Shanghai is the starting point for the architectural dream of the great architect I.M. Pei (1917-2019).
In 1927, 10-year-old Pei came to Shanghai with his family from Hong Kong. He went to the United States to study in 1935. During these eight years, Pei mainly lived in Shanghai and occasionally went to Suzhou, traveling between the Jiangnan garden architecture with a specific history and culture and the modern landscape of an international metropolis. What traces of Pei were left in Shanghai? The Paper | Art Review recently made a special visit.
The queue for the exhibition "I.M. Pei: Life is like Architecture"
Shanghai is a city memory for Pei, and the multicultural experience became the embryo of his design concept of "interpreting tradition with modern language" in the future. It is known that the biggest influence of Shanghai on Pei is the International Hotel, which was completed in 1934 and is the starting point of Pei's architectural dream.
Old photos of the International Hotel
International Hotel｜It made I.M. Pei want to become an architect
As Pei later recalled, "I was deeply attracted by its height (the International Hotel). From that moment on, I began to want to be an architect." The designer of the International Hotel was the Hungarian architect Hudec, who had previously designed the eight-story Normandy Apartments (now the Wukang Building), the Grand Cinema and many other landmark buildings.
The designer of the International Hotel was Hudec, who witnessed the building boom of skyscrapers and large hotels in American cities. In particular, the Chicago Tribune Building designed by architect Raymond Hood impressed Hudec with its Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles, as well as vertical lines, ground floor terraces, and vertical long windows. He also wanted to realize his dream of building a skyscraper.
International Hotel Details
According to the design blueprint, Hudec drew inspiration from skyscrapers in New York and Chicago, and suggested changing the originally planned office apartments into luxury hotels, as he predicted that the hotel industry would be more profitable. This proposal was adopted, and the project was named "International Hotel" (English name: Park Hotel, because it is adjacent to Park Road), and this name is still used today. From August 1932, the construction of the above-ground part of the building officially started to June 1934, which took 22 months, which was already a very fast construction speed under the construction conditions at that time.
The gate of the International Hotel in May 2025. Photo by The Paper
Interior view of International Hotel
Today, standing at the intersection of Nanjing West Road and Huanghe Road in Shanghai, although there are already many tall buildings around, the International Hotel still has great momentum. Looking up, its outline is slender, and the top layer is gradually drawn up, reaching into the sky. Thinking back to more than 90 years ago, perhaps when the young I.M. Pei walked out of the Grandview Cinema after watching a movie, he looked up at the construction process of the building gradually rising with fascination, and the idea of becoming an architect emerged.
View of the International Hotel from Nanjing West Road, photo by The Paper reporter
However, Wang Lei, co-curator of "I.M. Pei: Life is like Architecture", found in her research that Pei's interest in the International Hotel was not only limited to architecture, but also because the main investor of the International Hotel was the Four Banks Savings Association founded by Chinese elites. And it was not located in the Bund, which was dominated by European and American corporate buildings, but in the city center. "This was a huge achievement for the Chinese at that time, which inspired his patriotism. He chose to engage in architecture, and also had a certain sentiment of 'saving the country through industry'." "The deep awareness of Chinese culture and nationality of their generation made Pei not only regard modern architecture as a Western concept, but also think about how to integrate modernism into China's construction." Pei's life-long achievements in works far exceeded the International Hotel itself.
Pei Xuan Mansion｜The owner is not Pei’s father, but “the pigment king” Pei Runsheng
Nanyang Road in Shanghai is a small street parallel to Nanjing West Road. "Bei Xuan Mansion" is located at No. 170 Nanyang Road. It is currently a high-end restaurant and hotel and is not open to visitors most of the time.
No. 170 Nanyang Road, Beixuan Mansion
Looking inward from the entrance, you can see a garden built in imitation of Suzhou gardens, with pavilions, rockeries, shrubs and cobblestone paths. At the end of the garden is a three-story Western-style villa. On the lawn beside the garden pond, there is a plaque recording the history of the building, which reads:
" Originally, it was the residence of Pei Zuyi (Pei Zuyi was once the president of the Bank of China and the father of the famous American architect I.M. Pei). It was designed by the Central Engineering Company and has a reinforced concrete structure. It was completed in 1934. It is in the Art Deco style. There are 100 characters of longevity in different fonts made of fired bricks on the screen wall at the east entrance. "
The nameplate on the lawn of the building garden. Photo by Thepaper.cn
In 1940, the 23rd issue of "Liangyou" magazine introduced how this building achieved the integration of traditional Chinese and modern architecture under the title "Oriental Architectural Patterns". All these elements seem to reflect the influence of Chinese and Western cultures on I.M. Pei. However, during the interview, The Paper found that the owner of the Bei Residence at No. 170 Nanyang Road was not Bei Zuyi, and more clues pointed to another branch of the Bei family - Bei Runsheng. And 1934 should be the time when the building began to be built.
