Hang Zhang

"Architecture Witnessed The Violence Of The War"

Section MS1, Kamil Dalkir

Keywords: architecture, colonialism, evidence, warfare

In 2020, due to the release of the movie "Eight Hundred", the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese people was rekindled. Everyone's eyes once again focused on China's history of being invaded by imperialism. With the rapid economic growth of China, overall national strength is also rising, and the people's national pride is also unprecedentedly high. This has greatly caused instability in the region, and the patriotism instigated by the movie "Eight Hundreds" has fostered such ideas of war.

During World War II, war broke out between China and Japan. The Battle of Shanghai in 1937 was the first war between China and Japan, and the defence of the Sihang warehouse in Shanghai was the last battle in the city. People generally learn about this history through books, photographs, videos and even audio recordings, but the building itself is also a vehicle for narrating history. The wall on the outside of the Sihang warehouse was destroyed during the war, and the government restored its post-war appearance, through which people can still understand the cruelty. These walls serve as a carrier historical events. Bringing a three-dimensional and tangible aspect, this project aims to make evident the violence of the war by compiling the events before and after that took place in and around the Sihang Warehouse.