The Evolution of the Concept of 'Design' in PRC Chinese Academic Discourse: A Case of Fashion Design

摘要

This article explores the evolution of the concept of 'design' in Chinese academic discourse and how contextual factors affected the concept's development. It both gives a broader view of all design-relevant programmes, and also uses fashion design as a case study to demonstrate how the teaching contents of design programmes change. Since the PRC's establishment, 'design' has had two main corresponding Chinese words. Until the 1970s the term was gongyi meishu; since then sheji has been used. During Mao's era, the key debate was whether design was about traditional handicrafts or modern mechanical products; post-Mao, the question is whether design is an artistic or scientific activity. But in general, for over twenty years, in the PRC design has been misunderstood as 'drawing'. Through a case study of fashion design programmes, this article argues that the split of design into Arts and Engineering was initially a competition between artistic-oriented universities and engineering-oriented universities. Through a textual analysis of 'learning objectives', 'core subjects' and 'the learning outcome' of programmes listed in the National Catalogue, I argue that fashion design curricula in both disciplines are now moving toward a more comprehensive, innovation-driven and international vision.