I、Introduction of the School

Established in 1983, School of Architecture in Huaqiao University presently has three five-year undergraduate programs, namely, Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning, and Landscape Architecture. The school also has the First-Level Discipline for Doctoral Degree in Architecture, the First-Level Discipline for Master’s Degree in Architecture, and the First-Level Discipline for Master’s Degree in Urban and Rural Planning. As the fourteenth one all over China that passed the disciplinary assessment of Architecture organized by Ministry of Education, the subject of Architecture in School of Architecture ranks first in Fujian Province and is internationally certificated by Canberra Accord on Architectural Education.

 

According to the disciplinary features, School of Architecture in Huaqiao University attaches importance to the practical teaching and seriously organizes students to participate in various design competition and social practical activities. Since 2012, students from the school got over 100 awards in international and national competitions, e.g., the Archiprix International/Hunter Douglas Awards in 2013. An alumna was awarded as one of the 25 Green Talents of 2017 launched by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and she was both the only one Chinese awardee and the youngest awardee in that year.

 

The school carries out international communication and collaboration actively, which broadens the horizons of teachers and students, raises the research ability and professional attainments, and extends the academic influence. Many exchange programs, joint-design workshops and studios, visiting scholar programs, academic lectures and seminars, etc., are launched with some famous international universities (e.g., Niigata University, Kyoto Prefectural University, Waseda University, University of Bergen, Cardiff University, Delft University and University of Birmingham, etc.,), scholars and architects. Each year, some graduate students study abroad in Manchester University, Edinburgh University and Cardiff University, etc.

 

For a long time, the school focuses on the research of southern Fujian cities and buildings, carries forward multi-culture of hometowns of overseas Chinese and “green” strategy, and explores the intercultural architecture design and its theory. In the perspective of cultural routes, the school establishes interdisciplinary and transregional research team in the collaboration with national and international universities and research institutes to explore the inheritance and communication of overseas Chinese architectural culture. The school leads the nation with overseas Chinese architectural research, building techniques of tradition buildings in hometowns of overseas Chinese, and disaster-resilient and reinforcement research of Tulou buildings, etc. Combining with southern Fujian geographic and climatic characteristics for a long time, the school conducts climate adaptation research of Tulou and Arcade buildings, and indoor environmental research of modern buildings, which has resulted in remarkable achievements. Since 2012, the school got 17 national research grants, some of which were supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, and the research ability of the school has been at the forefront of Fujian province. Besides, the school highly shares the resources of social service and production with Architecture Design Institute of Huaqiao University, which provides a valuable fundamental platform for teachers and students to participate in social practices and achieves a win-win situation for social and economic benefits.

 

II. Basic information of the School

1. Number of students

There are 21 PhD students, including 1 overseas student.

There are 414 master students, among whom 56 are part-time students and 358 are full-time students. Among the 358 full-time students, there are 75 students in Macau class, 7 foreign students and 276 domestic students.

2. Number of teachers

There are currently 60 full-time teachers, including 10 professors, 18 associate professors and 32 lecturers. 45% of the full-time teachers have a doctoral degree. Among the teachers for design studios, 19 teachers (43.2% of the total) are national first-class registered architects and/or registered planners.

 

III. Existing research outcomes

1. Directed programs

Professor Chen Zhihong from School of Architecture in Huaqiao University and other members of the research team have long been engaged in the research of overseas Chinese folk historical materials, settlements and architecture of overseas Chinese, architectural construction techniques and architecture of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. They have accumulated rich experience in architectural exchanges and comparative research at home and abroad and have  specific advantages of scientific research in the cross-border exchange and conservation of architectural culture of Southeast Asia. Through the reform and continuous construction of the postgraduate curriculum system, a team of master tutors in the field of "History and Theory of Overseas Chinese Architecture" (led by: Chen Zhihong, 2018) and a team of master tutors in the professional degree of "Architectural Heritage Conservation and Urban Renewal" (led by: Fei Yingqing, 2019) have be developed. In recent years, the directed programs includes the "Cross-border Comparative Study on the Communication and Exchange of Minnan Modern Overseas Chinese Architectural Culture in Southeast Asia" funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (2016-2019, completed), and "The Historical Evolution and Inherited Conservation Research of the Settlements of Minnan Overseas Chinese along the Malacca Strait" (2021-2024, ongoing).

