"Design for New China: The History of Design in the Early Years of the People's Republic of China" opened at China Design Museum, China Academy of Art, on September 23, 2024. It gathers precious collections more than 40 institutions across China, exhibiting about 500 physical artifacts and historical documents. The exhibits cover architecture, industrial design, handicraft, fashion design, visual design, and other fields.

The exhibition focuses on presenting the diversity and experimental nature of early design in New China, aiming to convey the vitality and experience of China's modernization process. And it showcases a plenty of "firsts" in design since the early years of the People's Republic of China, including the first national gift, the first generation of national porcelain—"Jianguo Porcelain", the first Spring Festival and New Year picture movement, and the first foreign trade exhibition.etc. 

When conceiving the first national gift of New China, Lin Huiyin believed that it should integrate traditional patterns and transform the application of traditional skills from royal furnishings to daily items such as table lamps and tableware in daily life. To achieve this, Chang Shana and other designers combined the Dunhuang pattern with the traditional Chinese craft of cloisonné, and added the image of a dove to convey the wish for peace.

As an arts and crafts educator and designer, Chang Shana, who lived in Dunhuang for more than ten years with her father Chang Shuhong, adheres to the concept advocated by Lin Huiyin of "combining traditional culture with modernity, and combining arts and crafts with production and life" to "meet people's daily needs and solve daily problems". The arts and crafts textbooks such as "Dunhuang Caisson Patterns" edited by her also laid the foundation for China's contemporary arts and crafts system in the future.

It can be found that the China Academy of Art (CAA), one of organizers of this exhibition, has also played an important role in the development of design education in New China. More than 70 years ago, most of the teachers and students of the  Department of Applied Arts at the East China Branch of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (the predecessor of CAA), went to Beijing to participate in the establishment of China's first academy of design. While Deng Bai stayed in Hangzhou and made important contributions to the revival of the Ceramics Department of China.

This exhibition stands apart from other exhibitions that focus on the early history of New China. It conducts in-depth professional analysis of design cases from multiple dimensions, including the background, tasks, principles, strategies, grammar and connotations of design, as well as the organization and execution of the design process.

As a museum featuring international collections and displays, the China Design Museum held this exhibition with special attention to the history of international exchanges in various design fields in the early years of New China, as well as the mutual resonance between designs of New China and international classic designs.

Wenyuan Building of Tongji University- the Chinese echo of  "Bauhaus Dessau" : Visually, Wenyuan Building is similar to Bauhaus Dessau, both of which have free cube-like combination shapes. That is because they are both flexibly arranged according to different functional areas, while Wenyuan Building reflects the origin of "Beaux-Arts" system and is more rigorous in axis organization. And Wenyuan Building considers more specific Chinese usage needs in detail design. It represents the understanding and practice of modernism in the Chinese architectural community under specific historical conditions. 

Guangzhou Shuangxi Villa - the Chinese echo of  "Fallingwater" : In the 1930s, American architect Frank Lloyd Wrigh built the "Fallingwater", which was listed as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). There is also a group of "Fallingwater" built on the stream at the foot of the beautiful Biyun Peak of Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou. In 1960, the chief designer Mo Bozhi carefully surveyed the steep and complex terrain under the Biyun Peak. Adapting to the local conditions, he restored the landscape of the stream, and positioned the building in the foothills above the stream creating the Chinese version of the "Fallingwater". Shuangxi Villa was built according to modern aesthetics, and focused on integration with the garden in spatial organization. 

These cases all show the process of New China's multi-dimensional exploration of modernism and its ability to carry out local innovation in structural technology.

Facing with various difficulties such as shortage of materials, insufficient mechanical production technology and a lack of labor skills, designers of New China based on international experience, relied on their own experimental spirit and flexible application of traditional crafts to solve many practical construction problems.

Shunde People's Grand Hall, the largest span concrete thin-shell-structure building in New China, is a typical example. Under the condition of extremely scarce construction materials, Chinese designers and builders and used fir tree and bamboo as materials to complete the scaffolding and formwork of thin-shell-structure, which was a pioneering work in the Chinese history of construction.

From the Wenyuan Building, Tongji University in Shanghai (located in East China) to the Shuangxi Villa in Guangzhou and the Shunde People's Grand Hall (located in South China), this exhibition showcases design and architectural cases from more than ten cities in the early years of the People's Republic of China‌, strive to comprehensively present the true state of design at that time.

In addition to architecture, the exhibition also features steel pipe chairs that appeared in old photos of residential area in Beijing in the 1950s. This international classic design product has been spread in China due to its special "seamless steel pipe" technology, reflecting the needs of China's industrial development.

The exhibition also shows the important role that design plays in promoting education in New China. Educational toys such as building blocks and Kangle chess produced by the Shanghai Zhongyi Toy Factory, are aimed at developing children's minds. They not only embody the concept of "edutainment" but also reflect societal perceptions and expectations of "ideal children", and promote the popularization of art and scientific knowledge.

In addition to the design of children's toys, the design education and popularization in New China are also reflected in font design. Chinese characters had been in a mess, with mixed use of variant forms, which seriously affected the printing quality and reading effect, and even led to China's participation in the International Book Binding Expo being fruitless. In 1959, the Shanghai Institute of Printing Technology established a research office for movable type font design, specifically to carry out research and design work on movable type fonts. The font design of simplified characters, including Song II and Hei II, have made great contributions to the promotion of simplified characters and the standardization of Chinese characters and promoted the National Literacy Campaign.

At that time, the design served the general public, paid attention to the material and cultural needs of ordinary people, and embodies a sense of social responsibility and mission. The famous West Lake in Hangzhou also returned to the embrace of the people from then. In the 1950s, the West Lake underwent a modernization construction under the leadership of the government. On the basis of carrying forward the landscape characteristics and cultural connotations of the West Lake, service facilities were provided for residents to use, and the closed private garden villa was transformed into a "recreation park of people sharing". 

Faced with material scarcity, Chinese design pays more attention to pragmatism and practicality. Designs of daily necessities at that time are simple and elegant, economical and durable, meeting the needs of the public. This design concept is quite inspiring for advocating sustainable development today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the shortage of cloth resources, a trend of renovating old clothes and refreshing new ones has emerged, and everyone can DIY（do-it-yourself）to turn their old clothes into new clothes.

This exhibition also showcases the Women's Lenin Coat, which is the clothing of progressive women unique in that era. In the early years of the People's Republic of China, revolutionary enthusiasm among the masses was unprecedentedly high, the women's movement entered a new stage, and the trend of neutralization of women's clothing was obvious. Under the background of aesthetic diversification, the Lenin coat evolved from its origins as men's clothing to a style embraced by both men and women. It stands as one of the important symbols of gender equality in New China.

“Three spins and one sound”（“三转一响”）, a term used to describe the four essential items in Chinese households: bicycles, watches, sewing machines, and radios, are displayed in the exhibition. In that era, “Three spins and one sound”(“三转一响”) carried the life ideals of ordinary people and the pursuit of happiness of countless families. These daily products with relatively high technical requirements at that time also reflected the efforts of New China in balancing the development of light industry and heavy industry. 

"Design for New China: The History of Design in the Early Years of the People's Republic of China" will continue until November 15, 2024. There are still many surprises awaiting visitors to uncover and explore in this treasure trove of design history. We believe that after visting the exhibition, you will definitely gain a new perspective of the early design of New China.