The current frenzy of change in China is represented by the explosion of activity in buildings, urban development and social change. Prof. Ruan also discusses the other, not so visible China, using the term ‘handmade’ metaphorically: as a kind of mentality towards life and mortality, not necessarily just a Chinese specificity.

Xing Ruan was born and educated in China, and has lived in both New Zealand and Australia. His research into the imaginings of modernity, and new architecture in China both by young Chinese architects and those from the west working in China, has resonance for designers interested in China’s rapid manufacturing developments. He is Professor of Architecture, and Chair of Architecture Discipline Group at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has published on architecture and anthropology, architectural education, China’s modern and contemporary architecture and is the author of New China Architecture (Periplus/Tuttle, 2006), and Allegorical Architecture (University of Hawai’i Press, 2006). He is co-editor, with Ronald Knapp, of the book series ‘Spatial habitus: making and meaning in Asia’s architecture’, published by the University of Hawai’i Press.