Chinese industrial design from 1949 to 1979: The modernization foundation of Chinese design history

Abstract

Industrial design has been the main direction for the Chinese nation building since 1949, and is the centre of the modernization process of Chinese design history. In order to corroborate the timeline of Chinese modern design history and to reveal the real modernity of design history, this paper provides a perspective from physical evidence to corroborate the modern period of Chinese design history and to clarify the design works that can represent Chinese modern design. Based on this, 27 pieces of modern Chinese design works from the China Industrial Design Museum are selected as the corroborating objects for the case study, and the factors influencing the difference between Chinese and Western modernity are analyzed accordingly. The study concludes that Chinese industrial design from 1949 to 1979 can, to a certain extent, represents the historical direction of Chinese modern design history, and that the Chinese modern design style reflects the national characteristics of developing Asian countries. In addition, the context in which the modernity is located reflects a special modernity different from that of the Western world.

Keywords:

• Industrial Design
• China
• Modernization
• Design History
• Modernity

1. Introduction

Industrial design is a branch of design, and also an important direction that Chinese modern design focuses on. The question of whether China has a complete modern design and the specific division of the modern period of Chinese design history has been an important issue of concern to the international academic community. Although China has a long history of ancient design, the history of modern design in China is a late starter. The question of what kind of design can truly represent Chinese modern design has become an important issue in dividing the characteristics of Chinese and Western modern design. Through the analysis of existing design cases, we can understand the foundation and process of modernization of Chinese design history. This paper provides a new perspective on the development of Chinese modern design history through a physical evidence-based design history research method, and thus tries to reveal the real modernity composition of Chinese design history. The goal of this study is to collect reliable and solid museum collections to prove the existence of Chinese modern design in the history of modern design in the world, thus breaking through the narrative of the history of Chinese modern design in the context of traditional grand narratives. In terms of research significance, this study is of reference value for the research of industrial design history in Asian developing countries with similar contexts as China, and can provide a basis for promoting the comparative study of Chinese and Western modern design.

2. Background

Chinese modern design is a design event that occurred during the modern period in the Chinese context, and it is a design method that expresses national aesthetic interests through Western modern technology. However, in the first half of the 20th century, there was still a controversy among academics as to whether Chinese modern design actually existed. What is clear is that modernity in the Chinese context was introduced from the West, and there was no spontaneous modernist phase in Chinese design (Wang, 2005). Modernity is the intermediate part that connects the pre-modern to the contemporary, and modernity in the Chinese sense is apparently not the same as modernity in the Western sense, which means that the concept of Chinese modern design needs to be redefined. In this study, “Western design” refers to modern design represented by developed countries in Europe and the United States, “modern design emerged in Europe in the 1920s, and through decades of development, especially in the United States after the Second World War, developed rapidly, and finally affected countries around the world” (Wang, 2002). In the modern period of world design history, modern design in Europe and America became the center of the design history narrative, and western design became synonymous with modern design. The academic community often includes Western modern design in the Chinese context as part of the historical narrative of Chinese modern design, without clarifying the timeline and specific definition of Chinese modern design. In fact, the real Chinese modern design is the original national design that emerged during the modern period in China, not the Western modern design that was introduced during the modern period in China.

China’s modernization process was accompanied by the emergence of industrial design, and China’s modernization continues to the present in an unfinished historical period. The history of Chinese industrial design began in 1949, and the unfolding of the narrative of industrial design history is also the unfolding of the history of modern Chinese design (Shen & Wei, 2019). In the context of Chinese modern design masterpieces, China’s industrial construction went through five Five-Year Plans (see Appendix), including the first Five-Year Plan (1953–1957), the second Five-Year Plan (1958–1962), and the third Five-Year Plan (1966–1970), the fourth Five-Year Plan (1971–1975), and the fifth Five-Year Plan (1976–1980). Since the policy orientation of these five Five-Year Plans favored industrial construction and improvement of the national economy, Chinese modern design focused mainly on household goods, transportation, light industrial products, and heavy industrial products (see Table 2). In the Western context, the early 20th century was the beginning of modern design history, which ended in the 1965s. Since 1950, Europe and the United States have been engaged in modernist design movements, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design, and Organic Modernist Design Movements; from 1960 to 1980, Europe and Japan advanced the modernist movement, developing high-tech styles; from 1960 to 1970, the United Kingdom developed pop styles; from 1965, the modernist design movement ended, and Europe and the United States have witnessed the rise of the post-modernist design movement, while green design has been developed from 1970 to the present (see Appendix). In the Chinese context, on the other hand, the year of 1949 is the starting point of modern design in China, and there is no clear period of completion for the history of modern design in China due to the continuation of modernization. “If we take the years during the New Wave Art Movement of 1985 as the modernist phase of Chinese modern art, then the years after the year of 1989 means post-modernism, and this post-modern phase does come in a bit of a hurry.” (Hang, 2001) Obviously, the division of the modern period in China is not the same as in the Western world, and the modernization process in China cannot be separated from the advancement of industrial design, which is the modernization foundation in the history of Chinese modern design. As one of the representatives of developing countries in Asia, there are many Asian developing countries with similar contexts as China, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. All these countries have suffered from the colonial invasion and technological intervention of developed Western countries in the development of industrial design, lagged behind and followed developed Western countries in the development of industrial design history, and share similarities with China’s industrial design history in terms of their contexts. It is evident that this study can provide a reference value for the comparative study of modern design history in Asian developing countries.

The existing research results on modern Chinese design mainly focus on sorting out historical facts, but not on Chinese design. For example, Kwok (2021) used neon light design as an example to explore the application of Western design concepts in Hong Kong, restoring a part of the history of modern design in Hong Kong from the 1950s to the early 21st century. Lai (2005) narrated the design of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, where modern Chinese architecture is understood as the material embodiment of the modern country struggles. Dai (2014) has attempted to put classical Chinese aesthetic ideas into practice in modern Chinese design and tried to establish a modern standard of evaluation. The understanding of Chinese modern design in Chinese academia only emphasizes the introduction of industrial design concepts and methods from developed countries in a more systematic way through study and exchange at the beginning of China’s implementation of reform and opening up, i.e., in the 1980s, and lacks the elaboration of Chinese modern design in the real sense. It is obvious that there is a lack of research on the history of modern Chinese design, both in Chinese and international academic circles, especially the in-depth study of the modernity of Chinese design, which is an important direction that needs to be explored in depth.

3. Research methodology

The research method of this study is case study, and the main objects are the physical cases that can represent Chinese modern design from 1949 to 1979. As an important social science research method, the case study method is a preferred method to explore the “how” and “why” questions. In these situations, researchers have little or no control over the specific event and the focus of the research is more on the contemporary phenomenon (Yin, 2014). The modern Chinese design history does not coincide with the timeline of Western modern design history in the timeline of world design history. While the Western world has entered the contemporary period, China has not yet completed the modernization process that should be in the modern period, making itself in a composite contemporary period that is different from the direction of the world’s design history. As a result, this study aims to ask how this particular timeline distinguished itself from the Western modern design history, and explores what kind of design can constitute the authentic Chinese modern design history and why the development history of Chinese industrial design is representative of the Chinese modern design history. At the same time, this study also refers to the traditional research method of museology to analyze and reveal the characteristics and historical significance of the works in the existing museum collections. This is able to illuminate the differences in the meanings of the works exhibited by the museums, the ways of recording them, and thus, in terms of research significance, serves as a reference value for other researchers in constructing social meanings (Mason, 2006). On this basis, the authors chose authoritative and officially published design works as the research object, thus ensuring the reliability in terms of the research object.

Some museum collections of the China Industrial Design Museum are selected as design cases to further support the study of Chinese design history. From the perspective of existing museums in China, the tiger-designed ceramics collected by the Museum of Chinese Culture on Tiger-designed Ceramics represent ancient Chinese culture, and the industrial design works collected by the China Industrial Design Museum represent modern Chinese design. Yu Shen is the curator of the Chinese Industrial Design Museum. From the existing collection on official display and those published in publications, there are only 27 representative works of Chinese industrial design from 1949 to 1979 (see Chinese Industrial Design Collection Archives from 1949 to 1979, Shen & Wei, 2019, Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Press.). Based on this, according to the chronological order, a total of 27 design works were selected as design cases for this study (see Appendix). In addition, the design works with Chinese characteristics among them are introduced and explained. The design cases chosen for this study are representative design works from the China Industrial Design Museum to further explain the differences between Chinese and Western modern design.

