Sun Xiaoxiang (1921-2018) - The Father of Modern Landscape Architecture in China

Sun Xiaoxiang (1921–2018) concluded his career with ‘solitary cultivation and silent dedication.’ Spanning over 70 years, his career mirrored the modernisation of Chinese landscape architecture. Trained in horticulture during the Republican era, Sun rose to prominence in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. His designs for the Hangzhou Botanical Garden and Viewing Fish at Flower Harbour Park helped define a Chinese socialist landscape style, merging art and science, that diverged from Soviet models. Although Soviet experts critiqued his work as lacking Chineseness, Sun’s approach marked a pivotal shift in design philosophy. The Cultural Revolution led to a career vacuum, but the reform era in the 1980s reopened international engagement. Sun gained global recognition, notably bridging the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture with IFLA and earning the title ‘the first teacher of landscape architecture in China’ from Carl Steinitz. His paintings and lectures abroad served as cultural diplomacy, presenting Western audiences with a literati-rooted vision of the Chinese landscape. While he led the field toward broader concepts such as ‘Earthscape,’ his ambition to institutionalise it as a discipline remained unrealised. Despite completing 25 projects, many of his visions were altered or unbuilt—however, affirming his commitment to non-iconographic, time-tested design. This research traces the career of Sun Xiaoxiang, whose work was shaped by shifting social and political contexts that emphasised nationalism, science, and service to the people at different moments in time. The study also highlights the complex tensions between “new” and “traditional” approaches in Sun’s perspectives with younger generations, thereby unpacking the evolving dimensions and conceptualisations of contemporary landscape architecture in China. By following Sun’s path across successive political eras, this research explores intergenerational dynamics and underscores how Chinese landscape architecture continues to develop between tradition and modernity, as well as between national identity and global engagement.