Typology of Religious Spaces in the Urban Historical Area of Lhasa, Tibet

Frontiers of Architectural Research (]]]]) ], ]]]–]]] Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Frontiers of Architectural Research www.elsevier.com/locate/foar RESEARCH ARTICLE Typology of religious spaces in the urban historical area of Lhasa, Tibet Yingzi Zhangn, Tao Wei Department of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China Received 25 November 2016; received in revised form 14 May 2017; accepted 14 May 2017 KEYWORDS Abstract Tibetan Buddhism; This work focuses on the spatial compositions and characteristics of religious sites and Religious space; surrounding pilgrimage space in the city of Lhasa, which is the sacred center of Tibet. The Mandala; modernization and urbanization of the city in recent decades have transformed the spatial and Typology socioeconomic positions of its urban religious sites. The present study offers insights into the composition of urban religious spaces in the city of Lhasa with consideration to the spatiality and sociality of these spaces. After examining the current situations of religious spaces, we classify the target spaces into five types using the cluster analysis method and identify the characteristics of each type. We then discuss the socioeconomic values of each type of religious space and derive recommendations for planners. The analysis performed in this study may contribute in the special planning for the protection of religious traditions. & 2017 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1. Introduction theocracy for a hundred years—religion has profoundly influenced every aspect of the Tibetan society. Mankind has always desired to replicate the sacred world in Similar to early Indian Buddhism, the conception of the the physical world (Michell, 1994), thereby endeavoring to world in Tibetan Buddhism is perfectly represented by the receive the goodness of their gods through pilgrimages (Popi theoretical Mandala (Figure 1). As the birthplace of Tibetan et al., 2012). Therefore, cities have long been symbolically Buddhism, the city of Lhasa was deemed by the adherents of and materially associated with various religions (Goh and Buddhism to be the world center of sacred Tibet. By van der Veer, 2016). This association is particularly true for replicating the sacred spirit world of Mandala in its construc- the historical cities of Tibet, which has experienced tion, the ancient and sacred city of Lhasa formed the original single-core urban structure, with the Jokhang Temple (24) serving as the urban core (Zhang et al., 2011). Simulta- nCorresponding author. neously, a religious activity developed, involving pilgrimages E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Zhang). to sacred places that follow a route in clockwise direction Peer review under responsibility of Southeast University. around the sacred places, as seen in Figure 2 (Funo, 2006; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2017.05.001 2095-2635/& 2017 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Please cite this article as: Zhang, Y., Wei, T., Typology of religious spaces in the urban historical area of Lhasa, Tibet. Frontiers of Architectural Research (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2017.05.001 2 Y. Zhang, T. Wei listed as world cultural heritage sites, triggered the development of tourism, which subsequently resulted in socioeconomic transformation (Zhang et al., 2016). Lhasa's religious significance as the center of the spirit world was modified to that of a city of culture, where the religious sites became heritage attractions for tourism and investment. This situation has been a double-edged sword for the urban religion of Lhasa. On the one hand, the government strengthened the protection of religious buildings to boost tourism and investment (Li, 2010). On the other hand, urbanism and modernity have resulted in secularization, and the consumption culture of contemporary globalization Figure 1 Mandala (Brauen, 1997). has increasingly impinged on religious beliefs and practices (Zhou and Zhu, 2011). Kanagisawa and Funo, 2004; Zhang et al., 2012). In the 17th In this process, the pilgrimage spaces surrounding the century, more than 90% of Tibetans became Buddhists with religious destinations have undergone conversion to multi- the establishment of theocracy in Tibet. Over the next 300 functional spaces through imaging, marketing, and commo- years, Tibetan Buddhism played a decisive role in the dification according to their different relationships with the development of Lhasa, which is the capital city of Tibet, city. Therefore, we hypothesize that the religious spaces and affected the city in both spatial and social aspects. First, have