About
Before joining the faculty of the Department of Fine Art in 2007, Professor Delin Lai taught at Oberlin College from 2006 to 2007. Dr. Lai specializes in modern Chinese architecture and has published two books: Jindai Zhejiang Lu (Who’s who in modern Chinese architecture, 2006), which was one of the ten books that received the First Architectural Book Award of China in 2008, and Zhongguo Jindai Jianzhushi Yanjiu (Studies in modern Chinese architecture, 2007). Professor Lai also published many articles in both Chinese and English, among them are “Searching for a Modern Chinese Monument: the design of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, 1925-1929” “Idealizing a Chinese Style: Rethinking Early Writings on Chinese Architecture and the Design of the National Central Museum in Nanjing” in The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (March, 2005, and March, 2014) and "Renewing, Remapping, and Redefining Guangzhou, 1910s - 1930s" in Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to World War II (Jennifer Purtle and Hans Bjarne Thomsen, eds., 2009).
Professor Delin Lai received the 2015 University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award in Outstanding Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity in the Humanities
Course Offerings
ARTH 270: Survey of Renaissance through Modern Art
ARTH 290: Survey of Asian Art
ARTH 331: Chinese Art
ARTH 342: Japanese Art
ARTH 335: 20th Century Chinese Artists and Architects
ARTH 542: Cities, Architecture, and Gardens of China and Japan
ARTH 542: Eastern Asia Landscape Art
ARTH 531/631: Seminar: Nationalism and Modern Art and Architecture in China and Japan
ARTH 631/531: Seminar: Modern Cities and Architecture in Asia
Conference Papers
* “Notions of Chinese architecture and their reflections in designs on both sides of the Taiwan Strait”, Opening Ceremony of the Center for Asian Architecture and the International Symposium, Southeastern University, Nanjing, Jan. 19, 2016.
** “The Traditional Study of Classics, Ming and Qing Pragmatism, Late Qing New History and the Historiography of Chinese Architecture,” Senior Academics Forum on Traditional Chinese Architectural History, Vanderbilt University, July 23-25, 2015.
** “The National Peking Library: A Modern Construction of Knowledge, Cultural Identity, and Civil Space,” panel “Power and Identity in Chinese Architecture and Space,” International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), June 24-27, Macau, 2013.
** “Mediating Evidence: Liang Sicheng’s Representation of Ancient Chinese Architecture,” panel “Modern Media, Material Pasts: Photography and the ‘Object of Culture’ in Early 20-Century China,” 2012 Annual Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Toronto, Mar. 15-18, 2012.
* “Seven Worthies in Modern Chinese Architecture and Their Dialogue with the Tradition,” (invited speaker) The Third China Forum on Architectural Thinking, Shenzhen, Dec. 18, 2011.
** “Co-existence of the Old and the New and the Fusion of China with the West: Ritual Embodiments in the Post-Xinhai Revolution Period,” (invited speaker) China After Empire: 1911 Remembered, Harvard University, Cambridge, Nov. 4-5, 2011.
** “Walls, Public Sphere, and Chinese Architecture: the Dafen Art Museum in Shenzhen,” (invited speaker) Contested Ground: Visual Culture in China after 1989, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Oct.14-15, 2011.
Lectures
* “Form, Space, and Text: Studies in Modern Chinese Architectural History,” Institute of Modern History, Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, June 24, 2014.
* “The Discourse of Picturesque and Architecture of Wang Shu,” Architectural Institute of Taiwan, Taipei, June 3, 2014
* “Four Literati Architects: Wang Dahong, Feng Jizhong, Wang Shu, and Huang Sheng-yuan,” Department of Architecture, Shih Chien University, Taipei, May 28, 2014.
* “The Influence of Chinese Architectural History Study on Taiwanese Architecture since 1950, ” A keynote speech, Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians of Taiwan, Taipei, May 2, 2014.
** “Contemporary Chinese Art,” Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, Nov. 13, 2013.
* “The Architecture of Wang Shu in the discourse of the picturesque,” Southeastern University, Nanjing, May 27, 2013.
* “The Discourse of the Picturesque and the Architecture of Wang Shu,” Tianjin University, Tianjin, Dec. 15, 2012.
** “Traditional Chinese Garden Design,” Berea College, Berea, KY, Oct. 31, 2012.
** “Contemplation vs. Promenade: visual experience in Chinese and Japanese Gardens,” Garden Club, Louisville, KY, Jan. 11, 2012.
* “Seven Worthies in Modern Chinese Architecture and Their Dialogue with the Tradition,” (invited speaker) The Third China Forum on Architectural Thinking, Shenzhen, Dec. 18, 2011.
** “Styles of Chinese Calligraphy,” Louisville Public Library, Louisville, KY, Sep. 7, 2011.
* “Wall, Public Sphere, and Chinese Architecture: On the Dafen Art Museum in Shenzhen,” Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, May 25, 2011.
* “Space and Time of Feng Jizhong: the Design of the Square Pagoda Garden in Songjiang,” Tongji University, Shanghai, May 16, 2011.
* “The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Auditorium, A Preaching Space for Modern China,” The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Auditorium, Guangzhou, May 11, 2011.
* “The Influence of Ernst Boerschmann on Modern Chinese Architecture,” Tianjin University, Tianjin, May 6, 2011.
* “The Chinese Capital Marco Polo Visited,” Lecture Series “From Venice to Beijing: Celebrating Marco Polo,” Crane House, Louisville, Apr. 8, 2011.