The problem of preserving the historical and architectural heritage of the Russian architectural and engineering school in Shanghai

The Russian historical and cultural heritage in China, which is valuable material both for understanding the general processes of the world architecture development and for shaping the diverse and fully international architectural landscape of Shanghai yas been studied. The article examines the areas and results of professional activity, as well as the most representative objects of the creative heritage of Russian architects and engineers who worked in Shanghai in the early decades of the 20th century during the so-called emigrant period. The article provides brief biographical information on graduates of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts and the Institute of Civil Engineers, as well as the Harbin Polytechnic Institute, which was founded by Russian engineers. Data on their preserved and lost buildings in Shanghai are given. The contribution of Russian architectural and construction culture and practice to the development of Chinese architecture is shown. The research scientific novelty is to introduce into scientific circulation the new information concerning various aspects of the creative and professional activities of the leading Moscow and St. Petersburg architectural and engineering training centers graduates as well as Harbin Polytechnic Institute graduates, which had a significant impact on the construction activities development in China. For the first time disparate data from the creative biographies of specialists being had different educational backgrounds, but being worked simultaneously in Shanghai in the early decades of the 20th century are summarized and presented together, which makes it possible to determine the influence of various architectural and engineering schools on the formation of urban planning.