Using the Concept of Heritage to Examine Recent Preservation Projects in China
Zhao Wei
Abstract：aBsTRacT In recent years, under the influence of growing national interest in competing for World Heritage Sites, many cities in China started preservation projects that aim to protect historic resources in the built environment. However, what happened, or is about to happen, are usual y large scale re-construction of already lost built environments. Meanwhile, this kind of projects are often associated with demolition of existing buildings and relocation of local residents. Drawing upon archival resources and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper first examines this phenomenon through comparing multiple cases in China. It aims to investigate and discuss the issues that has appeared from this kind of large-scale and man-made impacts on historic resources; these impacts not only change the built environment, but also affect col ective memory, identity, social sustainability, and even history. This paper argues that the historic built environment cannot be simply re-constructed yet detached from its social and cultural context, nor can a historic built environment sustain without the support from the stakeholders and the vitality of the embedded intangible heritage.
Keywords：cultural heritageworld heritage sitecultural heritage preservationcultural heritage managementsocial sustainabilitysustainable development of cultural heritageoutstanding universal valuecol ective memoryidentitylocal stakeholders
Publication Date：2015-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 24-29 )