Call for Papers (due January 1) In “Transformation”: Assessing Architectural and Urban Change in Modern China Graduate/Postgraduate Student Conference, May 24-25, 2013 University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

This conference will investigate and challenge the notion of “transformation” in Chinese architecture and urbanism over the course of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Dramatic physical changes in the Chinese city over the past 160 years have accompanied, reflected, and occasionally prompted significant political, social and cultural vicissitudes in China over the same period of time. At the same time, the idea of “transformation” as a straightforward and complete shift from one state to another tends to obscure and deny the complex, competing, and often incomplete nature of change itself.

We welcome graduate students from any disciplinary field to submit paper proposal abstracts (250 words) on transformation as it relates to modern Chinese architectural and urban development. Possible subjects may include issues related to "transformative" social or economic policy and the city; fluctuating conceptions of public and private space; the architectural and/or urban impact of Chinese diasporic movement; or representations of architectural and urban change over time, among others.

In order to encourage a variety of scholarly perspectives, invited participants will be organized into themed panels and limited to 20 minute presentations. Paper discussants will include faculty within the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong as well as two prominent scholars in the field of Chinese architectural history and theory, Dr. Lai Delin (University of Louisville) and Dr. Lu Duanfang (University of Sydney).

Please send a paper abstract, along with a CV, to liangcal@hku.hk by January 1, 2013. Notice of acceptance/rejection will be sent by early February. Final paper drafts should be submitted by April 15. All presentations should be written and delivered in English.

The conference is being supported by the Postgraduate Students Conference/Seminar Grant of the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong, and the Center for the Study of Asia’s Architectural and Urban History in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong.