Page 72 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Elite involvement in rural revitalization

environmental degradation in rural areas and the gradual artists have been venturing into rural areas, imbuing them
erosion of rural cultural heritage. The pragmatic challenges with their own design concepts and visions. This influx has
confronting rural tourism development in China mainly spawned a plethora of contemporary rural architectures,
entail inappropriate tourism development, small-scale ostensibly aimed at cultivating the cultural value of these
operations, insufficient branding efforts, erosion and regions. Regrettably, however, many of these structures
detachment from rural traditions, inequitable distribution are gradually abandoned in the daily lives of villagers.
of benefits, and disparate power endowment (Wang & A truly successful rural building must be tailored to meet
Zhang, 2018). Consequently, tourism development in many the needs of its users, and a proficient rural architect must
rural areas in China lacks distinctiveness and strategic prioritize the users’ needs over treating rural areas as mere
focus, leading to pervasive homogeneity across numerous experimental grounds for architectural design (Zuo, 2020).
villages after tourism development, thereby diminishing Jing Zuo, from the School of Journalism and
tourist interest as observed in the proliferation of so-called Communication at Anhui University, stands as a
“characteristic towns” (Figures 1 and 2).
prominent figure within this intellectual elite cohort. He
2.3. Intellectual elite has spearheaded the revival of Dananpo village in Henan
province (Figure 3) and Bishan village in Anhui province
In recent years, amid the strategic push for rural (Figure 4), respectively. He asserts that “architects who
revitalization, an increasing number of architects and
work in rural areas are not only designers of physical
architecture but also designers of rural society. They actively
or passively undertake a considerable part of the economic,
social, and cultural “design tasks” of the rural areas and
can be said to be carrying out “social design” in rural areas.
This means that from the moment the architect enters the
rural area, he must consider and build on many matters
related to construction and beyond. The former needs to
consider the geographical and climatic conditions of the
building, as well as historical context, traditional materials,
new technologies, and costs within the professional scope.
The latter needs to deal with a wide range of issues in the
field of sociology, such as land systems, villagers’ appeals,
public culture, and rural industries. However, not all
architects working in rural areas are rural social designers.”
(Zuo, 2020, p. 1).
Figure 1. Fenghuang town in Hunan province. Source: Photo by the
authors

Figure 3. Dananpo village. Source: Photo by Becca Kong (https://
www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/62e338050000000011012bf4?app_
platform=android&ignoreEngage=true&app_version=8.34.0&share_
from_user_hidden=true& type=normal&author_ share=1& xhsshare=
WeixinSession&shareRedId=Nz1HQTU6OU09Tug3S0AwOzg3OT9
Figure 2. Lijiang town in Yunnan province. Source: Photo by the authors INT9P&apptime=1715761838)

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 3 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2940