Page 38 - JCAU-7-3

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Top-down rural heritage revitalization and

economic development: A case study of Tangwei
village, Dongguan, Guangdong, China

1
Lok-yin Law * , Huiwei Chen 2 , Shuwen Liu 3 , and Ming-hin Cheung 4
1 Department of Chinese Language Studies, Faculty of Humanities, The Education University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
2 Department of Urban and Rural Planning, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangdong
University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
3 Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, The
Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
4 Independent Researcher, London, United Kingdom
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Regenerating Views, Values, and Visions in Countryside
Conservation in Chinese Societies)

*Corresponding author: Abstract
Lok-yin Law
(llylaw@eduhk.hk )
Tangwei village, located in Dongguan’s rapidly urbanizing Pearl River Delta region,
Citation: Law, L., Chen, H., Liu, Guangdong, illustrates the challenges and opportunities of balancing heritage
S. & Cheung, M. (2025). Top-down
rural heritage revitalization and preservation with rural revitalization in contemporary China. Designated as a
economic development: A case major cultural heritage site in 2006, the village’s preservation strategies reflect the
study of Tangwei village, Dongguan, interplay between provincial policies, local government planning, and a broader
Guangdong, China. Journal of
Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, national emphasis on tourism-driven economic development. This research
7(3): 5029. examines how government-led rural heritage revitalization initiatives shape cultural
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.5029 preservation in Tangwei village. By analyzing this historic village – designated as
Received: October 3, 2024 a Major Cultural Heritage Site under National-level Protection in 2006 – the study
reveals how local authorities strategically leverage cultural symbols and heritage
1st revised: November 6, 2024
practices to promote tourism development, often in ways disconnected from
2nd revised: December 1, 2024 authentic community traditions. The findings demonstrate that while heritage
3rd revised: December 14, 2024 tourism initiatives aim to enhance the village’s visibility and economic group, their
top-down implementation primarily serves government economic objectives
Accepted: December 30, 2024
rather than addressing community preservation needs. Drawing on fieldwork,
Published online: February 4, visual documentation, oral histories, and textual analysis, the study illuminates the
2025
complex dynamics between local governance, tourism development imperatives,
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). and rural heritage preservation in contemporary China. It underscores how
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the traditional cultural practices are increasingly commodified and detached from local
Creative Commons Attribution- communities through standardized festivals and artistic interventions. This research
Non-Commercial 4.0 International contributes to a deeper understanding of how state-driven rural revitalization
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all
non-commercial use, distribution, policies reshape heritage landscapes and alter community relationships with
and reproduction in any medium, traditional spaces in rapidly urbanizing regions.
provided the original work is
properly cited.
Keywords: Rural heritage revitalization; Top-down economic development; Tangwei
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with village, Dongguan; Cultural tourism and heritage-making; Government-led rural
regard to jurisdictional claims in revitalization strategies
published maps and institutional
affiliations.

Volume 7 Issue 3 (2025) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.5029