Floor plan of "Beixuan Mansion" at No. 170 Nanyang Road
Bei Runsheng (originally named Bei Renyuan, 1870-1947) was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu. No. 170 Nanyang Road was built by Bei Runsheng for his second son Bei Yikui (named Xinglou). The eaves of the roof on the central axis of the main building of Bei's house have a pattern composed of "stars" and "city towers", which is a metaphor for the owner's name - "Xinglou". This is rare in Shanghai's buildings and is also one of the evidences that the building was originally Bei Yikui's residence.
There is a pattern of "stars" and "towers" on the eaves of the roof on the central axis of the main building, which is a metaphor for the owner's name "Xinglou".
According to the article "A Century-long Inheritance from the 'Pigment King' to the Real Estate Industry Legend" written by Shen Mo, "Bei Runsheng... the 13th generation grandson of the Suzhou Bei family, is the most prosperous and outstanding branch of the Bei family in modern times... Bei Litai, who is also a 13th generation grandson, has a close relationship with Bei Runsheng. Their sixth generation ancestors were brothers. As members of the Bei family, Bei Runsheng was called the 'Pigment King', while Bei Litai became a 'financial family.'" Bei Litai's third son was Bei Zuyi, and Bei Zuyi's eldest son was I.M. Pei.
Bei Runsheng
However, Bei Runsheng was from a poor family when he was young. He was introduced to learn business in the "Ruikanghao Paint Shop" opened by Xi Runru in Shanghai at the age of 16. The name "Bei Runsheng" came from his gratitude to Xi Runru, and his senior brother in the paint shop at that time was Yu Qiaqing, who later became famous in Shanghai.
Later, due to Xi Runru's advanced age, the "Ruikanghao Pigment Shop" was transferred to the management and operation of 28-year-old Bei Runsheng ( according to the "Wuzhong Bei Family Tree·Runsheng's 70-year-old Preface" Bei Runsheng said: "I was able to concentrate on the business, and at the age of 28, I became the manager of Ruikanghao, dealing with the world. This was the beginning of my family's fortune, and from then on, my family became a little better..." ). After China declared war on Germany in the "First World War" in 1917, Germany's import of pigments to China basically stopped. As one of the main agents of "Indanthrene" pigments in China, Bei Runsheng made a fortune by relying on the large amount of pigments he had hoarded before, and became the "pigment king" in Shanghai. It was also in this year that Bei Runsheng bought the long-abandoned Suzhou famous garden Lion Grove for 9,900 silver dollars.
Suzhou Lion Grove. Photo by The Paper reporter
After that, Bei Runsheng returned the "Ruikanghao Paint Shop" he had run for a long time to Xi Runru's son. At the same time, he began to invest a large amount of money in the increasingly prosperous real estate sector in Shanghai at that time. At one time, he owned more than a thousand houses of various types with an area of more than 160,000 square meters. Therefore, Bei Runsheng was also known as the "Real Estate King". In the early 1930s, Bei Runsheng retired from business and lived in seclusion.
The garden at No. 170 Nanyang Road has a five-cornered pavilion, which is also a metaphor for the name "Star Tower". Photo by Thepaper.cn
As early as 2010, the late Shanghai female writer Cheng Naishan wrote that No. 170 Nanyang Road was the residence built by Bei Runsheng for his youngest son Bei Yikui. The reason why Cheng Naishan's words are convincing is that her husband is the grandson of Wu Tongwen, the owner of the "Green House" on Tongren Road, and Wu Tongwen is Bei Runsheng's son-in-law.
