Photography in Art Promotion: Framing Chinese Architecture as Art in Peking The Beautiful, 1927

This article examines how photography elevated Chinese architecture to the status of art in the early 20th century, focusing on Peking the Beautiful, a photography volume published by American photographer Herbert Clarence White in 1927. Despite its academic value, the book has received little scholarly attention. The study explores whether photography can be considered art and its role in shaping its subjects into art. Utilizing Hu Shih’s introduction and the book’s visual and textual content, the article analyses Peking the Beautiful from the perspectives of institutional recognition, aesthetic experience, semiotics, and ontology. It argues that the book, supported by cultural institutions and the photographer’s efforts, reframes Chinese architecture from mere craftsmanship to art, playing a crucial role in the heritagization of Chinese architecture.