The International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture (EAAC), co-sponsored by the Architectural Society of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, was held in Tianjin University (TJU) from Oct 13th to 17th.  

The chief of the EAAC organizing group, 25 experts and delegates, and over 125 attendees convened to promote research and international exchange of the architectural history and culture of East Asia. It is the highest level international academic conference of architectural history in East Asia. 

For more than a decade, the conference has been held every two years in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries and regions. Participants have expanded from East Asia to dozens of countries and regions in Southeast Asia, South Asia, North America, Australia and Europe.  

This year, the International Conference on East Asian Architectural Culture (EAAC 2017) was organized by the School of Architecture of Tianjin University. The theme of this year’s conference was "East Asian Architecture: Values, Inheritance & Dissemination", which explores the protection and inheritance of the value of East Asian architectural culture in modern society and the promotional role it can play in social development.  

Feng Shida, professor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong co-hosted the opening ceremony. 

Xu Subin, the president of the EAAC 2017 organizing committee, and professor of TJU, and Feng Shida, professor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong co-hosted the opening ceremony. Hu Wenping the vice president of TJU delivered a welcome speech, in which he elaborated on the development history and process of TJU as well as the School of Architecture and introduced distinguished alumni. 

Hu Wenping the vice president of TJU delivered a welcome speech. 

On behalf of TJU, Song Kun the vice-president of the School of Architecture of TJU outlined the agenda of the conference, and also he emphasized the value and significance of the conference.  

From the perspective of history, culture, economics, education or politics, globalization is a complex and tangible process, and has profoundly influenced the architectural culture of East Asia. Cultural integration, changes and spread have taken place inside and outside of East Asian architectural culture, moderately or violently, actively or forcedly, and directly or indirectly.  

On behalf of TJU, Song Kun the vice-president of the School of Architecture of TJU delivered a speech. 

The conference focused on issues and topics worthy of academic debate and discussion. What values ？？of East Asian architectural culture need to be protected and inherited through the process of globalization? How can East Asian heritage be inherited and utilized as a cultural resource for future development? And how can these values ？？be inherited and spread to the rest of the world?  

On behalf of EAAC founders, Zhu Guangya the professor from the School of Architecture at Southeast University delivered a speech. He reviewed the development process of the conference and proposed three key words: Values, Inheritance, and Dissemination.  

By: Qiu Ya and Qin Mian

Editor: Christopher Peter Clarke