ABSTRACT
The contraction and eventual demise of China's multifaceted modernities can be seen both internally in the way it impacted upon the Chinese and externally in the way it impacted on relationships between China and the rest of the world. The question of modernism's curtailment in China is predicated on an assumption that modernism in China even existed. To assume the western interpretation of 'modernism' is to accept that modernism did not exist in China or, if it did, it was diluted and inferior, and terminated when all foreign influence was extinguished after 1949. Since multiple modernities enable us to see that 'western patterns of modernity are not the only "authentic" modernities', China's example allows us to see further still, something that was understood by Chinese intellectuals in the early twentieth century. Chen's views encapsulate the unresolved issues surrounding China's encounter with architectural modernity and in its ongoing interpretation.
