Research On Autonomous Protection Of Vernacular Architectural Heritage

The Vernacular building heritage that is unlike the preservation of relics is an emerging subject in the area of the protection of cultural heritage at present and even in the future. The object of preservation intimately relates to the current society, especially to social development in rural areas, meanwhile the established mechanism of conserving relics can no longer meet practical demand.Under the circumstances, from the perspective of the conceptual evolution of the conservation of Vernacular building heritage, this dissertation analyzes the difference between vernacular building and the vernacular building heritage, differentiates between the building that shaped by the experience of vernacular community and the heritage that judged by rational assessment and regulated by constitution. Together with the development of rural governance reflected in historical documents in traditional China, and comparing with the status of current operation of rural governance and the mode of the protection of relics, this article expounds the traditional culture which was carried by Vernacular building heritage and the practical institutional limitation confronted by present preservation.As a case study, this article concentrates on the practice of the preservation of traditional complex in Zhaji, AnHui Province in China. Firstly, it analyzes the traditional culture carried by the buildings, and confirms the value of the building as heritage which functions as material medium of traditionally vernacular culture. Then by investigating the very process of the conservational community from playing principal role to its being marginalization, and disclosing the conflicts and problems between the mechanism of conservation directed by official government and the reality of spontaneous preservation, this article argues that the mechanism of traditional as well as present rural governances cannot meet the requisition of the preservation of vernacular building heritage as public affair.By comparison, that reviewing the similar problems experienced by countries that have a relatively high level of industrialization and urbanization indicates such a principle that local conservation of heritage should root in, depend on and serve for the local community.The autonomous preservation which bears the rationality of heritage conservation in mind, depend on rural community and with local community as the principal force, is the essential way of achieving the aim that the preservation of vernacular building heritage serves the orderly transition of local community and its sustainable development. Not only could the autonomous preservation strengthen the cooperation between professional study and local community, but it also alleviates the practical conflicts between public administrative institute and local community. What to be more significant is that, the autonomous preservation of vernacular building heritage respects and supports the cultural rights of local community, and it could either serve as a platform by which the idea and capability of self-governance and self-service of local community could be achieved. Definitely, all these fall into the area of the preservation of vernacular building heritage.