The 27 design works from three periods that represent the process of modern Chinese design history are divided into four main categories (Table 1). To clarify, the three periods are the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and the four basic categories are household goods, transportation, small device, and large equipment. From Table 1, we can see that the number of original designs in the 1970s was the highest in the category of household goods, with five pieces; the number of original designs in the 1950s was the highest in the category of transportation, with five pieces; the number of original designs in the 1970s was the highest in the category of small device, with six pieces; and the number of original designs in the 1960s was one piece in the category of large equipment. In terms of overall numbers, the 1970s saw the largest number of modern Chinese designs, while achieving a breakthrough of zero in original designs for household items. Since the 1930s, Chinese industrial design has continued “reverse engineering” while unknowingly completing a series of innovative designs that reflect the values of national life and are full of “Chinese wisdom” (Shao, 2021). However, original product design for everyday use has gone through three stages of copying, imitation, and innovation (Zhu & Zhou, 2018). In terms of the temporal advancement of design history, it was not until the 1970s that a number of original designs with national characteristics were formed. Through the collection of this group of representative Chinese modern design cases and the analysis of special cases, we can have access to the real historical context of Chinese modern design history from the level of artifacts.

Table 1. Classification of Chinese industrial design from 1949 to 1979

Category Era	Household goods	Transportation	Light industrial products	Heavy industrial products
1950s 1960s 1970s	0 0 5	531 3 1	426 2 6	010 1 0

4. Modern China and Chinese modern design

The modern period in China is not the same as the modern period in Europe and the United States, and has a lagging historical character. From the periods of surviving objects in the Chinese Industrial Design Museum, the history of modern Chinese design generally takes the period from 1949 to 1979 as a time cue, while the modernization process continues and is not yet complete, the history of modern Chinese design and the history of contemporary Chinese design have overlapping periods, which embodies a special modernity relative to universal modernity. The formation of the works shows that the technological core of modern Chinese design came mainly from the Soviet Union, while the design elements were derived from traditional culture. It is important to note that the physical composition of modern Chinese design is dominated by product design and is closely linked to the daily lives of the Chinese people.

4.1. The modern period in the Chinese sense

The modern period in China began in 1949 and lasted until the 1980s. Art and design in New China went through two major stages: the first was the period from the founding of New China to the early 1980s, which was the period of restoration, development, wandering and transformation of arts and crafts, the predecessor of modern design; the second was the period when art and design continued to develop since the reform and opening up until now, from conception to maturity with continuous development and renewal (Xia, 2009). Generally, the former phase is the modern period of China represented by industrial design from 1949 to 1979, while the latter phase is the contemporary period of Chinese design history from 1979 to the present. However, these two different timelines have intersecting parts, and they do not present a linear time progression that is the same as the history of modern design in the West. In the West, modernity usually marks a break with the classical, but in the East, the issue is much more complex, because the culture and art from Asia was a contributing factor to the development of modern art in the West. For example, westerners found modernity in the traditional artistic attainments of Asian countries such as China and Japan, which contradicted the overall backwardness of Asia at that time in the process of industrialization as well as in the economic and technological fields (Zhang, 2019). The context of modern China is special, diversified, and characterized by jumps. It is not separated from the ancient period, but also continues the modernization period into the contemporary period. It can be said that the modernity presented in the modern period of Chinese design history is distinctly different in that it presents differences not only from the timeline of the advancement of modern design history, but also from specific design cases that reflect the national aesthetic style.

It is worth noting that Professor Liu Guanzhong of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University is known as the “Father of Industrial Design in China”, and he promoted the professional construction of industrial design in China. In 1984, Liu returned from a academic visit to the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Germany, and founded China’s first industrial design department at Tsinghua University, which gave China’s design discipline a new teaching direction. The systematized syllabus led to the modernization of industrial design education in China, and the students who were trained by this syllabus influenced the construction of China’s industry in the modern era. In the 1990s, Liu put forward the design theory of “Design Pragmatics”, advocating that the design process should focus on things rather than objects. His representative works are mainly focused on industrial design, including the design of lamps for Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall in 1977 (Figure 1), lamps for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 (Figure 2), the A-one UFO mechanical wristwatch (Figure 3), and the design of the “Structure” (Figure 4). In terms of design practice, Liu has contributed his personal strength to the construction of China’s industrial infrastructure and the beautification of public spaces and lifestyles; in terms of theoretical construction, he has made important contributions to China’s industrial design education, and his design theories have reflected on Chinese design and influenced the ideological orientation of the Chinese design community. Led by Liu Guanzhong, Wang Shouzhi, Hang Jian, Xia Yanjing, Li Lixin and other Chinese scholars, China’s contemporary period has witnessed the turn towards daily aestheticization with Chinese characteristics. Daily design is an important direction emphasized in the field of Chinese industrial design, and in the process of combining traditional Chinese aesthetic thought with modern Western technology, contemporary Chinese design will continue to develop a design style with Chinese characteristics.

