China Art Museum

This guide to the China Art Museum in Shanghai opens with architect He Jingtang standing before television cameras, forced to swear that his crimson, crown-shaped design was not stolen. It follows his win over three hundred forty-four rival proposals for the 2010 World Expo, and the accusation that followed almost as soon as the pavilion opened, tying it to a Japanese architect's earlier Seville building. You'll hear the Chinese sources He pointed to instead, from an ancient wooden roof bracket to a bronze ritual vessel, and how the tiers above you carry that argument in their shape. Look up at the widening red tiers before you step inside.