Towards a Holistic Narration of Place: Conserving Natural and Built Heritage at the Humble Administrator’s Garden, China

Youcao Ren, Johnathan Djabarouti
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Abstract

World Heritage tourism in China regulates conservation approaches employed across natural and built heritage sites. However, focusing on the revenue-generating potential of these sites sustains material authenticity and technical conservation methods. The outcome is a conflict between conservation and commercialization, where socio-cultural values are overshadowed by the process of museumization. Underpinned by critical heritage theory and a focus on intangible heritage, this research seeks to confront this conflict by examining the shifting conservation practice at the Humble Administrator’s Garden (HAG), a World Heritage Site and Classical Garden of Suzhou, China. A mixed-methodological approach explores the interplay between architecture and landscape within its heritage conservation process, utilizing archival research, semi-structured interviews with HAG Management, and visitor journals. The study shows how HAG’s heritage is shaped by visitors’ personal experiences and emotions alongside expert interpretations, resulting in the foregrounding of diverse narratives that contribute to a holistic sense of place. Within its politicized system, the safeguarding of intangible heritage requires constant negotiation among the municipality, the market, and emerging narrators. Attempts to reinterpret its former heritage buildings demonstrate a changing conservation discourse as the site transitions from an exclusive literati estate to a multivocal space of cultural encounter. The study illustrates how a focus on narrative representation unifies architecture and landscape, reimagining centuries of literati culture. This makes conceptual space for considering how conservation management can inform a more holistic narration of ‘place’ at similar World Heritage sites via the foregrounding of previously silent stakeholders.
走向地方的整体叙事:拙政园的自然与建筑遗产保护
中国的世界遗产旅游规范了自然和建筑遗产所采用的保护方法。然而,关注这些遗址的创收潜力可以维持材料的真实性和技术保护方法。结果是保护与商业化之间的冲突,其中社会文化价值被博物馆化的过程所掩盖。本研究以批判遗产理论和对非物质遗产的关注为基础,通过考察世界遗产和中国苏州古典园林拙政园(HAG)不断变化的保护实践,试图面对这一冲突。利用档案研究、HAG管理的半结构化访谈和游客期刊,混合方法探索了遗产保护过程中建筑和景观之间的相互作用。该研究展示了HAG的遗产是如何被游客的个人经历和情感以及专家的解释所塑造的,从而形成了多样化的叙事前景,有助于形成整体的地方感。在其政治化的体系中,非物质遗产的保护需要市政府、市场和新兴叙述者之间不断的谈判。随着场地从专属的文人庄园转变为多元的文化相遇空间,重新诠释其前遗产建筑的尝试展示了一种不断变化的保护话语。该研究说明了对叙事表现的关注如何将建筑和景观结合起来,重新想象几个世纪的文人文化。这为考虑保护管理如何通过先前沉默的利益相关者的前景,为类似的世界遗产地提供更全面的“地方”叙述提供了概念空间。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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