The Bauhaus and China: Present, Past, and Future

In 2011 the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou opened a semipermanent Bauhaus exhibition based on a large collection of modern European design acquired by the city. This article uses a review of the exhibition and recent related literature in China to reflect on the complex reception of the Bauhaus in China since the early twentieth century, exploring multiple points of transmission over an extended duration. Analysis of this history is then used to assess the uses to which the narrative of the Bauhaus is being put to work in modern China.