As the architectural art of Taiwan can only be considered in connection with that of the mainland, the authoress, who is well known through her researches on East Asiatic art. starts off with a concisely formulated outline of Chinese architectural history in which she, in common with other authors, distinguishes a Southern Chinese from a Northern Chinese style. The interpretations she gives of the two forms of style, which are to be found side by side in present-day Taivan, are convincing. In the"Summary' she writes: "In Chinese architecture, Northern style represents the power of the rulers a Southern style, freedom from government interference. When in the 16th century, the Chinese from the southern coastal provinces began to migrate to Taiwan, they took with them their architecture with its elaborately curved and decorated roofs, as a symbol of their cultural superiority. After 1947. the mainland Chinese used the so called Renaissance patterned after the Northern style for the government buildings. These two poles of architecture on Tawan, the Peking Palace e and the uniquely consistent variant of the Southern style, suggest that architectural styles arise from historical situations, to which they, in turn, sve visual and usting expression,' with acute perceptiveness the authoress recognizes, moreover, that for the oinese who came from the maintand at the end of the war, the fostering of their tradtional architecture is confirmation of the fact that they are living in a free country. The architect art contributes to making Taiwan into a new That is why one tries to impose on home it the features of the one." Unlike the authoress, the reviewer does not see in that an old accent of'nostalgic architecture', but rather, a poutico urally necessary contribution to cult the creation of modet state which one hopes to be able to transfer to the mamland