WANG DA-HONG'S PROJECT “SELENE MONUMENT TO MAN'S CONQUEST OF THE MOON” IN THE CHINESE CULTURAL RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT

Abstract

 Taiwanese architect Wang Da-Hong designed and promoted the Selene Monument project during the 1960s and 1970s. The monument was to commemorate the first lunar landing achieved by the US Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Wang wanted the monument not only to celebrate the achievements of American science and technology, but also to pay tribute to the spirit of Chinese culture. The project can also be perceived as a way Wang found to search for the essential idea, the Chineseness. This paper will analyze the contents of the Selene project, including its promotion and design, by examining documents and drawings from the Wang Da-Hong collection of the National Taiwan Museum. After an overview of the entire project, it can be said that the Selene project was a highly political and ideological project, but Wang kept a certain distance from any political and ideological discussions during the Cold War era and he stressed the autonomy of architecture by advocating its spiritual values. Also, the Selene project represents the mutual existence of relative matters and reveals the sense of mystique as an essential idea behind Wang's conception of Chineseness.