Figure 1. The design of lamps for Chairman Mao’s memorial hall in 1977.

(Image credit: https://www.zhihu.com/question/64296381)

Figure 2. The design of lamps for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

(Image credit:https://www.zhihu.com/question/64296381)

Figure 3. The design of A-one UFO mechanical wristwatch.

(Image credit:https://www.zhihu.com/question/64296381)

Figure 4. The design of the “structure”.

(Image credit:https://www.zhihu.com/question/64296381)

4.2. The technical core of Chinese modern design originated from the Soviet Union

In the history of modern Chinese design, the most representative design work in the technical dimension is the ten thousand ton hydraulic press produced in 1961 (Figure 5). As a heavy industrial production equipment, the 10,000-ton hydraulic press is different from small daily item, and it is not only the basic equipment for heavy machinery operations, but also represents the basic production capacity of the country’s manufacturing industry. The 10,000-ton hydraulic presses produced in China in 1961 were mainly based on the Soviet Union’s heavy industry development model, and designers were sent to the relevant Soviet institutes and factories for on-the-spot investigations, and the welding technology mastered by the Soviet Union was introduced to China by sending students and interns. It was not until 22 June 1962 that the first light green and 16.7 meters off the ground 10,000-ton hydraulic press produced in China was officially tried out and announced to be in trial production on the same day (Shen & Wei, 2019). Although not directly linked to the daily life of the Chinese people, images of the 10,000-ton hydraulic press were used on teaching aids, toys, and some design elements of everyday objects. From 1949 to 1957, China obtained 3,646 sets of technical materials from the Soviet Union, while the Soviet Union obtained 84 sets of technical materials from China (Table 2). In the exchange of technical materials, although China and the Soviet Union adopted a preferential approach of mutual support, on the whole it was the Soviet Union that supported China (Zhang et al., 2004). The Soviet Union provided mainly design materials for construction projects such as smelting, mineral processing, oil, locomotive manufacturing and power generation; process drawings for manufacturing hydraulic turbines, metal cutting machine tools, etc.; and process materials for producing industrial products such as high-quality steel and vacuum instruments. Eastern European countries provided mainly technical information on industry, health, forestry, and agriculture (Zhang et al., 2004). It can be seen that in the early period of the founding of China, while the design and production of the 10,000-ton hydraulic press marked the development of China’s modern design with the foundation of industrialization, but the core technology of it originated from the Soviet Union and the country was still in the historical process of borrowing and improving. The introduction of Western modern technology played a significant role in the formation of Chinese modern design, made up for the lack of modern technology in classical Chinese design, modernized the traditional Chinese design methods, and thus formed modern design works that are different from the classical style.

Figure 5. Ten Thousand ton hydraulic press of 1961.

(Image credit:https://www.shanghai-electric.com)

Table 2. Statistics of exchanged technical information between China and the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1957

Exchanged Technical Information	From Soviet Union to China (set)	From China to the Soviet Union (set)
Construction Project Design Material Machine and Equipment Manufacturing Drawings Process Description Total	751 2207 688 3646	1 28 55 84

4.3. The design elements of Chinese modern design originate from traditional culture

The “555” desk clock was the earliest original clock design in China, and the designer Ruan Shunfa incorporated traditional Chinese design elements into the design expression to meet the functional needs of the rural market. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, “555” desk clocks were decorated with a continuous Tangcao pattern on the left and right sides of the clock case (Figure 6), giving the product an East-meets-West style. Later, influenced by the idea of functionalism, and taking into account the need to reduce costs, designers simplified the pattern, and used organ, geometry and other patterns, and then even removed the decorative pattern (Shen & Wei, 2019). This design element, the Tangcao pattern, is similar to the Art Nouveau design style that occurred in Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which is mainly taken from the lotus, Lonicera, orchids and other plant patterns and originated from the Tang Dynasty. In order to reflect the law of plant growth and the beauty of life, the Tangcao pattern generally adopts an S-shaped curve layout (Chen, 2012). In the design style of the “555” table clock, the interplay of traditional Chinese elements and modern technology can be seen in the combination of shapes, colors and elements. Among them, the mountain-shaped appearance of the series of table clocks has left a deep memory in the mind of the Chinese people. In addition, in the history of modern Chinese design, the “Panda” 601–1 radio produced in 1955 (Figure 7), the “Xingfu” I camera produced in 1957 (Figure 8), and the “Sunflower” silvery red vacuum flask with flowers produced in the mid-1970 (Figure 9) are some of the earliest original Chinese products. They are all original product designs with typical national characteristics. Although they adopt western modern technology, they choose traditional Chinese design elements, which ultimately reflect in their appearance a modern Chinese design style that is different from both western modern design and ancient Chinese design. Therefore, it is these original Chinese modern design works that can serve as representatives of the history of Chinese modern design.

