Contemporary Heritage Of Rural China

Chinese society possesses the characteristic of ruralism which has been growing and developing from countryside.Although the pace of urbanization accelerates rapidly with the development of Chinese national power,in historical perspective,traditional Chinese society is a farm-based society in all time,and the most essential factor of the farm-based traditional Chinese society is the characteristic of ruralism.The traditional village is the most important component of rural society,possessing profound historical and cultural significance,and its distinct regionalism and national character are the key elements that compose and reflect the diversity of traditional culture.With the rapid growth of modern society,rural society has to be confronted by the social transformation and traditional villages have to solve a series of problems immediately.Overall,in this new era,traditional villages are the heritage of rural society,presenting evidences of rural society's existence.There has been a realistic problem about how to balance the protection and development of traditional villages to get a win-win solution,which can help them to develop sustainably and harmoniously.Located in Luohe city,henan province,the traditional village of Peicheng is one of the "six old cities" recorded in the chronicles of Yancheng county.After thousands years of development,this village still keeps a large number of traditional residential buildings from Ming and Qing dynasties,and extremely valuable spatial pattern and historical elements on the environment,all relying on its special local natural conditions,therefore,it has been selected in the list of " First batch of Chinese traditional villages"in 2012.This paper takes traditional village of Peicheng as the research subject,focuses on the research of its historical evolution,cultural value,site selection considerations,spatial form,residential structure,and inhabitable environment.Moreover,this paper proposes the principles and strategies on keeping the balance of carrying forward the old traditions and putting in the new blood to this traditional village of China.It can be found that Peicheng has potential for development through the on-site investigation and in-depth analysis.This paper adopts the analysis of some successful cases in China,and used their references,to fully excavates Peicheng's own advantages,carry on with the protection,the inheritance,the renewal and the development which are adapted to the Peicheng's local conditions.To be specific,this paper's idea is to take advantages of Peicheng's own local characters,inhabitable environment,and its historical and cultural value,to divide the village into four sections:the core protected area,the coordinated stylistic area,the ecological adaptation area and the special design area.With the core concept being "inheriting the historical culture and continuing the local characters",propose the redevelopment of this village,meanwhile,dedicate to the sustainable development of traditional village-Peicheng.The historical inheritance and redevelopment of traditional villages is a difficult and tedious process which may constantly come across new problems and challenges.In the new era,this issue must proceed with reality,fully consider all the elements that may show in the process of village development.Find the perfect balance between practicality and aesthetic,traditional and modern,national and world-wide,to truly achieve to keep the legacy of the traditional villages as well as promoting the sustainable development.