Speaker
Description
The Chinese “Eight Scenes” is the world’s first institutional system for landscape formalization, which refers to the selection and promotion of the most representative eight of the many landscapes in a certain county for the recognition of the top authorities. This institutional system originated in the ancient China 420 A.D. and declined until the mid-to-late Qing dynasty, because of social unrest. In the 1930s, many Chinese cities started to reactivate the system by re-selecting the “Eight Scenes” to increase their popularity and tourism attraction. Although this institutional system represents the philosophy of landscape planning and governance in Chinese localities from ancient times to the present, the lack of awareness of cultural values and insufficient conservation knowledge has prevented this institutional system from performing its due value and revitalizing local landscapes. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to summarize the traditional landscaping patterns and refine the cultural value. We employed text mining and field research as main method to explore the cultural expressions of these patterns, serving as the conceptual underpinning for the revitalization of “Eight scenes”.
We chose Taihang Mountain as a case for collecting the “Eight Scenes”. Because the Taihang Mountain stretch across four provinces of China, namely Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan. It was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List in 2017 for its dual natural and cultural heritage value. Therefore, this study takes 697 places in 78 counties in the Taihang Mountain as the database. We explore the cultural significance and value from 4 perspectives: the basic elements of landscaping, the combination mode of a single scene, landscaping distribution of “Eight Scenes”, and communication approach. First, the basic elements of landscaping of the “Eight Scenes” in Taihang Mountain are divided into four categories, namely, geological landscape, hydrological landscape, biological landscape, and climatic and astronomical landscape. Among them, the category of geological landscape is the most numerous, presenting the regional characteristics of mountain landscape. Combination mode means that a scene has multiple ways of composing elements. We found that the natural and cultural landscapes, dynamic and static landscapes are the most common modes, but also have the combination mode of all-natural landscapes, with cultural landscapes dominating and dynamic landscapes dominating. These combination modes highlight the local landscape characteristics for cultural continuity. Regarding landscaping distribution, it is divided into four types: surrounding mountains and rivers, surrounding mountains, combining nature and humanity, and cross-combination within the city and outside the city. In communication approach, it highlights the practice of local officials in building the overall urban environment for the purpose of educating the people and the outstanding contribution of the literati in reciting poems and songs.
This study sorted out the process of the Chinese “Eight Scenes” landscaping, which is a reflection of the wisdom of all the local people, from selecting sites, combining landscapes, constructing landscapes to communicating them, and finally formalizing them in the county records. Its outstanding cultural value can be summarized as follows: the aesthetic creation and experience of “landscape is more meaningful because of humanities”.The combination modes reflect the traditional Chinese understanding and creation of landscapes. General participation of people in the process of landscaping reflects the social value of focusing on people’s well-being.The institutional system of the “Eight Scenes” contributes on the promotion of traditional Chinese local tourism and the expression of cultural values. Meanwhile, it contributes Chinese practical experiences to the integrity and sustainability of the world cultural heritage.
References
- Wang, Z. Y., Qin, Y., Chen, Q. Y., & Wan, M. (2023). Research on the wisdom of river basin landscape construction based on the eight scenes of cities: A case study of Han River (Hubei section). Landscape Architecture, 30(7),pp. 133-140.
- Jin, Y., Zhang, Y., & Hou, B. (2024). The path and mechanism of the tourism utilization of the Grand Canal heritage from an evolutionary perspective: A case study of cities along the Jiangsu-Zhejiang section of the Grand Canal. Tourism Tribune, 39(8), pp. 53-70.
- He, F. (2024). The generation and inheritance of ancient Chinese scenic spots. Journal of Chongqing University (Social Science Edition), 2024(2), pp. 133-146.
- Loretta Bellato, Anna Pollock (2023): Regenerative tourism: a state of-the-art review, Tourism Geographies. pp.1-10.
| Keywords | Eight Scenes，landscaping patterns，cultural value，Taihang Mountain，Tourism |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
