This month, China’s cabinet and the Central Committee of the Communist Party released a sweeping directive that prohibits the construction of “oversized,” “xenocentric,” and “weird” architecture lacking “cultural tradition.” The guidelines also forbid gated communities—presently the de facto template for upscale residential compounds—and call for future building designs to be “suitable,” “economical,” “green,” and “pleasing to the eye.” 

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The Chinese Communist Party has always been keenly aware of the propaganda value of architecture. In the 1950s and 1960s, following Mao’s rise to power, bureaucrats took wrecking balls to traditional homes under the rationale that the nation needed new buildings to match its fresh ideology. The old structures were replaced with Soviet-style apartment blocks, wide boulevards, and imposing halls that embodied the socialist spirit. “National form, socialist content” became the planning motto of the day.

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The state’s priorities have shifted yet again. Deng Xiaoping’s maxim, “To get rich is glorious,” has been replaced by President Xi Jinping’s command to bring “honor to frugality and shame to extravagance.” The decision to outlaw “odd-shaped” buildings suggests an effort to solidify China’s war on luxury in concrete and stone. The gated communities the government aims to eliminate—well-manicured compounds that look like oases against the nation’s industrial landscape—have sequestered the upper- and middle-classes behind layers of fences and security guards. They are stark reminders of China’s growing income inequality and run counter to the socialist ideals Xi has stressed. Not only will these isolated and ostentatious developments be banned in the future, but existing gated communities will be opened to the public.

At the same time, the government’s mandate seeks to shift construction methods over the next ten years to ensure that by 2026, at least 30 percent of new buildings will rely on prefabrication. The policy promises to flatten the differences between buildings and bring a more uniform appearance to China’s cityscapes, one that harkens back to the Mao era, when design was considered an unnecessary extravagance. (It remains to be seen whether this will apply to private homes, as well.)

The latest directive also reflects China’s renewed wariness of Western ideas. More than past leaders, Xi has turned toward nationalism and encouraged China to reconnect with traditional values as a way, some speculate, to combat the cash-centric mindset that has contributed to corruption. “We should be more respectful and mindful of 5,000 years of continuous Chinese culture,” Xi declared in a 2014 address to the Politburo. This month’s push to block architecture devoid of “cultural tradition” echoes Xi’s exhortation to artists, in another 2014 speech, to “disseminate contemporary Chinese values” and “embody traditional Chinese culture” in their art. Architecture is apparently no exception.

But the government’s new approach to its skyline is more than an attempt to celebrate the nation’s cultural heritage, or make a few aesthetic tweaks. Instead, it represents a shift in how China conceives of its place relative to other global superpowers.