I.M. Pei's Second Chance In China

"For I. M. Pei, the sprawling white stucco museum that opened to great fanfare here this weekend is both a possible swan song and a second chance.

The only other building he has ever designed in mainland China, a luxury hotel completed in Beijing in 1982, was a disappointment that he says was rescued only by its beautiful setting in the woods. 'I was saved by the trees,' he said ruefully in an interview Saturday afternoon.

This time Mr. Pei believes he has succeeded, he said. Returning to his ancestral home 100 miles northwest of Shanghai, he has designed a $40 million building that he hopes will help point the way toward a new type of architecture in the world's fastest-growing economy, a building that is Chinese in spirit yet ultimately modern.

'I've never done anything like this before, said Mr. Pei, the 89-year-old architect, who was nursing a cold and sipping from a cup of hot water. 'I've used gray and white, which are Suzhou colors. But the form is modern.'"