Main Building, No. 170 Nanyang Road
Shou Yousen, a researcher and photographer of Shanghai alley culture, visited Mr. Lu, the grandson-in-law of Bei Yikui in 2020. Mr. Lu also confirmed that Beixuan Mansion was once Bei Yikui's residence. According to a property division document written by Bei Runsheng, the French Concession's Beile Road (now Huangpi South Road) was owned by three grandsons (eldest sons), and No. 170 Nanyang Road in the International Settlement was owned by six grandsons (second sons) each. The Lion Grove in Suzhou was a clan's charity house and ancestral hall, which was shared by the clan.
Mr. Lu (son-in-law of Bei Yikui's grandson) provided relevant evidence of property division. Photo by Shou Yousen, used by The Paper with permission.
Bei Yikui and his family lived at No. 170 Nanyang Road from 1940 to the end of 1948, and then moved to Taipei and settled in Hong Kong. In 1952, Bei Yikui's eldest son Bei Yuxin and third son Bei Yubing returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong with their families, but they did not live at No. 170 Nanyang Road, but at No. 134 Nanyang Road (Yulu, which was mortgaged to the Bei family by Zhang Lanping, the owner of "Yulu" for business reasons).
During the KMT's retreat to Shanghai, No. 170 Nanyang Road was occupied by lightly wounded soldiers. After 1949, as the world changed, No. 170 Nanyang Road was gradually nationalized. In the late 1950s, it was used as a dormitory for Shanghai Pharmaceutical Industry Company, and later for a series of different units.
The screen wall in the "Beixuan Mansion" is made of 101 "Shou" characters. Photo by Thepaper.cn
Although it has gone through different eras, the current "Beixuan Mansion" can still see the atmosphere of the past: a majestic brick screen wall made of 101 "Shou" characters, a magnificent winding dragon spiral staircase, and a double dragon playing with a pearl relief are all well preserved. This house is also one of the earliest garden houses in Shanghai to install a private elevator.
The Tianlong spiral staircase in "Beixuan Mansion".
Tianlong spiral staircase
The garden outside the house reminds people of the Lion Grove in Suzhou. In 1917, after purchasing the Lion Grove, Pei Runsheng bought a house in the east and expanded it. After that, he spent 9 years to rebuild the Lion Grove. The peaks and rocks remain the same, but the pavilions and halls are newly built with Western techniques. In the newly expanded area, a clan school and a family ancestral hall were added. Starting in 1927, when Pei lived in Shanghai, he often returned to his grandfather's house in Xihuaqiao Lane, Suzhou, and left an old photo of a handsome young man in the Lion Grove.
A small bridge in the garden at No. 170 Nanyang Road.
I.M. Pei on a bridge at the Lion Grove Garden in Suzhou, circa 1930s. Courtesy of Peikoff & Partners.
After Bei Run died of illness, Lion Grove was managed by his grandson Bei Huanzhang (Bei Yubing). In 1953, Bei Huanzhang and his relatives donated Lion Grove to the country. At present, the Bei Clan Ancestral Hall in the park still records this legend.
As for whether I.M. Pei's father, Bei Zuyi, had ever visited No. 170 Nanyang Road, given the family relationship, it is possible that he had visited for a small gathering.
Mingdeli and No. 378 Wukang Road｜I.M. Pei’s residence in Shanghai
So where did Pei live during his eight years in Shanghai? According to Shanghai history researcher Xue Liyong in his book Wukang Road, Pei grew up mainly in Mingdeli, Yan'an Middle Road, and after his father remarried, he also went to No. 378 Wukang Road, where his father lived (Pei's mother, Zhuang Lianjun, died of cancer in 1930, after which Pei Zuyi met and married Jiang Shiyun in Paris).
The Pei family took a group photo in the garden of Pei Zuyi's residence (owned by the Bank of China) on Fuxing Road (now Wukang Road) in Shanghai. Back row: I.M. Pei (third from left), Pei Zuyi (sixth from left), sitting: I.M. Pei's grandfather, Litai Pei (fifth from left), 1935. © Copyright, provided by Pei Qia
The reporter of The Paper recently went to Wukang Road, trying to find the garden in the photo. According to the clues provided in Xue Liyong's book, he went to No. 378 Wukang Road. He found that this house number is located next to "Wukang Courtyard". It is currently a 7-story apartment building. The 1st and 2nd floors are shops, which are now coffee shops and clothing stores. In the early years, there was a popular French bakery here.
