Chinese Pagodas on the World Stage: Models from the Tushanwan Orphanage, 1915
- Description
- About the Authors
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This book tells the remarkable tale of a set of 84 model pagodas made at the Tushanwan Orphanage in Shanghai. An extraordinary combination of cultures and historical intentions, they depicted monuments of traditional Chinese culture for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a world’s fair held in San Francisco in 1915.
The models show not only Buddhist pagodas but also an Islamic minaret, feng shui literary towers, and defensive structures, in a wide variety styles and materials, dating from the Tang to the Qing. Now in the collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum, they are a vital architectural archive that preserves these structures as they stood at the turn of the twentieth century.
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William Ma, assistant professor at Louisiana State University, specialises in artistic exchanges between China and the world. He previously wrote on the Tushanwan pagoda models in A Collection of Pagodas (2014).
Kevin K.M. Lam is senior curator of Chinese art at the Asian Civilisations Museum. In addition to this book, he organised the exhibition Pagoda Odyssey, 1915: From Shanghai to San Francisco. He previously worked as a curator at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Cover Type: Paperback
Page Count: 188
Year Published: 2024
Size: 285mm x 200mm (P)
Language: English