Page 20 - JCAU-5-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Spatial morphology of cohesive village

is characterized by the vertical arrangement of courtyard Gong in Western Guangdong” of Zhou Family Village in
residences, with the ancestral hall or a pond located at Suixi County, the seventh-generation grandson of Zhou
the entrance of the village that provides access to all Fu, Zhou Liang, and Zhou Ze moved to Zhou Family
directions, generally in the shape of a fan. It is laid out in a Village in the 1 year of Hongxi of the Ming dynasty (1425)
st
more centripetal manner than other villages, with a highly and chose a low-lying place to build the village. According
geometric characteristic (Figures 1 and 2). Due to the to local people, this construction method has the feng shui
lack of historical records, no scholars have yet conducted symbolism of “each new generation will be better than the
research on cohesive villages. The same village form has previous one.” Analyzing the natural environment of this
not been found elsewhere in Guangdong, indicating that spatial layout, the topography of the Leizhou Peninsula can
it is unique to the Leizhou area (Tao et al., 2021). The be divided into three categories: Basalt platform (43.3%),
author believes that exploring the generational mechanism marine terraces (12%), and marine plains (17.4%), but
of the spatial form of this village will help generate a the cohesive villages are mainly located in the marine
more comprehensive and profound understanding of the terraces with gentle terrain below 25 m above sea level
traditional village culture in the Leizhou Peninsula. (Table 1) and are often located on the many flat slopes, low-
lying land, and depressions interspersed between them
2. Natural environmental adaptability of (Figures 1 and 2), resulting in backdrop characterized by
village spatial form low terrain in the front and high terrain at the back.

During the field research, it was found that the terrain of The Leizhou Peninsula is located in the subtropical
this type of cohesive village is low in the front and high coastal region. Despite the frequent typhoon occurrences
at the back. According to the “Genealogy of Luling Zhou in this region, the uneven rainfall, efficient evaporation,

Standard form of cohesive villages:

Fan-shaped (Hunan Village, Kelu Town) Fan-shaped (Xingcai Village, Caotan Town) Fan-shaped (Xihu Village, Tiaofeng Town)
Other forms of cohesive villages:

Scissor-shaped Three-rectangle structure (Chupo Village, Bird-nest-shaped, (Chiwei Village, Tiao Feng
(Chaizai Village, Caotan Town) Yangjia Town) Town)
Figure 1. Typical cases of the cohesive village form. Source: Google Earth

Volume 5 Issue 4 (2023) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1224