China’s transformation in the decades following its transition from Maoism is seen nowhere more dramatically than in its skyline. Indeed, the speed and scale of the country’s urban construction are unprecedented in human history. Just as up-to-date Western technologies and styles were introduced to Chinese port cities by American, British, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian and Swiss architects in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so architectural and planning ideas developed by designers in the West are reconfiguring public and private spaces in Chinese cities today. However, unlike the colonial setting in which the earlier transplantation took place, China’s importation of foreign architecture today is framed by the increased pace of global interconnection.

Not only iconic buildings but whole towns are being created by the world’s architects in China. Illustrated with a wealth of photographs and drawings, this book considers the work of these architects, many of them famous international stars, as well as the opportunities and challenges they face as they practise their craft in the world’s fastest changing environment.