China’s foreign aid architecture in a transitional period, 1964–1976

This paper reviews China’s foreign aid architecture in a transitional period, from 1964 to 1976. After Zhou Enlai’s 1964 trip to Africa and Asia, China’s foreign aid architecture was increasingly used as an important diplomatic tool, echoing with the shift of China’s foreign policy from the export of revolution to the export of peaceful development. In these years before Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, both a “Maoist pragmatism” in foreign policy and a “Chinese modernism” in architectural design matured in relation to each other. This paper examines the evolution of China’s foreign policy, foreign aid architecture, and the associated multidirectional knowledge exchange between China and other countries in this period. Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) Terminus in Dar es Salaam built in 1976 is selected for an in-depth case study to demonstrate the presence of a Chinese modernism in architecture as an alternative approach to the Western post-war modernist trends.