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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Tourist perception of calligraphic landscape

landscape helps define and identify places. It serves as an (n = 326), and “Calligraphy-history” (n = 182) align with
important medium through which tourists perceive and the high-frequency terms “history” (n = 206), “culture”
define spaces. In tourist descriptions, the perception of the (n = 190), and “art” (n = 129). When engaging with the
calligraphic landscape focuses on specific, representative calligraphic landscape, tourists tend to closely associate
places, indicating that the degree of place perception of its meaning with aspects of history, culture, and art. The
the landscape environment by tourists may be influenced overall perception of the calligraphic landscape is reflected
by the subjective attributes of the landscape. Compared to in the symbolism and cultural connotations represented by
everyday scenes, tourists tend to perceive higher heritage, the symbolic landscape.
esthetic, and cultural values in these attractions. As a Calligraphic landscapes act as symbols of regional and
result, attractions are often considered synonymous with local cultures. Landscapes with calligraphic elements are
calligraphic landscapes (Zhang et al., 2012) (Figure 4). easily recognized as visible representations of a particular
The sub-nodes of China, history, culture, art, and culture. The content and events recorded in calligraphic
tradition represent the perceived characteristics of the works are often seen as reflections of local culture. Most
calligraphic landscape, with cultural symbols forming Chinese tourists identify culturally with calligraphy,
the main content. Co-occurrence frequency results considering it one of the most important factors in
for “Calligraphy-culture” (n = 379), “Calligraphy-art” traditional Chinese culture. For example, most overseas
Chinatowns use Chinese calligraphy to decorate their
streetscapes, highlighting the community’s distinctive
features and helping identify specific Chinatown areas.
Research by Van Ostade et al. (2023) demonstrates that
the symbolic function of calligraphy plays a key role in
expressing Chinese identity in overseas Chinatowns.
The red cluster class is the densest and most populated
cluster class in the overall network graph. Based on the
textual information represented by the nodes in this
cluster class, we summarize two primary dimensions: place
identification and cultural symbolism. This analysis indicates
that, in the overall perception of the calligraphic landscape,
calligraphy plays a general role in shaping the definition of
place and the understanding of culture. Culture is the outer
factor of the five major influences on human perception and
experience of landscape (Craik, 1986). As a cultural sign,
the calligraphic landscape is an important factor in how
local landscapes are perceived (Zhang, 2003). The various
cultural functions of calligraphy are expressions of cultural
values through the calligraphic landscape. Calligraphic
landscapes are combinations of symbols that require deeper
Figure 3. Co-occurrence network relationship diagram. Source: Diagram interpretation within specific contexts. Context, being
by the authors (created with Gephi)
the environment in which symbols are used, is the most
important factor in determining their meaning and limits
A B
the uncertainty of symbols to a certain extent.
4.2.2. Calligraphy perception based on heritage value
The green cluster class reflects the experience of landscape
and heritage, with core vocabulary related to the physical
environment and place type of the calligraphic landscape.
Sites such as the forest of steles, the former residence, the
Figure 4. Calligraphy tourist attractions. (A) Calligraphic landscapes in city wall, the bell tower, and the academy gate left a deep
historic districts. Source: Photo by the authors (2021). (B) Calligraphic impression on visitors. Further analysis of the text content
landscapes in natural environments. Source: Photo by Fujianzhoubianyou
(available at https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LLswzi5_0_5KJksMSUQ6tw) associated with these core words shows that this cluster of
(2024) Xi’an heritage tourism spaces exhibits strong correlations.

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3825