Building in China Henry K. Murphy's "adaptive Architecture," 1914-1935

Murphy's buildings were compromises - "new wine in old bottles" as he once called them - and the book uses those "bottles" as lenses through which to understand not only Murphy's quest to find a middle ground for his architecture in China, but also to gaze at a tumultuous society facing an uncertain future. Murphy's buildings were more than vessels for either aesthetic visions or technical expertise; inadvertently they became political emblems, as Chinese rulers such as Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen's son called on Murphy for city planning advice to complement their hopes for urban reconstruction."--Jacket.