Figure 6. “555” table clock of 1950.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

Figure 7. “Panda” 601–1 radio of 1955.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

Figure 8. “Xingfu” I camera of 1957.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

Figure 9. “Sunflower” silvery red vacuum flask with flowers of mid-1970.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

5. Factors affecting industrial design as the foundation of Chinese modern design history

Industrial design is the main composition of the history of Chinese modern design, and there are three main factors behind it. According to the context in which Chinese modern design is located, we can learn that the first factor is the need and policy guidance of national construction, the second is the introduction of the modern Western lifestyle, and the third is the special modernity formed in the Chinese context. These three factors have made industrial design not only the direction that was focused on in the process of industrialization in China, but also made industrial design works the main physical composition in the history of Chinese modern design. It can even be said that the history of Chinese modern design is an advancing process of the history of Chinese industrial design.

5.1. The real needs and policy orientation of national construction

China’s first Five-Year Plan officially began in 1953, based on the priority of developing basic industries and national defense industries, the initial route of design development in China focused on industrial design. The focus of industrial design was mainly on the research and development of heavy industrial products, which refers to the basic engineering design for industrial production, and light industrial products, which refers to the daily design directly related to people’s life. In the national development policies, the heavy industry in “156 key projects” accounted for 97% of the total, and the completion of these basic industrial facilities initially laid the foundation of China’s industrialization and led to a number of modern state-owned and private enterprises. However, the “156 key projects” placed too much emphasis on construction and production, overly imitating the Soviet model of development and neglecting China’s actual manufacturing level and the cultivation of its own R&D capabilities (Shen, 2021). These policy orientations have led to a physical composition of modern Chinese design history that is overly focused on product design. As a result, the guidance for the developmental path of design during the first 17 years since the establishment of New China in 1949 reflected nationalism in its entirety. During this period, Chinese modern design not only reflected the national policy oriented by the real needs of the time, but also reflected the aesthetic expression based on traditional design elements in the style of the works. The main path of nationalism was subdivided into cultural and material branches, with the former ranging from “socialist content, nationalist form” to “applicability, economy, and aesthetics under possible conditions” to “cultural and arts revolution”; the latter ranging from “applicability, economy, and aesthetics under possible conditions” to “achieve greater, faster, better and more economical results” to “design revolution”. These two orientations were influenced by politics and economics, and they were oscillating, converging and fusing into a single political orientation at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (Zhang, 2019). These two policy-led design development paths have influenced the historical process of modern Chinese design history, giving the stylistic qualities of modern Chinese design a unique national character.

5.2. The introduction of western modern lifestyles

In addition to top-down policy orientation, the introduction of Western modern lifestyles also influenced the change of Chinese modern design. During China’s modern period, the print media was the main medium to introduce Western modern lifestyles. Periodicals such as New Architecture, Arts & Life, The Young Companion, and Architectural Monthly not only published the design works of Chinese designers, but also those of Western designers, which played the role of intercommunication and exchange between Chinese and Western designs. The print media is not limited to the medium of periodicals, “the rise of modern mass media—news, film, wireless radio—must be taken seriously because of their ability to ‘standardize, homogenize and transform mass consciousness, and use it for purposes of deliberate propaganda by individuals and nations.’” (Hobsbawn, 1991) The spread of the Western modern lifestyle is even reflected in the medium of communication derived from modern Chinese design, for example, the propaganda role of poster design for product design. Poster design not only presents modern Chinese design works, but also conveys the Western modern lifestyle and attracts people to use new products. In 1978, Gu Shipeng, as the first senior designer in China, designed a series of product designs for the MAXAM brand, which focused on the design of daily cosmetics and became one of the most influential local original brands in China (Figure 10), while the Dragon Phoenix perfume was even exported to the French market in 1984, marking the internationalization of Chinese perfume brands (Shen & Wei, 2019). Chinese designers in the modern period returned modern design works with Chinese characteristics to the Western world, realizing the reverse cultural transmission of Western modern design after localization. In fact, for Chinese, the habit of wearing perfume in their daily life originated from the Western modern lifestyle, which spread through magazines, posters and other media (Figure 11). Gradually, this habit became a popular and fashion lifestyle and even formed a shared imagination of modernity in the social level. This imagination of modernity originating from the Western world formed a Chineseized modern lifestyle and a unique Chinese modern design style.

