Cultural Geography Of The Traditional Villages And Dwellings In Guangxi

Traditional villages are important carriers of agricultural civilization,and will draw continuous attention under the new round of rural revitalization strategy.Guangxi is located at the intersection of southwest and southern China.It has a complex natural geographic environment,distinctive multi-ethnic characteristics,and rich relics of traditional villages and residential buildings.Existing research is limited in case studies concentrated in the northeast and southeast China.In the context of big data,conducting comprehensive survey could help present diverse cultures within Guangxi.Multidisciplinary theories and methods can be applied to reveal the historical correlation among traditional buildings and provide more scientific basis for protecting and developing traditional villages.This study uses multiple theories including architectural typology,residential domains,and cultural geography to classifies,distributes,and interprets corresponding dwelling,village,and region levels,respectively.This work applies different methods including qualitative and quantitative,static and dynamic,Arc GIS,and SPSS to develop a geographic information database of traditional villages and residential culture in Guangxi.The database enables us to apply the research framework from revealing distribution pattern and delineating cultural area to interpreting cultural landscape and analyzing influential mechanisms.For the first time,a sample database of 1,118 traditional villages and dwelling samples in Guangxi has been established.This research carried out comprehensive survey of traditional villages and their dwellings in Guangxi,using methods such as field survey and building survey,literature review and documentation,and satellite image data analysis.The screening process resulted in 1,118 research samples.The concept of “factors” in cultural geography,objective reflection on traditional villages and residential cultural landscapes,and historical,complete,unique,and available factors are all considered.The establishment includes 3 categories,13 sub-categories involving four aspects: village spatial geography and administrative location,natural environmental elements,physical environmental elements,and non-material environmental elements.This work uses typological classification method for detailed classification of all factors and establishes a factor attribute database in the goal of providing support for presentation and interpretation of cultural landscapes.This study reveals the distribution characteristics of cultural and geographic factors of traditional villages and their dwellings in Guangxi,and elaborates the determined correlations among the 14 categories of factors.Traditional villages in Guangxi generally appear more in the northeast and less in the southwest.The natural environmental factors indicate that there are more mountains and low-altitude areas,mainly with gentle slopes,homogeneous slope directions,and proximity to low-grade rivers.The types of residential houses are mostly single,some with hall,and the least for Cong Cuo(a traditional residential type with combined halls and horizontal rooms).Among them,the middle hall type accounts for the highest proportion of the single residential houses and is the most widely distributed.The halls are distributed in the northeast and middle-east regions with similar numbers but hybrid styles.Cong Cuo residents are concentrated in the southeast of Guangxi.The layout is mainly centralized and along the contour line.The ponds are concentrated in the east and south,and the water tanks are located in the northwest.Villages with 2-5 hectares are most widely distributed.Most villages were built in the Qing Dynasty,followed by the Ming.The number of ethnic group decreases in the order of Han,Zhuang,Yao,Miao,and Dong people.The most frequently used language is Han and Zhuang,followed by Dong,Yao,and Bunu.After using SPSS technology,the correlation matrix of mutual factors is further carried out.The results indicate that 14 groups of factors have a high degree of coexistence,which explains the commonalities and differences of the cultural landscape of villages from multiple angles.This study also scientifically delineated the traditional villages in Guangxi and their residential cultural areas and cultural sub-areas.In addition,it explained the cultural landscape characteristics of each region from the regional and individual cases and systematically presented cultural diversity of villages and residential areas.First,according to the principles and methods of cultural area divisions and the theory of residential domains,taking the types of residential houses as the leading factor,this study generally recognized the scope of the cultural area at macro level.Then,it combined the multi-factor stacking method and historical geography method and considering the impacts of natural features and administrative divisions.This resulted in determination of the specific boundary of the cultural area and three major cultural areas: open,enclosed and compatible areas.Second,among the three major cultural areas,the types of houses,village layout,ethnicity,language and other factors were overlaid to delineate 12 cultural sub-areas.This research clarified the cultural landscape characteristics of each cultural area and sub-area in detail from the regional level,and deeply interpreted the cultural landscape phenomenon of each area through typical case studies.Above all,this work provides in-depth analysis of the impact factors of the formation and distribution of cultural landscapes in various cultural areas and cultural sub-areas.First,the macro cultural zone is attributable to two aspects:(1)the difference in natural conditions between the east and the west in Guangxi and(2)the institutional difference between central unity and local autonomy.As such,factors such as economic development,technological progress,and multi-ethnic cultural integration led to the boundary changes over time of the cultural zone.Second,there is a gradual relationship between the open cultural sub-areas from "front and back" and "divergence" to "left,middle and right".The impact factor is the instinctive needs of indigenous peoples,the Central Plains culture influence,the increase of population and the change of ecological environment.The enclosing cultural sub-areas change from the cohabitation of large families to the living styles of small families,which is attributable to administrative division and immigration,economic development and system changes,and transportation routes and cultural transmission.In comparison,compatible cultural sub-areas are transitional and ethnic integrated,which is manifested in the transition from mountains to hilly plains and the integration of Han,Yao and Zhuang ethnic groups.Above all,the process of factor analysis involves comparative studies with cultural landscapes in other regions.Discussing the differences and homogeneity of traditional villages and dwellings among different ethnic groups on a larger geographical scale allows for investigation on the impact of cultural transmission and cultural integration.