been converted into different categories with differ- Buddhism practitioners sanctified the city of Lhasa by con- ent spatial conditions. structing temples and pilgrimage locations. Second, religious Over the centuries, these religious buildings have been rituals (including pilgrimages) developed into one of the most invaluable to the social and cultural life of the city, serving important aspects of the daily social life of residents. As a as the center of life. The pilgrimage places that surround result, the relationship between sacred beings, urban space, the sacred architectural objects determine the identity of and social order became deeply rooted in the city of Lhasa. the space and give it significant characteristics (Wang, After the incorporation of Tibet into the People's Republic 2005). Additionally, the socioeconomic values of the urban of China during the 1950s, theocracy was replaced with a religious spaces, which are influenced by religious values, socialist system, which resulted in the transformation of the social norms, and spatial conditions, play an important role social structure in Tibet (Chen and Gao, 2003; He et al., in urban development. Therefore, an appropriate protec- 2010). In the early republican period, the religious buildings tion system is required. Classification analysis on the of Lhasa and their surrounding spaces suffered varying heritage site aids in understanding the values and elements degrees of damage for political reasons (Li, 2010). Never- of protected objects (Zhou and Zhang, 2001). Thus, this theless, atheism did not succeed in displacing Buddhism. By study focuses on the conversion of religious spaces with the the 1980s, religion began to resurge. In the early 1990s, aim of clarifying the characteristics and socioeconomic Potala Palace (26) and Jokhang Temple (24), which are values of the different spaces via typological analysis. Figure 2 Daily religious activities of Tibetans. Please cite this article as: Zhang, Y., Wei, T., Typology of religious spaces in the urban historical area of Lhasa, Tibet. Frontiers of Architectural Research (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2017.05.001 Typology of religious spaces 3 2. Literature review Grimes’ work group, which focuses on the museumization of religious objects, confirmed that a religious space can be Religion is an inevitable subject in Tibetology research. altered by inhabitation (Grimes, 1992). Religious spaces and Scholars of sociology and anthropology who have studied practices as heritage attractions of a city become commo- the religion of Tibet have repeatedly described the dified (Graham and Murray, 1997). Several other studies sanctification of cities and the religious influences on focused on the socioeconomic values of religious places in people's lives. They analyzed how the theory of Bud- modern cities, as well as their relationship with planning dhism influenced the Tibetans’ mindset, worldview, and and policies (i.e., Grapard, 1998; Kong, 2001; Clara, 2016; value orientation and found that religion is the deter- Hancock and Srinivas, 2008; Francesco, 2015). In the mining factor of the social relations of Tibetans (Chen, religious city of Lhasa, the religious sites are not only urban 2012; Lui, 2009; Ye, 2011; Zhang and Chen, 2007; Zhao heritage sites that need protection but also social spaces and Zhu, 2009). Urban religious studies all over the that need reactivation (Zhang et al., 2011). Heritage world, including Tibet, have emphasized the religious protection and urban regeneration studies suggest that the aspirations of humanity—the idea that people attempt to space condition and value of a heritage site provides basic establish connections between the physical and spiritual information for the establishment of protection plans and worlds (Kong, 2001; Michell, 1994; Popi, 2012; Zhang, solutions (Bai, 2003; Wang, 2015; Tubden and Li, 2011; Zhou 2007; Tang, 2009). This aspiration is mainly manifested and Zhang, 2001). However, a limited number of studies in religious rituals and the replication of the sacred have focused on the compositions of religious spaces in world in the construction of living spaces. contemporary Tibetan cities. In 2005, a joint research In terms of living space organization, Tibetan religious project between the Norwegian University of Science and theories, such as the ladder theory, the Raksasi theory, and Technology and Tibet University investigated the historic the Mandala theory, have decisive impacts on the location, district and urban landscape of Lhasa and provided a large spatial organization, and sacred place of cities (Xu and Liu, amount of basic data for urban public space

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