Figure 10. “MAXAM” Dragon Phoenix perfume of 1978.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

Figure 11. The poster of “MAXAM” daily cosmetics of 1978.

(Photo credit:China Industrial Design Museum)

5.3. Special modernity in the Chinese context

In the Western context, the term “design” represents the creative activity after the industrial revolution, but in the Chinese context, “design” represents the continuation of “arts and crafts” and the modernization in progress. These two terms are different subdivisions under the discipline of art, both of which form subdivisions of design history, but have different names and roots. Generally, the term “arts and crafts” also belongs to the category of design, but differs from “design” in that arts and crafts artists mainly use art techniques as the basis for assigning shapes to pure objects that exist in the living world, such as ceramics, bronze, iron, and so on. In ancient China, arts and crafts works were designed by hand, “the term ‘arts and crafts’ only really began to be used in the 1950s; before the 1950s, most used the term ‘fine arts crafts’ or ‘pattern’, rather than ‘arts and crafts’” (Hang, 2011). Patriotic movements, such as the New Culture Movement of 1915 and the May Fourth Movement of 1919, were launched to put modern China on the path of modernization and thus integrate nationhood into the world. Although these movements advocated the concepts of democracy and science and advanced the process of Chinese design history, these enlightenment movements were incomplete. Whether these movements aimed to learn about Western social systems or science and technology, the design history since modern China is still dominated by the regime’s direction, and the tradition of Chinese society is still not completely free from feudal ideas, resulting in some remnants of feudalism. By the 1950s, the arts and crafts were moving toward the batch method prescribed by the planned economy, and design creativity was still restricted by social and political factors, and failed to play a dominant role.

The history of Chinese arts and crafts is also a form of modern design history, but this definition is more in the period of pre-1980s, when the regional name for Chinese design was “arts and crafts”. The modern definition of “design” was introduced to China in the 1980s, replacing the traditional meaning of “arts and crafts”. The Industrial Revolution in the West marked the beginning of industrialization, roughly from 1760 to 1830 in England, from 1830 to 1860 in France, from 1840 to 1875 in Germany, from 1865 to 1890 in the United States, and from 1868 to 1900 in Japan (Shen, 2021). It is clear from the context of the production of the extant design works that the industrialization process in China only started in 1949. Obviously, the modernization of Chinese design history has the characteristic of lagging behind the world design history, and the special modernity formed has influenced the development of Chinese modern design history. While Chinese modern design learned from Western modern technology, it also allowed design works to reflect significant national characteristics through the combination with local traditional design elements. From the perspective of the physical evidence provided by the China Industrial Design Museum, the history of modern design in China began in 1949, but China is still one of the developing countries in Asia, where modernization has not yet been completed and continues into the contemporary period. In contrast to the linear time frame of Western modern design history, which embodies the context of universal modernity, Chinese modern design history is situated in an unfinished and multifaceted timeline: it is both tied to the traditional culture of the pre-modern period and continues to be associated with the reintegration of the contemporary period. As a result, Chinese modern design is situated in a special context of modernity that distinguishes it from Western modern design. Therefore, compared to the universal modernity of the Western world, Chinese modern design presents a special modernity, a special phenomenon of the Asian developing countries.

6. Conclusion

From the 27 works of Chinese modern design in the collection of the China Industrial Design Museum, the time cue presented is the period of Chinese modernity from 1949 to 1979, and this period of industrial design history represents the historical direction of Chinese modern design to a certain extent. Among them, the “555” table clock designed by a Chinese designer in 1950 is the earliest light industrial product (clock design work) with original significance; the ten thousand ton hydraulic press produced by China in 1961 is a heavy industrial product with a representative technical dimension; the MAXAM brand Dragon Phoenix perfume designed by China in 1978 was exported to France in 1984, representing the internationalization of Chinese perfume brands. However, the history of Chinese modern design does not end with the era represented by the surviving design works, but continues to develop with the modernization of Chinese society until it intersects with the history of Chinese contemporary design. This is mainly due to the influence of the five “Five-Year Plans” of the Chinese state policy, during the preparation and implementation of which modern Chinese design served the basic industrial construction and the daily life of the people.

