ABSTRACT
The twice-annual event of Canton Fair, established in 1957, has been the most influential international trade event in the People’s Republic of China. Uninterrupted, buildings were built even in the most difficult years. Changing site several times, the design for the buildings witnessed a transformation from socialist classicism to the International Style that combined southern China’s regional characteristics, especially that of the courtyard garden – an approach unlike any other in China at the time. This chapter examines the process, the architects, and the projects in relation to the Fair and discusses the rise and fall of a special regional modernism of southern China.
