Wu Liangyong, a renowned architect at Tsinghua University in Beijing, was presented the 2002 Prince Claus Award by the embassy in Beijing.

"In a world where traditional architectural patterns are being threatened by economic interests, Professor Wu endeavours to protect traditional living environments," said Philip de Heer, the Dutch ambassador to China.

"So we put the check into his pocket."

Wu is director of the Institute of Architectural and Urban Studies at Tsinghua University. As an architect, urban planner and teacher, he has played a significant role in China over the last several decades.

Born in 1922, he received his architectural degree from the National Central University in Chongqing in Southwest China in 1948.

In 1949 he went to the United States where he studied with the great architect Eliel Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. In 1951 he returned to China and began teaching in the Department of Architecture at Tsinghua University.

One of Wu's masterpieces was his design of Ju'er Hutong in the heart of Beijing in the late 1980s.

Amid blockades of residential buildings, Wu re-invented courtyards with dark roofs and white walls.

He has focused on preserving and developing traditional Chinese habitats amid rapid urban construction, said Wu at the award ceremony.

"To protect tradition is arduous work that demands the cooperation of people in all fields," he added.

Heer said: "Wu made generations of Chinese architects aware not only of the new architectural spirit that was taking root elsewhere in the world, but also of the sublime beauty and ingenious invention so (manifested) in China's own traditional architecture, and how the dialectics generated by these two could help shape our contemporary lives."

With his efforts to protect traditional architectural patterns, Wu is an excellent example of the "Urban Heroes" Prince Claus Award, which aims to support creative individuals who conceive and implement excellent ideas to improve life in booming metropolises, Heer said.

The award was established in 1996 to mark the 70th birthday of Prince Claus of the Netherlands, the late husband of the Dutch Queen.

It is presented annually to artists, thinkers and cultural organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Carribean.

This year, 10 laureates were given the award, including a musician, a cartoonist, a journalist and a poet.

It is for people whose work has had positive effects on a wider cultural or social field.

(China Daily December 16, 2002)