A career by design
Exhibition shines spotlight on low-profile Tong Jun's key contribution to the architectural community, Zhang Kun reports.
Tong Jun's book marked the first time a systematic documentation of the gardens — including maps, photographs and records of the construction and inheritance — was done. While he finished writing the contents in 1937, the book was not published until 1963.
This part of his work is reflected in the exhibition at the Jiushi Art Salon. To pay homage to his grandfather's work, Tong Ming designed the exhibition space to look like a Chinese garden, complete with meandering lanes and cutout windows.
In 1946, Tong Jun began teaching architecture at the Central University in Nanjing (today's Nanjing University), and in 1952, when the country's educational institutions went through major adjustments, the architecture department became an independent institution, which is now called Southeast University where Tong Jun taught later. Tong Ming recalls his grandfather was "neither lovable, nor stern" and was always hard at work.