2. Papers and works

Since 2016, the school have carried out cooperative researches on the architectural heritage of overseas Chinese in Malaysia with New Era University College of Malaysia, through taking graduate students to Penang, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and other overseas Chinese settlements to conduct cross-border fieldwork, and have initially established a special database of the history of modern overseas Chinese architecture. Through investigating the main building types (e.g. residential ancestral halls, folk temples, western-style buildings, arcade buildings, clan guild halls and schools built by overseas Chinese) on the immigration routes of modern overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, taking the cross-border comparative studies as clues and combining the understanding of pedigree of a clan, letters and journals of overseas Chinese, and other folk historical documents, the school have conducted special research through a multi-disciplinary perspective and published associated results:

1) Chen Zhihong. Overseas Chinese Architecture in Penang, Malaysia [M]. Beijing: China Building Industry Press, 2019.

2) Chen Zhihong, Tu Xiaoqiang, Kang Siming. Research on the Settlement Space of the Overseas Chinese families in Fujian Five Most Surnamed in Penang, Malaysia [J]. New Architecture, 2020(03):30-35.

3) Chen Zhihong, Tian Yuan, Tu Xiaoqiang. A Review of Research on Modern Overseas Chinese Architecture in Singapore and Malaysia [M]. // 2021 Research Papers on Chinese Customs in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Strategic Information Research Center of New Era University College, 2021:297-314.

4) Tu Xiaoqiang, Guan Xiaoxi. Protection of Chinese Architectural Cultural Heritage in Malaysia - Interview Record with Architect Chen Yaowei [M]. //Zhao Lin, Jia Chao. Local Memory and Community Construction - Chinese Architectural Oral History Library (Volume IV). Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2021:168-179.

5) Tu Xiaoqiang, Chen Yaowei, Chen Zhihong. Southern Fujian Craftsmen and the Preservation and Repair of Overseas Chinese Architecture in Southeast Asia - Interview with the Wensi Heritage Work Restoration Team [M]. //Lin Yuan, Yue Yanmin. Collection of Chinese Architectural Oral History, Vol III: A Blending of Intellectual Knowledge from Ancient to Contemporary Time. Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2020: 201-212.

6) Tu Xiaoqiang, Chen Zhihong, Kang Siming. Adaptation and Development of Chinese Settlements in Kuala Lumpur during the British Colonial Period [M]// Dong Wei. Urban Planning History and Theory 04, Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2019: 139-152.

7) Tu Xiaoqiang, Kang Siming. The Construction of Lim Jetty in Penang, Malaysia [M]. // Chen Zhihong, Chen Fenfang. Architectural Memory and Diversified History—Chinese Architectural Oral History Library (Volume II). Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2019: 8-16.

3. Cross-border academic seminars and exchanges

School of Architecture in Huaqiao University actively hosted the "The Second Symposium on the Oral History of Chinese Architecture - Overseas Chinese Architecture Research Workshop (2019)", "The Conference of Asian Heritage Network (AHN) (2019)" and other cross-border academic seminars, and participated in "The Workshop of Overseas Chinese from Fujian Province and Development of Malaysia (2018)", "The Third International Symposium on Malaysian Chinese Folk Culture (2019)" organized by New Era University College. The school also actively engaged in thepublicity and promotion of historic education and conservation awareness of overseas architectural heritage through organizing "The Exhibition of Overseas Chinese Architecturee" and academic symposiums, joint training courses, and developing overseas exchange programs and research programs. The school also actively wrote associated reports and published them on the Internet and the platform of WeChat, and created the "The Information Management Platform of Penang Overseas Chinese Architectural Heritage" based on GIS technology to be open for scholars and the public at home and abroad.

