(IC)

Wang Shu, an architect in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, received this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize on February 27, becoming the first Chinese to win the prestigious prize. The prize, founded in Chicago in 1979 by the Pritzker family, owner of the Hyatt Hotel Group, is often likened to architecture's Nobel Prize.

"The fact that an architect from China has been selected by the jury represents a significant step in acknowledging the role that China will play in the development of architectural ideals," said Thomas J. Pritzker, head of the Hyatt Foundation, in announcing the prize.

"This is really a big surprise," said 48-year-old Wang. "I suddenly realized that I've done many things over the last decade. It proves that earnest hard work and persistence lead to positive outcomes."

Wang's work includes the Wenzheng College library at Suzhou University in east China's Jiangsu Province, which was completed in 2000 and won him the Architecture Arts Award of China in 2004. The work embodies his architectural philosophy— paying close attention to environment. It is also a reflection of the architectural idea of Chinese classical gardens.

Wang and his wife founded the Amateur Architecture Studio in Hangzhou in 1997. He now heads the Architecture Department of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and has taught or lectured at Harvard, UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas.