Dr Yinrui XiePhD · M.Arch · B.Arch · FHEA

Senior Lecturer in ArchitectureUniversity of Lincoln, United Kingdom

Architectural historian · Educator · Author

Writing architectural histories of China in the world.

I study how buildings carry ideas across borders—how architecture constructs identity, negotiates power and materialises transnational exchange.

Explore publications Research profile

Current positionSenior Lecturer in ArchitectureUniversity of Lincoln, United Kingdom

QualificationsPhD · M.Arch · B.Arch · FHEAArchitectural history, design and pedagogy

Research geographyChina in global contextAsia-Pacific · Europe · International exhibitions

Research identityORCID 0000-0003-4688-7682 Transnational urbanism · National image · Diaspora

Research

A connected programme

Rewriting modern Chinese architectural history beyond the nation.

My work replaces the familiar binary of coloniser and colonised with a more mobile account of institutions, migrants, objects and expertise. It asks not simply what architecture represents, but how representation is produced, circulated and contested.

Migration, religion & urban space

Diaspora and place-making

How Chinese migrant communities built temples, associations and civic spaces—and how those places reshaped cities across Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Medan · Java · Britain · Europe

Historic photograph of Guandi Temple in Medan — Guandi Temple, 1885, Medan.

Exhibitions, representation & power

Architecture and national image

How pavilions and exhibitions turned architecture into a medium through which competing images of China were produced, circulated and contested.

St Louis · New York · Osaka · Hong Kong

Historic photograph of the Chinese Pavilion at the 1982 Knoxville International Energy Exposition — Chinese Pavilion at the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, 1982.

Universities, hotels & cultural exchange

Institutions and modernity

How universities, hotels and other cross-cultural institutions negotiated architectural modernity, cultural identity and power in twentieth-century China.

Nanjing · Chengdu · Guangzhou · Beijing

Historic photograph of the University of Nanking Science Building — University of Nanking, Science Building, front façade, c. 1930.

The monograph · 2025

Design as
Communication

An Architectural History of Christian Universities in China

A new account of how architecture communicated institutional identities across profound cultural distance. Rather than treating “Chinese style” as a stable visual language, the book follows the negotiations among missionaries, architects, patrons, students and audiences that made it meaningful.

View at Routledge

Selected work

Articles · Chapters · Proceedings

Selected publications

Modern China read through campuses, hotels, temples, cities and international exhibitions.

012026Journal articleDisplaying the People’s RepublicThe Architecture of the Chinese Pavilion at the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, 1982Yinrui Xiearq: Architectural Research Quarterly 29National image 022025Journal articleBeyond ChinatownChinese Diaspora, the Transition of Power, and the Planning of Medan in the Dutch East IndiesWith Amanda AchmadiPlanning Perspectives 40Diaspora 032024Journal articleTowards a Chinese Christian UniversityThe University of Nanking, 1912–31Yinrui XieArchitectural History 67Institutions 042024Journal articleMaterialised Power and Transitioning ModernityThe Architecture of Beijing Hotel, 1917–1974Yinrui XieThe Journal of Architecture 29Modernity 052022Journal articleChina on DisplayThe Architecture of the Chinese Pavilion at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase ExpositionYinrui Xiearq: Architectural Research Quarterly 26Exhibitions 062022Journal articlePlanning a Christian Campus in Quasi-Colonial ChinaLingnan University, Guangzhou, 1904–1931With Paul WalkerPlanning Perspectives 37Campus 072021Journal articleChinese and Christian?The Architecture of West China Union UniversityWith Paul WalkerThe Journal of Architecture 26Institutions 082024Book chapterA ‘Spiritual Home’ Far away from HomeThe Chinese Temples in Colonial Medan, Dutch East IndiesWith Amanda AchmadiArchitectural Encounters in Asia PacificDiaspora 092025ProceedingsA Study on the Architecture of Chinese Temples in the UKAn AI-assisted visual analysisYinrui XieInternational Symposium on World Architectural HistoryMethod

Current directions

The next questions

Three linked projects extend the same enquiry: how architecture makes identities work across institutions, territories and publics.

01Funded research

Chinese temples in Britain

Mapping how ethnic Chinese communities convert, share and remake buildings to sustain religious life—and how these spaces become cultural nodes within British cities.

British AcademyPrincipal Investigator · 2024–26

02Book project

Representing China on the world stage

A history of how successive Chinese states used international exhibitions to make national image an operable architectural project.

1904—1982Pavilions · Objects · Expertise

03Research programme

China beyond borders

Tracing the spatial networks of Chinese diaspora place-making across Asia-Pacific and Europe through archives, fieldwork and visual analysis.

Transnational urbanismTemples · Commerce · Cities

Teaching

Architecture as enquiry

“I teach history and design as two ways of asking the same question: how can architecture make relationships visible?”

Leadership & supervision

Building an inclusive studio culture

PhD and M.Arch supervision; final-year BArch teaching lead; programme leadership for the Lincoln–Hong Kong Design Institute partnership; undergraduate dissertation coordination.

Teaching across fields

History, research and design

Courses span global and modern architectural history, research methods, architectural humanities and design studios from first year through postgraduate level.

Fellow of the Higher Education AcademyFHEA · 2024“Full Score Class” Teaching AwardBJUT · 2022

Profile

Scholar, teacher
and designer.

Trained in architecture at Tsinghua University and in architectural history at the University of Melbourne, I combine the close reading of buildings with archival research, fieldwork and cross-cultural theory.

Academic appointments

2023—presentSenior Lecturer in Architecture

University of Lincoln, United Kingdom

2021—2023Lecturer in Architecture

Beijing University of Technology, China

2019—2021Academic Teaching Staff

The University of Melbourne, Australia

Education

2017—21PhD in Architectural History

University of Melbourne

2010—16B.Arch & M.Arch (Distinction)

Tsinghua University

Contact

Let’s continue
the conversation.

xieyr14@gmail.com ORCID University profile