4. Cross-border joint workshops and joint design courses

Taking the advantage as a university of overseas Chinese, the school established the mechanism of cross-border exchanges and joint teaching programs with universities in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Through integrating online and offline activities, the school expanded the depth and breadth of the undergraduate teaching on architecture ,broadened students’ horizons, and propagated the excellent Chinese architectural culture to teachers and students of overseas universities. In 2016, the architect Mr. Chen Yu from the National University of Singapore was invited to organize a postgraduate teaching workshop on “Issues and Challenges of the Asian Historical Area Renewal”. In 2018, Mr. Chen Yaowei, the consultant of the George Town World Heritage Incorporated, Penang, Malaysia, was invited to organize a postgraduate teaching workshop on "The Hometowns of Overseas Chinese in southern Fujian and the Architecture of Overseas Chinese". The meeting to present final reports of the 2019-2020 China-Thailand Six-School International Joint Workshop was held at the School of Architecture in Huaqiao University. The theme of this workshop was "Design Research for Heritage Conservation, Cultural Integration and Sustainable Development of the Old Town of Songkhla, Thailand.” In the Old Town of Songkhla, which has been actively applying for the World Cultural Heritage Site, there are many Chinese communities and architectural heritage of overseas Chinese. From January to May 2020, the 2020 International Six-School Joint Design Program was hosted by Huaqiao University and jointly initiated by Tsinghua University, Waseda University, Chongqing University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huaqiao University and Tunghai University. According to the plan, the 2020 joint design program would be hosted by Waseda University and would be conducted in Tokyo. However, due to the epidemic, significant adjustments of the plan were made. The program was hosted by the School of Architecture, Huaqiao University and conducted online (Figure 3). Xiamen Jimei Taisha was selected as the joint design area. As the hometown of the patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Tan Kah Kee, Jimei Taisha has significant both humanistic and historical value, and the research value of urban renewal. Therefore, the theme was set as "Optimization and Improvement - Urban Conservation  and Renewal Design of Jimei Taisha Area".

5. Working basis for inviting foreign experts:

The team has engaged in cross-border cooperation for many years, conducted cross-border comparative researches on overseas Chinese architecture and accumulated rich scientific research outcomes. Mr. Chen Yu from the National University of Singapore was introduced to conduct cross-border comparative research on overseas Chinese architecture, particularly on the comparative study of the architecture of overseas Chinese in Singapore and the architecture of Minnan Overseas Chinese Hometown, and investigation of the relationship of the construction activities of overseas Chinese in the hometowns and settlements of overseas Chinese. The associated research outcomes were posted in the special column of Lianhe Zaobao to the public. Architects from Southeast Asia, like Chen Yaowei and Yang Huishan, came to China many times to conduct collaborative researches, and they are also the members of the research team of The Historical Evolution and Inherited Conservation Research of the Settlements of Minnan Overseas Chinese along the Malacca Strait funded by the National Natural Science Foundation. These architects have a certain understanding and research foundation of Chinese architecture and have developed field survey in Penang, Malacca, Songkhla, Thailand and other Overseas Chinese settlements in Malaysia together with the Chinese cooperative team. In the cooperative research and literature research, a method for mutual cooperation have been developed. In terms of cooperative restoration projects, the Chinese team has participated in the joint restoration of first-class monuments in World Heritage Sites of Penang and Malacca in recent years, which has laid a good foundation for cooperative conservation and restoration.

IV. Cooperative plan in the future

 (1) To participate in the construction of disciplines, to carry out the postgraduate teaching workshop of "Cooperative Conservation and Inheritance of Overseas Chinese Architecture in Southeast Asia and the Hometowns of Overseas Chinese in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces", and to establish mechanisms for cross-border communication and joint teaching and training; (2) To jointly apply for national-level international cooperative research programs, to carry out cross-border cooperative field survey on settlements in Southeast Asia; (3) To cooperate in the conservation and restoration of buildings in World Heritage Sites, e.g., Quanzhou, Gulangyu, Tulou, and other sites like Penang and Malacca in Southeast Asia, to promote the cooperative conservation of Asian cultural heritage and jointly apply for the International Heritage Protection Award; (4) To published associated papers in important academic journals and international conferences at home and abroad; (5) To organize online and offline international academic seminars, "International Academic Symposium on Cooperative Conservation and Inheritance of Overseas Chinese Architecture in Southeast Asia and the Hometowns of Overseas Chinese in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces" to promote international cooperation and communication.