Therefore, the physical composition of the history of modern Chinese design focuses on industrial design, essentially due to the special modernity of the Chinese context. The factors contributing to China’s special modernity, including the domination of state policies and the introduction of Western modern lifestyles, make this special modernity not only lag behind the history of Western modern design in terms of the chronological development of design history, but also differ from Western modern design in terms of the design style of works. Chinese modern design can thus be distinguished as original, i.e., modern design that is genuinely Chinese, rather than simply imitating the products of Western modern design. Chinese modern design expresses unique national characteristics, and reveals that the works are a combination of Western modern technology and traditional Chinese design elements. Chinese modern design is not the same as “Western modern design in China” in the context of modern China’s colonization by the West, but rather it embodies universal modernity in the form of a special modernity that is different from Western modern design, a particular context of modernity that is inspired by, and linked to, the Western world, and has similarities with other Asian developing countries with similarities. In this study, the history of modern Chinese design can be judged by the surviving design works in museums and the context of the era to determine the starting year, which helps to construct a design history narrative belonging to the modern period of China in the way of “History with material evidence”. It is thus clear that the history of modern Chinese design is short but real, and in terms of physical composition, the industrial design from 1949 to 1979 is a true representation of the history of modern Chinese design.

Correction

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgments

Warm thanks to colleagues at the China Industrial Design Museum and the Museum of Chinese Culture on Tiger-designed Ceramics, who have provided us with first-hand historical information to use in our research. They have supported our research in different ways. Our thanks also go to this article’s anonymous peer reviewers, for insightful suggestions for improvement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sihua Huang

Sihua Huang was conferred a Ph.D. in Integrated Design Studies from the Universiti Putra Malaysia. He is the curator of the Museum of Chinese Culture on Tiger-Designed Ceramics, an editorial board member of Art & Design Research, and a member of the Chinese Society for Aesthetics. His interests include Chinese and Western art history, design theory, fashion, art and cultural criticism.

Noor Azizi Mohd Ali

Noor Azizi Mohd Ali is a senior lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He was conferred a Ph.D. in Architecture from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia specializing in building typology, symbolism and architectural language. His fields of specialization are in architectural theory and design, landscape architecture design and design critique.

Mohd Sallehuddin Mat Noor

Mohd Sallehuddin Mat Noor is a senior lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture, University Putra Malaysia. He was a practising landscape architect and later turned into a researcher at the Public Work Department. His Ph.D. work mostly related to construction and the built environment, particularly in Green Procurement, environmental policy making, and knowledge management in construction project management.

Nazlina Shaari

Nazlina Shaari is an associate professor at the Department of Industrial Design, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. She graduated Master in Printed Textile from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London and a Ph.D. Kansei in Artifact Design from Chiba University in Japan. Her specialization is in innovating new material design for textiles and fashion as well as in product design, developing natural dyes, batik, and printing design.

Appendix

Modern Chinese Design Representative Works, Chinese Modern Design History Context and World Modern Design History Context

