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Safeguarding Traditional Villages in China: The Role and Challenges of Rural Heritage Preservation* Mengyuan Zhoua, Songfeng Chub** and Xiaofan Dua a Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China b College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China ** Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT Since the reform and opening-up policy of 1978, China has established the double-track inventory sys- tem of rural heritage preservation to cope with the impact of rapid urbanisation on rural areas. This paper analyses the evolution in the concept of policy making from the Historical and Cultural Villages system to the Traditional Vil- lages system. It argues that the mass recognition of Traditional Villages in China since 2012 indicates that the under- standings of rural heritage have evolved from the distinguished to the diverse, the tangible only to the intangible included, and the material-based to the human-based. Under the rural revitalisation policy, the role of Traditional Villages in social development will be further explored and promoted as ‘means of improvement’, looking for the bal- ance between protection and development of rural heritage in the urban–rural dual structure. KEYWORDS rural heritage, historical and cultural villages, traditional villages Received April 4, 2019; accepted May 17, 2019. The discourse of safeguarding traditional villages in China wave of urbanisation. Scholars and experts, however, requires to be viewed in the context of rapid urbanisation started to make efforts to prevent the demolition of highly taking place in the country since the reform and opening- valuable historical districts and buildings in the full swing up policy of 1978. of city construction. The call for preserving the valuable Before 1980s, the rate of urbanisation in China was past and the hope for a modernised and developed future merely 20%. It seemed unnecessary to put emphasis contested with each other. This ideological and political on the preservation of villages while most of the nation conflict can be compared to the analogous development th land was consisted of them. The economic reform, how- that took place in Europe during the 19 century, when ever, boosted urban industrial expansion and economic urbanisation and industrial revolution caused rapid social development with financial capital supplied by global in- changes, and people felt an urgency to preserve the his- vestment, and human capital by surplus labour force from torical monument as well as their fading pastoral life. rural areas. The demand for spatial resources was soaring Though the policy-making and implementation of while urban population scales kept rising. rural heritage preservation was steps behind urban eco- Since the ‘Regulations of Land Expropriation for Na- nomic development plan, more than 30 years of practice tional Construction’ were issued in 1982, the deconstruc- have witnessed the process and challenges of safeguarding tion and relocation of suburban villages had been taken traditional villages in China. As fast as the country’s eco- as an inevitable course on the way to modernism (Kuai nomic and social development, the concept and strategies 2016). Numerous traditional villages disappeared in the towards rural heritage constantly evolve in light of the circumstances, from which we can see several different *This paper is based on the field study project organised by Centre for Land and phases: Cultural Resources Research of Fudan University in 2018. The project is support- ed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development of China, in which 1. 1978–1996: Urbanisation and Historical Cities a total of 137 interviews with villagers, social groups and departmental officials It was a period focused on urban planning. When plan- were conducted in five provinces, including Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guizhou and Shanxi. ning a better future, some experts proposed that ancient M. Zhou, S. Chu & X. Du 81 National Preservation Systems Unmovable cultural relics Historical and cultural villages Traditional villages Individual building preservation Architectural complex preservation Rural landscape preservation Villages used to be political, Vernacular architecture, Villages as living rural heritage, economic and cultural centres old residential buildings rural landscape as heritage in history 1 Figure 1 The ideological shift in rural preservation system in China (Source: the author). cities with celebrated history should be regarded as un- 3. 2008 till now: Rural Heritage as Improvement movable cultural relics and be preserved. In the move- The urbanisation rate in China has increased rapidly ment of protecting old buildings and historical blocks from 45% to 60% since 2008. The List of China Intangi- in cities, the built heritages located in countryside and ble Cultural Heritage released in 2006 encouraged the villages were taken as a subsidiary issue. In nearly 20 public to concern with craftsmanship and folk activi- years, the urbanisation rate went steadily from 20% ties endangered by declining country life. Instead of to 30%. With the Land Expropriation Policy issued in protecting a singular old building or vernacular archi- 1982, the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics was tecture, academic studies and critics help to bring in- enacted at the same year, during which 24 cities were tegrated preservation strategies into the scope of rural listed as ‘Historical and Cultural Cities’ for preserva- heritage preservation. Consequently, a new survey tion as national cultural heritage. The idea of protect- on national Traditional Villages started in 2012, from ing important architecture as unmovable cultural relics which more than 4,000 villages—many are insufficient was eventually thought to be applied also to rural areas. in the identification of cultural relics but inheriting di- In 1986 an official document indicated a tendency to verse landscapes and lifestyles—have benefited since broaden the list with old villages and towns, but this then. The new list of Traditional Villages constitutes the purpose was not carried out until the next decade. dual-track administrative system, expanding the mean- 2. 1997–2007: Distinguished Villages as Cultural Relics ing and influence of rural heritage nationwide. Over With a rapid growth of urbanisation rate from 30% the past decade, many Traditional Villages take heritage to 45% in 10 years, the construction of small towns as resources to promote rural tourism and as powerful became a focal point of government work. A series tools of poverty alleviation (Oakes 2013). Moreover, of land policies and intervention measures were an- with rural revitalisation strategies carried out progres- nounced, in order to encourage local governments to sively, rural heritage is becoming one of the means to regulate and construct small towns by relocating villag- improve the quality of life for the rural population and ers and amalgamating villages in their administrative to enroll the countryside in a more governmentalised regions. However, it led to the vanishing of numerous state process in a broader context (Figure 1). traditional communities. Many old villages in remote areas that escaped the suburbanisation from the pre- The Ideological Shift in Rural Preservation vious decade did not survive the migration project System in China of this period (Kuai 2016). In 2003, as a response to this circumstance, the List of ‘Historical and Cultural What is Traditional Village? Towns and Villages’ was officially announced. 22 dis- In the dual-track administrative system of rural heritage tinguished towns and villages were included in its first preservation, the concept of ‘Traditional Villages’ came batch, therefore credited with the title and taken under after the list of ‘Historical and Cultural Villages’. Accord- the tutelage of law. This indicated the establishment of ing to our field studies, most people (including tourists, one-track administrative system in the preservation of visitors, and villagers) cannot distinguish the difference rural heritage in China. between the two titles, and simply refer to those listed in 82 BUILT HERITAGE 2019 / 2 the system as ‘Old Villages’ in their daily conversation. heritages in rural areas face multiple pressures ranging This fact not only demonstrates the generality of age value from environmental pollution to illegal demolitions and shared by all the villages on the lists, but also questions re constructions done by developers. In order to form a the legitimacy and effectiveness of the current dual-track regulated and sustainable market model, the involvement preservation system. of tourism management sectors is necessary. With the Then what are Traditional Villages? What makes them State Tourism Administration taking full participation in different from the Historical and Cultural Villages? If we the management and development of the Historical and compare the making process of the two lists, it is evident Cultural Villages system in 2009, the ‘Regulations on the that there are different understandings of the purpose and Preservation of Historical and Cultural Cities, Towns and value of rural heritage at different times. Villages’ issued in the previous year can be viewed as a The selection of Historical and Cultural Villages de- legal measure to restrain the growing economic market of rived its idea and valuation system from Historical and rural tourism. Cultural Cities. With close connection to the

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