Posted by vrcvanderbilt on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 in HART, Lectures, VRC.

Jing Zhuge, associate professor in the School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, will present a lecture on Wednesday, August 31, from 9:10-10 a.m., in Cohen Memorial Hall 324. Her lecture is entitled “Historic Preservation in China: Interest Chains and Value Judgments.”

Historic preservation is a global issue of pressing concern. Her presentation, sponsored by the Department of History of Art, the Asian Studies Program, and the EOS Project Vanderbilt, will outline the complicated situation of historical preservation in China through three different case studies: (1) the preservation plan of “invisible” vernacular architecture managed by an inexperienced government agency; (2) the preservation of a world cultural heritage site suffering from excessive tourism; and (3) the preservation and exhibition of the site of an archaeological and historical monument. Jing Zhuge will analyze the different forces involved in these examples to explain how a preservation project works within the Chinese system. In conclusion she will focus on the most significant part, value judgments, and discuss how heritage preservation always includes intentional choices regarding history and memory.

Her main fields of research are the social significance of architecture in history, the historiography of Chinese architecture, and the reconstruction of traditional Chinese concepts of architecture.