Page 7 - JCAU-7-2

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Research hotspots and paths of traditional

houses in Huizhou, Anhui province, China: A
visualization analysis using CiteSpace

You He , Mohd Jaki Bin Mamat* , Sha Liu , and Shuwen Mo

School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

As a representative of China’s vernacular architecture with unique forms and rich
cultural connotations, Huizhou’s traditional dwellings have gained international
recognition as a World Cultural Heritage site. These dwellings serve as a pivotal
case study in exploring the dynamic relationship between globalization and local
identity. This study employs CiteSpace software to visualize and analyze literature
on traditional Huizhou houses published since 2000. We investigated publication
trends and author and institutional collaboration networks and identified major
research hotspots and their evolutionary paths at each stage by applying keyword
*Corresponding author: co-occurrence, clustering, and emergence mapping. The results reveal three main
Mohd Jaki Bin Mamat phases in academic research on Huizhou traditional dwellings: from 2000 to 2010,
(mohdjaki@usm.my) studies primarily dissected architectural features and cultural connotations;
Citation: He, Y., Mamat, M.J.B., from 2011 to 2020, research focused on the application of Huizhou’s traditional
Liu, S., Mo, S. (2025). Research architectural and cultural symbols within contemporary design; and from
hotspots and paths of traditional
houses in Huizhou, Anhui province, 2021 to 2023, preliminary exploration began into the industrialized development
China: A visualization analysis using and spatial narratives of Huizhou architectural elements. Although research on
CiteSpace. Journal of Chinese Huizhou’s traditional houses has yielded substantial insights, collaboration among
Architecture and Urbanism, 7(2):
4473. authors and institutions remains limited, and theoretical innovation is insufficient.
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4473 Future studies should prioritize multidisciplinary collaboration and quantitative
analysis to advance the integration and sustainable development of theory and
Received: August 7, 2024
practice in this field.
Revised: September 24, 2024
Accepted: October 16, 2024 Keywords: Huizhou traditional houses; CiteSpace; Hotspots and paths; Cultural heritage;
Published online: November 19, Sustainable development
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the 1. Introduction
Creative Commons Attribution-
Non-Commercial 4.0 International Cultural heritage is an invaluable asset passed down by ancestors throughout human
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all
non-commercial use, distribution, history; it is meant for future generations and serves as a non-renewable and important
and reproduction in any medium, resource with irreplaceable historical, social, and cultural values (Pérez-Gandarillas et al.,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 2024). In 1972, UNESCO adopted the World Heritage Convention, which has actively
Publisher’s Note: AccScience contributed to the protection and restoration of the shared heritage of all humankind
Publishing remains neutral with (Gruber, 1972). In 1976, the World Heritage Committee established the World Heritage
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional List, and as of August 2024, there were 952 sites in the world on the list of cultural
affiliations. heritage sites, 40 of which are located in China.

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2025) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4473