The original site of the Red Swastika Society : understanding the heritage significance of a national-level protected heritage site in Jinan, Shandong Province, China

Abstract

The World Red Swastika Society, also known as the World Swastika (世界紅卍字會), was a nation-scale religious social redemptive organization in China. Its mission was a broad based effort of philanthropy and moral education. Founded in 1922 in Jinan, Shandong Province, this society became the largest and the longest charity organization that originated from China. Now there are branches only in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the areas of the Overseas Chinese.

The Original Site of the Red Swastika Society (紅卍字會濟南母院舊址) is located at the south head of Shangxin Street of Shizhong District, Jinan, Shandong Province. The buildings on the site was built from 1934 to 1942. Designed by some students of the greatest Chinese architectural educator Liang Sicheng, this building complex itself is an excellent example of the “Chinese Renaissance Architecture” that was popular in China through the 1930s. It is one of the best representative of large architecture complex with mixed style of traditional Chinese palace and temple with late Qing Dynasty style, and is also the largest example and representative work of traditional wooden building complex with reinforced-concrete structure.

This dissertation will focus on the cultural heritage significance of the Original Site of the Red Swastika Society. The fundamental importance of understanding the cultural heritage values of a place for its future conservation is reinforced in the China Principles: historic, artistic, scientific, social and cultural (ICOMOS China 2015, 61). The focus of this research is on the historic, artistic and social values, as these are the cultural heritage values most relevant to the site. The author will firstly discover what the Original Site of the Red Swastika Society has witnessed in history. Then focus on architectural values in terms of the aesthetics (style), materials and techniques, and decorative symbolism. After that, the author will figure out the social values by analyzing the interview data. Finally, the author is going to summarize the findings on the cultural heritage significance of the site based on the three values, and recommend appropriate measures to protect or raise these cultural heritage values.