2021/12/25 Author: HDD
The Urban China (UC) magazine of Shanghai Huadu Architecture & Urban Design Co., Ltd. (HDD) has recently been awarded the honorary title of ‘Innovation Partner of the Year’ by Suzhou Design Week 2021. UC has participated in Suzhou Design Week (SuDW) for three consecutive years, presenting the ‘Hyper-China – China’s Acceleration and Compression Reflected by Rivers and Rails’ exhibition in 2019, a publication titled Enlivening Suzhou: Design Driven Strategies and Practices in 2020, and the exhibition ‘New Lili Ideal – Rediscover the Daily Aesthetics of Jiangnan Ancient Towns' for SuDW 2021. Held in the ancient town of Lili, the exhibition in 2021 offered a unique experience of the beauty of Jiangnan water towns.
Certificate of honour
The curation team hopes to present the aesthetic experiences of everyday life in the ancient town of Lili, other than images overused in tourism marketing. Routinely visiting Lili for in-depth research and frequent exchanges with local culture and conservation experts, residents and businesses, the team re-examined the cultural and economic history of Lili within a greater context of Jiangnan water towns. Seven pieces of work were composed and exhibited: ‘Literary Lili’, ‘Seasonal Diet’, ‘Ancient Rock Mooring’, ‘Soft Wu Dialect’, ‘Folk Customs’, ‘Along Shi River’, and ‘Integrated Jiangnan Ancient Towns’.
Through reconfiguring different features of Lili, the exhibition explores the social structure behind Lili’s ancient customs, uncovers local wisdom within the built form of the old town, and visualise the vitality of Wu culture in a multimedia language. At the same time, the exhibition discusses the positioning and development strategies of Lili Ancient Town in the context of the Yangtze River Delta Integration Plan, in a general discourse of the development potentials of Jiangnan ancient towns.
Exhibited work, ‘Literary Lili’
Exhibited work, ‘Ancient Rock Mooring’
Lili is listed as ‘National Famous Historical and Cultural Town’ and ‘AAAA Tourist Attraction of China’
The ancient town of Lili, dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty, has a long and profound cultural history, and was praised by anthropologist Fei Xiaotong as ‘the pearl of Jiangnan water towns’. Listed as one of China’s ‘National Famous Historical and Cultural Towns’, Lili Ancient Town has a unique spatial fabric and daily aesthetics. Located in the intersection area of the Wu region and Yue region, now the geographical connection between Suzhou and Shanghai, Lili Ancient Town was designated as one of the first ‘Demonstration Areas in the Yangtze River Delta on Eco-friendly and Integrated Development’. Positioned as an ‘international ecological art town’, it endeavours to achieve an innovative integration between cultural and creative industry, commerce and tourism.
Launched in 2018 and held annually, Suzhou Design Week aims to bring together international design wisdom and promote Suzhou’s new cultural economy. It has become a member of World Design Week (WDW) since 2020. Through global exchange and cooperation, SuDW strives to elevate Suzhou's design related industries, technologies, talents and infrastructures, modernize and globalize Chinese aesthetics and Suzhou’s cultural heritage, and present a new Suzhou to the world. In the urban scale, it seeks to facilitate Suzhou’s economic growth, bring vitality, and open up new horizons for the public.