Current status of No. 378 Wukang Road
As for the history of the existing building, Ms. Tan, a nearby resident, told The Paper that the current house was built after the 1970s and was originally a hotel for the Real Estate Bureau. Ms. Tan has lived in this area for more than 60 years and is unaware of the connection between I.M. Pei and this place. She simply said, "It's just an ordinary road that has been rebuilt several times. The old look is long gone."
The main building is currently located at No. 378 Wukang Road.
As for Mingdeli on Yan'an Middle Road, it is divided into Old Mingdeli and New Mingdeli. Old Mingdeli was built in 1927, and New Mingdeli was built between 1934 and 1938. In the 1920s and 1930s, it attracted many celebrities to live here because of its good living conditions. Judging from the time, if I.M. Pei lived here, his residence should be in the residence along the street of Old Mingdeli (now Lane 545, Yan'an Middle Road).
This is a three-story row house in an alley. At present, the plant carvings on the lintel, the curved pediment on the gable, and the sign with the words "1927" are still clearly visible, but the current residents are not very clear about the past when I.M. Pei lived here.
Mingdeli, Yan'an Middle Road (Old Mingdeli on the left, New Mingdeli on the right)
Mingdeli Alley, I wonder if there are any traces of I.M. Pei here.
If we want to have a clearer picture of where I.M. Pei lived during different periods in Shanghai, more relevant scholars may be needed to conduct research.
Tongji Huangpu Design and Creative Middle School (formerly YMCA Middle School, Puguang Middle School)｜Where I.M. Pei studied
As for where Pei studied in Shanghai, according to relevant documents, he studied at Shanghai YMCA Middle School and St. John's University Affiliated Middle School. Shanghai YMCA Middle School was later renamed Puguang Middle School on Sichuan Middle Road, and is now Tongji Huangpu Design and Creative Middle School.
Introduction to I.M. Pei on the bulletin board of Tongji Huangpu Design and Creative Middle School
According to the data, Shanghai YMCA Middle School was founded in 1901 (the 27th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty). At first, the school was located near the Baoan Situ Temple on Nanjing Road, specializing in business English. The first principal was Cao Xuegeng, the general secretary of the YMCA. In 1903, it moved to the Beijing Road Kenye Bank Building. In 1907, the third YMCA on Sichuan Road was completed and the school moved there. In 1912, courses were set up in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education, focusing on English and business. In 1914, American Matt funded the construction of a five-story brick and wood structure building behind the third YMCA. The ground floor and second floors of the building were the activity venues for the YMCA's youth department, and the third floor and above were school buildings. In 1951, the school was renamed Shanghai Puguang Middle School. In 2016, the Huangpu District Education Bureau and Tongji University School of Design and Creativity jointly established the school, and the school was officially renamed Tongji Huangpu Design and Creativity Middle School. At present, Tongji Huangpu Design and Creativity Middle School still uses this historic building.
The school gate of Puguang Middle School (formerly Shanghai YMCA Middle School) during the period. Photo courtesy of China Historical Building Protection Network
At that time, most of the school teachers were graduates of St. John's University, such as Zeng Xubai (a famous figure in the journalism industry), the son of Zeng Mengpu, the author of "Flowers of Niehai", and Zou Taofen, a famous publisher and editor, who were both English teachers. The famous dramatist Hong Shen also taught at the school.
However, when Pei arrived in Shanghai in 1927, the impact of the Great Revolution caused the students of Shanghai YMCA Middle School to go on strike. The school was closed for a year. In the spring of 1929, the school was reopened and changed from a senior middle school to a complete middle school, enrolling junior middle school students.
In 1930, Wei Que (also known as Wei Pengdan) resigned from the position of Director of the Municipal Education Bureau and Dean of the School of Education of Central University to become the principal. After he came to the school, he received support from Chen Heqin of the Chinese Education Department of the Municipal Council and obtained funding to reform the school facilities: update desks and chairs, enrich books and instruments, establish chemistry and physics laboratories, biological anatomy rooms and mathematics classrooms, etc., and have a 23-acre playground on Ouyang Road outside the school as a practice field for team members. The school once had an indoor swimming pool, and the basketball team of the YMCA Middle School was a powerful team that was popular in the Shanghai basketball world in the early days.
The exterior view of Puguang Middle School is from the China Historical Building Protection Network
The gate of Tongji Huangpu Design and Creative Middle School has basically been restored to its original appearance.
