I.M. Pei, Building Modern China, American Masters Series 2010 (Grade A)

PBS Series Modern Masters says of this show ... "I.M. Pei has been called the most important living modern architect,  defining the landscapes of some of the world’s greatest cities.  A monumental figure in his field and a laureate of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, Pei is the senior statesman of modernism and last surviving link to such great early architects as Corbusier, Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe.   Entering into the twilight of his career and well into his eighties, Pei returns to his ancestral home of Suzhou, China to work on his most personal project to date.   He is commissioned to build a modern museum in the city’s oldest neighborhood which is populated by classical structures from the Ming and Qing dynasties.  For the architect who placed the pyramid at the Louvre, the test to integrate the new with the old is familiar but still difficult.  The enormous task is to help advance China architecturally without compromising its heritage.  In the end, what began as his greatest challenge and a labor of sentiment, says Pei, ultimately becomes “my biography.”"

sez says -- I couldn't say it better so I am just sharing with you their description. I might add that a man of remarkable charm and grace is also reveled  here and that meeting him this way was a delight.  Also, you get to see, at lest in part, the process of creating this museum. I'd very much like to go see it in person. (Grade A)