Peking Union Medical College Image

The Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) of course still exists in Peking between Wangfujing (Morrison Street) and the monstrosity that is the Oriental Plaza and the Grand Hyatt. To see it now you have to get up close which is a shame as it’s lines and design were excellent at the time and still look good despite the inevitable add ons that afflict all hospitals as they expand. PUMC was founded by a collection of religious and missionary groups with the Chinese government in 1906 but, from 1915, was largely funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

I’m never slow to get a plug in, but this one is a useful tale. My current book project is a full reinvestigation of the 1937 murder in Peking of Pamela Werner. Her lifeless and mutilated body was brought to the PUMC for an autopsy. Pamela’s father was the former British diplomat and Sinologist ETC Werner. Werner also sat on the Chinese Historiographical body and was very influential with the Chinese government about matters Sinological. Look at the picture below and you’ll note that the buildings of PUMC are generally western in design – indeed they could be any late 19th/early 20th century hospital buildings in any European or American city. However, the roofs feature traditional Chinese upturned eaves. These were added after Werner advised the Chinese government that to maintain the regularity and consistency of the traditional Peking skyline these eaves should be added to the modernist Western style buildings. They agreed, the eaves were added and very nice they are too. Of course a later government (i.e. the one now) dedicated itself to totally fucking up the skyline of Peking irreparably with, first, imported Stalinist wedding cake designs from the USSR and, more recently, desperate attempts to look ‘modern’ and construct no building that does not totally dwarf ordinary people and remind them of where the power and wealth reside.

Still, the thing that does rather puzzle me is, who would come to Peking and buy a postcard of the PUMC?? Still, rather glad they did.

PS: here’s a few of those self same roofs as above today – due to new buildings you have to get the shot from across the street as you can’t get this perspective anymore. But at least the roofs remain.