parties' strengths."
Design proceeded quicker for the seven buildings not on Tiananmen Square, and slower for the three buildings on the square, which were considered the most prestigious. To encourage innovation on these projects, Zhou Enlai encouraged submissions from the general public and students. Ultimately, more than 400 designs, originating from both amateurs and professionals, were submitted for the Ten Great Buildings.
As a result of financial constraints, in a February 1959 meeting Zhou held at Zhongnanhai, the scope of the Ten Great Buildings was modified, with some buildings previously envisioned now reduced in scale, combined, or replaced by smaller structures.