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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Chinese troglodyte villages toward tourism

Figure 2. The Underground Built Heritage functional chart in China. Source: Diagram by Roberta Varriale

by enclosing the entrance with walls constructed from A B
fired bricks, earthen bricks, stones, or wood, depending
on the specific site. The interior space usually has mixed
use: the main living room doubles as the kitchen and
bedroom. Typically, multiple dwellings are built adjacent
to or on top of one another and are connected to form a
multitiered village, often for a single clan or an extended
family (Figures 3A and 4). Terrain and semi-terrain Figure 3. Jingsheng village, Lingshi County in Shanxi, 2017. The old
elements are combined with a structure built above yaodong village overlooks the Wang Family Compound (the gray brick
walls). (A) Part of the old yaodong recovered and/or rebuilt in yaodong
ground to form an integrated complex connected by a style. (B) Old yaodongs are being demolished to make room for the
path. Yaodong settlements are isolated or form part of new tourist car park and urban development. Source: Photos by Laura
clusters of interdependent villages in a contiguous area. Genovese
This last case depends on the original function of the
settlement. For example, if it arose for the agricultural A B
exploitation of the land, as an extension of a military
post, or as an economic and commercial exchange
center. Some are very old, it is even difficult to define
their age. In this, only the documentation offers support
because yaodongs are fragile geo-architectures requiring
continuous maintenance. Their conservation depends on
natural and anthropogenic factors (Feng, 2011; Li & Sun, Figure 4. Lijiashan, Lin County Shanxi province, 2018. The photos show
2013; Han & Li, 2014; Fan, 2019; Zhang et al., 2021). On the characteristic layout of the village on overlapping terraces, which also
the one hand, environmental and climatic conditions, find its counterpart in the agricultural management of the landscape, with
such as desertification, climate change, hydrogeological terraces reserved for cultivation (A). There is a guest house at the top of
the village (B). Source: Photos by Laura Genovese
instability, and seismicity, heavily impact places’ livability.
On the other hand, reuse, rebuilding, abandonment, and Cases have been selected to offer the broadest range
demolition are common phenomena linked to the needs of typologies and functions, and the reuse of cave houses
of local communities or the country’s modernization and in the Lesbian area guarantees diversification as much as
infrastructure policies (Hsing, 2010) (Figure 3). possible. In this sense, the selection only exhausts part

Volume 5 Issue 2 (2023) 5 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0940