The Research Into The Relationships Between The Construction Of Famen Temple Cultural Scenic Area And The Spatial Development Of Fufeng County Town

With the continuous development of the cultural and innovative industry in theworld since the end of20th century worldwide, the important meaning of culture to theurban development has gradually aroused high attention from all fields. The release of aseries of cultural policies by central and local governments, and the growing scale of theplanning of cultural undertakings and industries, and the composite planning of culturaldevelopments, have fully proved, that cultural construction has become an importantaspect of the urban development in China. Looking into the relationships between theconstruction of cultural attractions and the development of urban spaces in the currentbackground of the macro-development, benefits on one hand the enrichment andpromotion of the research over the theoretical system of Chinese cultural planning, andon the other hand the handle of the relationships between the construction of specificcultural attractions and the development of urban spaces can be better directed.In our country, one of the ancient civilizations, whose integrity of the historiccourses has been best preserved, the historic evolution of5thousand years has createdthe splendid Chinese civilization, left behind a large quantity of material andnon-material cultural relics for the human being, and provided the cultural constructionof our cities nowadays with unique and superior conditions. Promotion of localprosperity relying on the plentiful historic and cultural resources of high quality hasbecome an important strategic measure for the development of the cities. However, inthe strategies and practical projects in attempt to promote urban and local developmentsusing cultural resources, such acts, as preference of economic values to cultural values, of the building of attractions to the reservation of resources, and of the individualexploitation of the scenic areas to the general balanced development of the cities, arenot rarely seen. Thus, not only are our valuable cultural resources confronted withcommercial over-exploitation, but also the original intention of promoting the integraldevelopment of the cities with the exploitation of cultural resources is deviated.Therefore it’s of high importance to the establishment of a harmonious relationshipbetween the construction of cultural attractions and the development of the cities, to thesolution of the various problems in the construction of attractions and the developmentof the cities in a perspective of integrity, to the enhancement of the competiveness of thecities and to the promotion of the sustainable development of the cities.In the Famen Temple, which is long named “the First of the Temples inGuanzhong”, enshrines the first of the only nine existing bone relics of the Buddha, theBone Relic of the Finger. In the history, as it is said,“Silk Road goes west, and theBuddhist Classics come east,” the Famen Temple played an important role on theinternational Silk Road and in the religious culture. It was the main rite of the Buddhismand its “Nine Classics and Twelve Chapters”, the pilgrimage center of the country, andthe royal temple with the largest scale, the highest rank and the most monks in theancient Chinese history. It was called the “Buddhist Kingdom of the Emperor”, butdeclined with the years after the shift of the political and economic center to the east. In2005the government of Shanxi Province officially put forward the plan of theconstruction of Famen Cultural Park, and the Famen Temple came to a new historicdevelopment opportunity. However, how to value this special cultural resource as aBuddhist mecca, which development method to adopt, and how to deal with therelationships between the construction and the development of the cities, have becomethe crucial questions the construction work confronted with.This article will look into the relationships between the scenic areas of FamenTemple with the special development of the county town areas of Fufeng City in threesections. In the first section the relationship between the scenic and urban areas isclarified. Firstly, on the basis of the research over the relationship between the existingscenic area and the development of the urban areas, the historic and realisticrelationships between the scenic and urban areas are comprehensively analyzed with a historical research method at a macro plane. Additionally, the existing relationship typesbetween both natural and cultural scenic areas and urban areas are concluded, and theemphasis is on the conclusion of the cause and the main factors of these relationships.Secondly, the relationships between Buddhist scenic areas and urban areas are analyzedin depth, with a method combination of theoretical analysis and empirical investigationat a meso-level. The relationship between Buddhist temples, Buddhist scenic areas andurban areas are analyzed from aspects of the consideration factors of the sitedetermination of temples, the historic and realistic relationships between Buddhisttemples and the development of urban areas, and examples of the exploitation andconstruction of Buddhist culture scenic areas etc., in attempt to grasp the main problemsexisting in the exploitation and construction of Buddhist culture scenic areas, and themode and experience of these exploitations. Thirdly, the relationships between theFamen Temple cultural areas, and the spatial development of the county town of Fufengis analyzed with an investigative research method at a micro-plane. The cognitionprocess is made in the two aspects of relationship evolution between the Famen Templeand the Fufeng county town spaces and the relationship of realistic developments,including the historic developing course of the temple and town area and the situation oftheir spatial development relationships, the functions, the settings and the exploitationmode, the current relationship between the scenic and town areas and the developingtendency etc. In the second section, on the basis of the above mentioned analysis andresearch, the relationships between the Famen Temple scenic areas and the Fufengcounty town areas are made clear, and the mode of these relationships is given with aninterdisciplinary method (Buddhism, geography and sociology), includingconsiderations over the cultural contents of Buddhism, the local geographicenvironments and social environments etc.The end of the article, in combination of these above mentioned research results,gives some guiding advices for the construction of Famen Temple cultural scenic areaand the spatial development planning of the Fufeng county town.