The school focused on Western-style education and enjoyed a high reputation in society. Most of the graduates went on to enter St. John's University, or worked in the Municipal Council or foreign companies; many graduates also took the road of revolution.
Currently, I.M. Pei's name is engraved in the school history of Tongji Huangpu Design and Creativity School. In addition to I.M. Pei, oil painter Chen Baoyi and artist Chen Yifei also graduated from the school.
I.M. Pei, Chen Baoyi, Chen Yifei and others all studied at Shanghai YMCA Middle School/Puguang Middle School.
Shanghai Chinese Art Museum｜Currently located at the Imaging Building of Changhai Hospital
For his master's thesis at Harvard, Pei designed a Chinese art museum in the new city center of Shanghai. Unlike the large roofs with flying eaves that were popular at the time, Pei conceived a flat, square concrete structure covered with marble. The museum's exhibition halls were built around a beautiful courtyard, integrating the building with the natural environment.
Exhibition site, model of the “Shanghai Museum of Chinese Art” (1946), a model created in 2024 by M+ and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for “I.M. Pei: Life is an Architecture”.
In two journal articles focusing on his contributions, his mentor Walter Gropius spoke highly of his former student's graduation project, believing that the independent courtyard patio garden and plain Chinese-style walls designed by Pei not only highlighted the "characteristics of Chinese architecture" but also "did not undermine the avant-garde design concept."
Exhibition site, Walter Gropius's article "Shanghai Chinese Art Museum", published in "Today's Architecture" No. 28
From the site plan exhibited in the "I.M. Pei: Life as Architecture" exhibition, it can be seen that the site is exactly where the Imaging Building of Changhai Hospital in Yangpu District (No. 174 Changhai Road) is located. This location was the old Shanghai Museum (then the Shanghai Special Municipal Museum) in the public building complex of the "Greater Shanghai Plan" in the 1920s.
The current map of Shanghai Jiangwan District (left) and the plan view of the location of the "Shanghai Museum of Chinese Art" (1946) in the exhibition (right). The comparison shows that the road network remains the same, and the location of the "Shanghai Museum of Chinese Art" is now the imaging building of Changhai Hospital in Yangpu District.
Comparing with the current map of Shanghai Jiangwan area, we can still see the road network of the "Greater Shanghai Plan" at that time. The "Greater Shanghai Plan" adopted in July 1929 defined the city center of the "Shanghai Special City" as the area of about 7,000 acres north of Xiangyin Road, south of Zhayin Road, east of Songhu Road, and west of Zhounan Tenth Map and Yiwu Map in Jiangwan District, northeast of Shanghai city. The city center zoning plan divides this area into political districts, commercial districts and residential districts. Important public buildings such as the city government, including the city library and the city museum, are located in the central political district.
Old photos of Shanghai Museum
The imaging building of Changhai Hospital in Yangpu District (No. 174 Changhai Road, the former Shanghai Museum). Photographed by Yin Shun (associate professor at East China University of Science and Technology, chief architect of Jingmu Architecture, who also contributed to this article)
The original intention of the "Greater Shanghai Plan" was to revitalize the Chinese area and compete with the concessions. Since 1929, the municipal government has gradually completed plans such as opening roads in the city center, building a municipal government building, a stadium, a library, a museum, a municipal hospital and a municipal health laboratory, and building the first phase of the Qiujiang Wharf. Today's Old Shanghai Museum was built in 1935 (the year when I.M. Pei set sail from Shanghai and went to the United States to study on the "President Coolidge"). It is a pair of "twin buildings" (and they were built at the same time) with the Old Shanghai Library. The building plan is in the shape of a "工". The museum is located on Fudongwai Road in the city center at that time, facing east to west; the library is located on Funanyou Road in the city center (now No. 181 Heishan Road), facing west to east. Both buildings were designed by Dong Dayou, director of the City Center Regional Construction Committee and architect. The main body of the city museum building is a reinforced concrete structure, with two floors in the middle and two wings; there is a double-eaved hip roof gatehouse on it, paved with yellow glazed tiles, and four floors high; the vermilion beams and columns are exposed, and there are platforms around.
The Imaging Building of Changhai Hospital in Yangpu District (formerly Shanghai Museum). Photo by Yin Shun
Interior view of the imaging building of Yangpu District Changhai Hospital. Photographed by Yin Shun
There are a large number of floral and plant pattern paintings on the ceiling of the building, combining the styles of Beijing's Forbidden City and Jiangnan style.
