Blossoms is a novel published by Jin Yucheng in 2013 and is currently regarded as a representative work of Shanghai urban literature in China. The novel is told from three different points of view: before and after the Cultural Revolution and in the 1990s. The primary setting is the activities and living spaces of the three protagonists, who are friends. The novel includes descriptions and illustrations of multi-dwelling housing in Shanghai from the 1930s to the 1970s, including old lilong housing, new lilong housing, apartment, Workers’ Village. These types of multi-dwelling housing symbolized the social status of the protagonists, and the protagonists' move to different residences during the Cultural Revolution signified a change in status. This study analyzes Blossoms from an architectural perspective to examine the types of multi-dwelling housing in modern Shanghai. It aims to understand the formation background of each multi-dwelling kind of housing, related urban planning and policies, and architectural characteristics such as floor plans, structures, and materials to better understand the urban residential culture and life of Shanghai residents at that time.

The purpose of the present study is to figure out what the issues faced by architecture were at the time immediately before the transition to modern era centering of the works of Otto Wagner who acted in Vienna, Austria at the Fin de siècle. Therefore, the following points were examined in the present study; first, how were new spaces necessary to accommodate modern lives organized and how were the plans changed; second, how did the external expressions of architecture pursued by Otto Wagner appeared between arts and technologies, between historicism and modernity, and between decorations and functions. Through the study, it could be seen that Wagner began from historicism and traditionalism and tried to compromise them with modernity. Many modern characteristics appeared a priori in Wagner’s works from the construction of ‘Linke Wien Zeile housing block’ in 1898, his works completely broke from the typical historicism styles to open the period of inventive ‘Secession styles.’ At that time, Wagner concentrated on so called ‘flat decorations.’ Thereafter, his residential architecture completed to modern styles with ‘Neustiftgasse housing block’ as the peak. The characteristics of modern housing as above became a cornerstone of the modern functionalism later.