ABSTRACT

Chinese Spatial Strategies presents a study of social spaces of the capital of Ming Qing China (1420-1911). Focusing on early Ming and early and middle Qing, it explores architectural, urban and geographical space of Beijing, in relation to issues of history, geopolitics, urban social structure, imperial rule and authority, symbolism, and aesthetic and existential experience. At once historical and theoretical, the work argues that there is a Chinese approach to spatial disposition which is strategic and holistic.

chapter |13 pages

Introduction

Beijing as a Critical Problem

part I|79 pages

A Social Geography

chapter 1|11 pages

A Geo-Political Project

chapter 2|17 pages

City Plan as Ideology

chapter 3|46 pages

Social Space of the City

chapter I|3 pages

Concluding Notes to Part I

Architecture of the City and the Land

part II|99 pages

A Political Architecture

chapter 4|22 pages

A Sea of Walls

The Purple Forbidden Palace

chapter 5|30 pages

The Palace

Framing a Political Landscape

chapter 6|21 pages

The Palace

A Battlefield

chapter 7|19 pages

Constructs of Authority

chapter II|5 pages

Concluding Notes to Part II

Architecture as a Machine of the State

part III|53 pages

Religious and Aesthetic Compositions

chapter 8|25 pages

A Religious Discourse

chapter 9|23 pages

Formal Compositions

Visual and Existential

chapter III|3 pages

Concluding Notes To Part III

Architecture of Horizon