On January 1, 1937, the Shanghai Special Municipal Museum officially opened. The permanent exhibition halls include the History Exhibition Hall and the Art Exhibition Hall. However, half a year after the opening, the "August 13 Incident" broke out, Shanghai fell under the artillery fire of the Japanese army, and the "Greater Shanghai Plan" was also frozen. The Shanghai Special Municipal Museum ceased operations, and the museum building was also severely damaged in the war.
By 1946, when Pei received his master's degree in architecture from Harvard and completed his graduation project titled "Shanghai Chinese Art Museum", the museum had moved to the third floor of No. 1844 North Sichuan Road and was renamed Shanghai Municipal Museum. Since then, the old Shanghai Museum building has never served as an exhibition building again.
Why did Pei choose the old Shanghai Museum as the location for the Chinese Art Museum? The exhibition does not explain this, but Pei's design undoubtedly overturned the traditional form of the "big roof" with flying eaves and upturned corners that was commonly used by architects at the time. In a letter to his classmate Frederick S. Roth, Pei explained the original intention of his graduation thesis design: "I have always been thinking about how to seek the expression of regionality or 'nationality' in architecture... The difficulty lies in how to create an architectural language that is essentially Chinese without using any of the Chinese architectural decorative elements and symbol systems that we are familiar with."
At the exhibition, I.M. Pei’s letter to his classmate Frederick Ross
The Huaishi Hall of St. John's University in Shanghai (now the Taofen Building of East China University of Political Science and Law) is a typical "big roof" style. I.M. Pei studied at the Affiliated Middle School of St. John's University and studied engineering at the school. I.M. Pei always maintained a cautious attitude towards the "big roof" - it was this complex mood that drove him to continue to explore how to go beyond the simple imitation of traditional forms and instead interpret regional characteristics in modern language.
At the exhibition, I.M. Pei talks about his experience in Shanghai.
Taofen Building of East China University of Political Science and Law (formerly Huaishi Hall of St. John's University) Photo by The Paper
In the museum design proposed in Pei's master's thesis, he believed that the museum itself should allow people to experience art and nature at the same time, based on his profound understanding of the Chinese art tradition of "learning from nature". He creatively added a tea pavilion to the design, connecting the indoor exhibition space and the outdoor landscape courtyard. The tea pavilion is located in the central courtyard and can be entered by the slope connecting the upper and lower floors. This design shows Pei's concept of museum architecture - it should be a complex space that integrates art display, natural experience and social and cultural exchange.
I.M. Pei, Sectional drawing of the design for the Chinese Art Museum in Shanghai for his master's thesis at Harvard Graduate School of Design, 1946. Courtesy of the Francis Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
This early, unbuilt design has many connections with the Suzhou Museum, which was built 60 years later, including the concept of designing an art exhibition space with cultural characteristics and using natural elements to connect the indoor and outdoor environments.
The lobby of Suzhou Museum (2000–2006) frames the main landscape, including the stone landscape in the garden, Suzhou, 2021. Photo: Tian Fangfang. Commissioned by M+, 2021. © Tian Fangfang
From the experiment of implanting Chinese elements within the framework of Bauhaus in 1946 to the reconstruction of the spatial experience and cultural genes of Jiangnan with modern technology in 2006, I.M. Pei's "globalization" is not a mix of forms, but an "experience" of space and a sense of Chinese tradition - he designs not only buildings, but also spaces.
During the "May 18th International Museum Day", people visited the exhibition "I.M. Pei: Life is a Building".
The "I.M. Pei: Life as Architecture" exhibition currently being held at the Power Station of Art (PSA) in Shanghai has a long queue for entry every day. During the two-day weekend of International Museum Day, the number of visitors exceeded 12,000, setting a record in the history of the museum. The exhibition will last until July 27.
It is reported that on June 19, 2025, M+ and the Shanghai Museum of Power Station of Art will co-host a public lecture, inviting I.M. Pei's son Li-chung Pei (partner and founder of I.M. Pei Architects, architect) and artist Xu Bing to engage in a dialogue to reveal the inspiration and influence of art on I.M. Pei, as well as his collaboration with artists in the process of architectural design.
