Page 105 - JCAU-6-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Cultural tourism integration in Yubai Village

2012), as well as studies of traditional villages along the and Jin (1115 – 1234) dynasties, according to the Historical
route (Wu, 2016; Sun, 2018). Scholars have established an Atlas of Beijing - Cultural and Ecological Volume (Hou,
evaluation system for low-carbon tourism in the outskirts 2013). The first coal mine in modern times was also
of Mentougou District (Luo & He, 2015), explored new located here, contributing to the urban development of
paths to promote its revitalization under different models Beijing. Later, due to modern industrial development
(Kuang & Zhang, 2021; Wu & Tian, 2022), and promoted and imperfect transportation facilities in the Mentougou
its transformational development (Zhao, 2023). There are District, Beijing’s coal economy shifted to other regions,
more specific studies on the theoretical development and and the Mentougou District lost its regional advantages
practical application of cultural tourism integration, and (Hu, 2022). The year 2019 saw the closure of the last mine
there are also studies on the history and development of in the district, ending a 1000-year history of coal mining,
Mentougou and the path of rural revitalization, but few but most villages in the Mentougou District were unable
studies have explored the developmental path of rural to support the local industry due to insufficient land
revitalization in Mentougou from the perspective of area and had to rely on the Old Road of Western Beijing
cultural tourism integration. for coal transportation. The transformation of the coal
economy undoubtedly has a huge impact on the village.
In this study, we took Yubai Village in Mentougou
District as an example to analyze its historical origin As a necessary stop along the Old Road of Western Beijing,
Yubai Village in Yanchi Town developed into a service-
and discuss its current development problems, integrate oriented post-village. Nowadays, with the decline of the
cultural and historical tourism resources in the village, historical style of the road, the function of the post-station
carry out village quality improvement and revitalization, is also fading away, and the village industry needs to be
propose a new path suitable for the development of Yubai revitalized.
Village, promote local industry linkage, improve income
generation, achieve population return, and realize rural 4. Present situation and development
revitalization. dilemma of the village

2. Research methodology 4.1. Broken historical style and declining attributes
2.1. Field research method of the post station
Yubai Village is located in the northeastern part of Yanchi
Through field research, including interviews, photos, and
maps, we were able to gain a comprehensive understanding, Town, Mentougou District, at the border of Changping
District and Zhangjiakou City, 70 km away from the center
compile a record of the current situation of the overall of Beijing (Figure 1). Yubai Village is relatively easy to
Yubai Village, and dig deeper into the various aspects of reach by car compared to other villages and can be reached
the problems facing its current development. At the same within 1.5 h. Historically, Mentougou District was once a
time, the problems and optimization methods in the field major mining area, with local coal resources transported
were investigated by visiting the surrounding traditional through the Old Road of Western Beijing, supplying
villages.
many areas in and around the capital city. However, with
2.2. Literature research method the social and industrial development of the new era, the
historical function of the Old Road went from prosperity
Through our reading of domestic and international to decline, with the last mine in Mentougou District shut
literature, the study provides feasible strategies, methods, down and the whole region transformed from a coal
and theoretical support for the development of cultural economy to an ecological economy. However, most of the
and tourism integration in the village. It also provides a local villages are dependent on the formation and survival
comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the of the Old Road in Western Beijing, and the small area of
village and its evolutionary pattern through the review of the villages and the uneven distribution of resources are
historical documents and relevant data to gain an overall not enough to support the development of local industries.
understanding of its development status. As a result, the economic structure of the village has been

3. Village history deteriorating, making its productive capacity harder. Due
to its convenient location, Yubai Village in Yanchi Town was
The historical Mentougou District, “with coal under the once a developed commercial hub as a necessary place on
ground and hundreds of treasures in the mountains and the coal transport route of the Old Road in Western Beijing
rivers,” was famous for coal mining and was accessible (Zhao, 2019). However, with the gradual decline of the old
through the Old Road of Western Beijing. The coal mining road, the function of Yubai Village’s post station gradually
industry can be traced back to the early Liao (907 – 1125) weakened until it disappeared, and the village’s industry also

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0953