Iconic teahouse is a light show to cherish

Feng Jizhong's elegant bamboo pavilion reopens to public after two-year restoration, Zhang Kun reports.

The Helou Xuan, a bamboo house in Fangta Park in suburban Shanghai's Songjiang district, was named an outstanding example project for the protection of architectural heritage in Shanghai in 2023 by the municipal authorities of cultural relics protection.

The thatch-roofed pavilion supported on bamboo pillars was built in 1986.The 510-square-meter structure is 7 meters high, 16.8 meters long and 14.5 meters wide, and its high arched roof was inspired by traditional rural residences in the Yangtze River Delta.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1999, it was awarded a bronze prize for outstanding architecture design in Shanghai by the municipal government and was recognized as an important landmark of modern Chinese architectural design.

After undergoing a major, two-year restoration project, it reopened to the public a few months ago.

This is the first major restoration of the pavilion, an international award-winning structure designed by Feng Jizhong (1915-2009), a noted scholar of architecture.

Feng is recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern architecture, urban planning and landscape design in China. He was also a founding member of the architecture department at Shanghai's Tongji University, and the first Chinese scholar to become a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.