Page 14 - JCAU-7-2

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Visualizing research on Huizhou houses

Table 3. The top 10 institutions institutions have successfully established cross-university,
cross-disciplinary, and cross-regional cooperation based
No. Institutions Publications on shared research interests and complementary resources,
1 Anhui Polytechnic University 47 advancing the inheritance and development of Huizhou’s
2 Huangshan University 38 traditional culture across different regions.
3 Anhui University 28
4 Anhui Normal University 24 4. Discussion
5 Anhui Jianzhu University 19 4.1. Research hotspot
6 Hefei University of Technology 17 Keywords provide a concise summary of a study’s theme,
7 Hefei Normal University 12 content, and ideas, serving as an important indicator
8 Anhui Agricultural University 11 in bibliometric research (Yang, 2023). Analyzing the
9 Sichuan University 9 co-occurrence and clustering of keywords in the literature
10 Tianjin University 8 related to traditional Huizhou houses helps clarify
relationships between various themes within this field,
offering an intuitive view of research hotspots and trends.
investigates restoration techniques for traditional wooden
houses in Huizhou. In terms of research methodology, the From the keyword co-occurrence map (Figure 6), it can
strong cultural and historical background of traditional be observed that the number of nodes is 174, and the number
Huizhou houses leads most authors to adopt qualitative of edges is 225. Larger nodes indicate higher keyword
approaches, such as literature review, case studies, and frequency; more lines indicate increased co-occurrences
field investigations, for an in-depth theoretical analysis between two keywords, and thicker lines denote stronger
of decorative arts and cultural symbolism. Quantitative connections. Excluding the keyword “Huizhou traditional
methods are applied primarily in studies on technology houses,” which overlaps with the research theme, the
applications, contemporary design, and industrialization. keywords “cultural heritage,” “architectural features,” and
“Huizhou woodcarving” appear most frequently. This
Table 3 reveals that Anhui Polytechnic University ranks
first with 47 publications. Among the top 10 authors, finding indicates that research on traditional Huizhou
houses encompasses not only the architectural esthetic
three are affiliated with Anhui Polytechnic University, and technical aspects but also emphasizes the cultural
highlighting its significant achievements and outstanding significance of these buildings and their role in bridging
influence in this field. Geographically, eight of the top the gap between contemporary design fields.
institutions are based in Anhui province, likely due to both
proximity to Huizhou and favorable local policies. The The top 20 most important keywords were extracted
presence of two institutions outside Anhui demonstrates according to frequency-ranking statistics, and their
that Huizhou culture’s influence has extended beyond centrality was calculated. Nodes with high centrality
regional boundaries, attracting wider academic attention. indicate that the keyword plays a significant role in
As shown in Figure 5, numerous nodes and connections connecting multiple themes. Table 4 shows that the
link Anhui Polytechnic University, Huangshan University, keyword with the highest centrality is “architectural
and Sichuan University, indicating frequent academic decoration.” Although not the most frequent keyword, it
exchanges and collaborations among these three links several high-frequency keywords, thus playing a core
institutions. Located near Huizhou, Anhui Polytechnic role in research on traditional Huizhou houses.
University and Huangshan University benefit from To further analyze the research focus and hotspots
geographical proximity and access to academic resources of Huizhou traditional houses, CiteSpace was used to
for studying traditional Huizhou houses. Although cluster keywords. After excluding the keyword “Huizhou
Sichuan University is farther from Huizhou, as a key state- traditional houses” to avoid thematic overlap, 10 clusters
level university in Sichuan province, Southwest China, it were identified, as shown in Figure 7. Smaller cluster
brings strong interdisciplinary research capabilities and numbers indicate higher research activity, as these clusters
academic influence. Each of these universities has distinct contain more nodes.
academic strength: Anhui Polytechnic University focuses
on the architectural decorative elements of traditional The clustering results indicate that the main research
Huizhou houses and their cultural significance; Huangshan focus on traditional Huizhou houses involves integrating
University emphasizes the protection and inheritance traditional architectural decorative elements into
of local architectural culture; and Sichuan University contemporary design to achieve cultural inheritance and
excels in cross-regional comparative research. These three innovation. Woodcarving components, a major decorative

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2025) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4473