Table

Year	Modern Chinese Design Representative Works	Chinese Modern Design History Context	World Modern Design History Context
1950	“555” table clock	Land Reform Policy; preparing for the start of the Five-Year Plan for industrialization three years later.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1955	“Panda” 601-1 radio	Agricultural cooperative policy; in the middle of the first Five-Year Plan, the development of modernist design began.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1956	“Jiefang” CA10 heavy-duty car	The Three Great Remolding were basically completed, the socialist system was established and entered the primary stage; in the first Five-Year Plan, modernist design continued to be developed.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1956	“Beijing” BJ-212 light off-road vehicle	The Three Great Remolding were basically completed, the socialist system was established and entered the primary stage; in the first Five-Year Plan, modernist design continued to be developed.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1956	“Forever” PA17 bicycle	The Three Great Remolding were basically completed, the socialist system was established and entered the primary stage; in the first Five-Year Plan, modernist design continued to be developed.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1957	“Xingfu” -I camera	The first Five-Year Plan exceeded its original targets, changing China’s industrial behindhand situation and continuing to develop modernist design.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1958	“Shanghai” A-581 watch	The general route of building socialism was proposed, the Great Leap Forward and the People’s Communalization Movement were launched; the second Five-Year Plan was proposed, and modernist design was continued to develop.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1958	“Yangtze River” 750 motorcycle	The general route of building socialism was proposed, the Great Leap Forward and the People’s Communalization Movement were launched; the second Five-Year Plan was proposed, and modernist design was continued to develop.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
1958	“Shanghai” SH58-1 three-wheeled cargo car	The general route of building socialism was proposed, the Great Leap Forward and the People’s Communalization Movement were launched; the second Five-Year Plan was proposed, and modernist design was continued to develop.	Modernist design movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism.
Mid-1960	“Beijing” 825-3 monochrome receiver	Comprehensively restructured the national economy; in the middle of the second Five-Year Plan and continued to develop modernist design.	Modernist Design Movements were carried out in Europe and America, including Modernism, Good Design, Commercial Design and Organic Modernism; the Pop style was developed in Britain.
1961	Ten thousand ton hydraulic press	Comprehensive restructured the national economy; in the second Five-Year Plan, to be completed the following year, with the continued development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan advanced the Modernist Design Movements and developed the High-Tech Style; Britain continued to develop the Pop style.
1963	“Xingfu” 250 motorcycle	Comprehensive restructured the national economy, with the continued development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; Britain continued to develop Pop style.
1966	“Shanghai” 58-II camera	The Cultural Revolution began; the third Five-Year Plan was proposed to continue the development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; Britain continued to develop Pop style; Post-modernist Design began to emerge in Europe and America.
1966	“Hong Qi” CA770 car	The Cultural Revolution began; the third Five-Year Plan was proposed to continue the development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; Britain continued to develop Pop style; Europe and America continued to develop Post-modernist Design.
1968	“Shanghai” SH760A car	In the middle of the Cultural Revolution; in the middle of the third Five-Year Plan, modernist design continued to develop.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; Britain continued to develop Pop style; Europe and America continued to develop Post-modernist Design.
1970	“Butterfly” JAI-1 sewing machine	The first artificial Earth satellite Dongfanghong No. 1 was successfully launched; the third Five-Year Plan was completed, and modernist design continued to develop.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the Pop style ended in Britain; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design began to sprout.
1970	“Seagull” 4B camera	The first artificial Earth satellite Dongfanghong No. 1 was successfully launched; the third Five-Year Plan was completed, and modernist design continued to develop.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
Mid-1970	“Sunflower” silvery red vacuum flask with flowers	The first artificial Earth satellite Dongfanghong No. 1 was successfully launched; the third Five-Year Plan was completed, and modernist design continued to develop.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1972	“Peony” 2241 advanced radio	S. President Richard Nixon visited China, Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited China; in the middle of fourth Five-Year Plan, continued development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1973	“Yan’an” SX250 heavy off-road vehicle	Longping Yuan bred Indica hybrid rice for the first time in the world; in the middle of fourth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1973	“Hong Deng” 711-2 radio	Longping Yuan bred Indica hybrid rice for the first time in the world; in the middle of fourth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1973	“Wahson” FT35-1 AC table fan	Longping Yuan bred Indica hybrid rice for the first time in the world; in the middle of fourth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1975	“FEI YUE” 9DSI TV-radio	Longping Yuan bred Indica hybrid rice for the first time in the world; in the middle of fourth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1975	7501 porcelain	Completion of the Liujiaxia Hydroelectric Power Station, the largest in China in terms of power generation capacity, and the completion of the first electrified Baocheng Railway; completion of the fourth Five-Year Plan, continued development of modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1978	“MAXAM” dragon phoenix perfume	National construction was shifted to economic construction, reform and opening up were implemented, and a new period of literary and artistic creation was ushered in; in the middle of fifth Five-Year Plan, modernist design continued to be developed.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1979	“Evergreen brand” 50 pieces of blue and white porcelain with Chinese parasoltree tableware	Adjustment of the national economy; China and the United States formally established diplomatic relations, ending the confrontation; in the middle of the fifth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.
1979	Shanghai Second Daily Chemicals Plant pearl cream and Feng Huang pearl cream	Adjustment of the national economy; China and the United States formally established diplomatic relations, ending the confrontation; in the middle of the fifth Five-Year Plan, continuing to develop modernist design.	Europe and Japan continued to develop High-Tech Style; the British Pop style ended; Europe and the United States continued to develop Post-modernist Design, and Green Design continued to develop.