A new Art Deco book that brought together Chinese and Miami Beach groups is being unveiled this week as part of Art Deco Weekend 2009.

Although the upcoming Art Deco Weekend will be a celebration of Argentine design, there will also be a dash of Asian flavor.

Two years after Chinese architecture headlined the annual Art Deco event, a book inspired by the link between Shanghai and Miami Beach will make its debut this week.

Local preservationists Don and Nina Weber Worth will unveil Art Deco in Shanghai and Miami Beach from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Dr.

''It's like giving birth to a baby,'' Don Worth said of the book he and his wife edited.

The book, published in China last year with a limited edition of 500 copies, features 100 photographs of Art Deco buildings from both cities taken by Deke Erh, a freelance photographer based in Shanghai.

Its debut coincides with the opening of the 2009 Art Deco Weekend, which focuses in Argentina.

Europeans brought the Art Deco architectural style to Shanghai and Miami Beach in the 1920s and 1930s and it took on local flavors in both cities, Don Worth said.

Like their counterparts in Miami Beach, Art Deco buildings in Shanghai feature nautical themes, zigzags, and flora and fauna designs. Unlike Miami Beach, the Chinese structures also incorporate elements such as ancient coins and a Taoist symbol called the ba gua.

Also unlike the Art Deco examples that are concentrated in South Beach, Shanghai's Deco buildings can be found throughout the city. The structures are taller and more massive and are made from brick and sandstone, as opposed to the oolitic limestone favored by Beach builders.

One of the goals of the project was to tout Miami Beach to Chinese tourists.

The project brought together preservationists, business groups and tourism officials.

Those involved in the book also hope to encourage the Chinese to preserve their own Art Deco landmarks.

The Worths developed the idea for their book after Goldman Properties sponsored a 2007 exhibition of Erh's photos in Wynwood. That event featured many of the photographs in the new book, which contrasted the Art Deco styles of both cities.

That same year, the Miami Design Preservation League used Erh's photos as inspiration for a Shanghai-themed Art Deco Weekend.

''We thought the photographer's work was incredible when we first saw the photographs of what he had captured in Shanghai,'' said Marlo Courtney, managing director of Goldman Properties. ``When Don and Nina came to us with this project, we immediately jumped on board.''

The company funded Erh's trips to Miami Beach to shoot various historic buildings. It also underwrote a portion of the publishing costs.

Clotilde Luce, a local preservationist, wrote the text about Miami Beach's historic district. Tess Johnston, who has partnered with Erh on several history books about Shanghai, wrote the text about the Chinese buildings.

A delegation of city officials and business leaders, organized by City Commissioner Jerry Libbin, also helped make the book possible.

Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese development company and port operator, is underwriting a portion of the costs. The company also displayed Erh's photographs at its sales center in Shanghai.

Worth said working on the book gave him a better understanding of the link between the two cultures.

''The way you become a great city is you become exposed to different things,'' he said.