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| CHANGE OF ANCESTRAL HALL LANDSCAPE IN FOSHAN CITY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF PLACE-IDENTITY IN THE BACKGROUND OF FAST URBANIZATION |
| LI Fan1,2, YANG Jian-bo1,2, HE Wei-cai1 |
1. Tourism Department, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China;
2. Center for Land Resources Environment and Tourism Research, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China |
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Abstract Based on personal observation of surviving ancestral halls around the city, the paper aims those typical rural communities located on the outskirts of the urban area and inside the urban villages as subjects of in-depth interview. We found that substantial changes occurred in the space and functions of traditional ancestral hall landscape in Foshan. These ancestral halls become disproportionate to the spatial environment of their settings, tend to take diversifying and modernizing architectural styles and multiple functions and begin to form a new complex cultural space. Meanwhile, place-identity is also being re-constructed here: ① in the process of fast urbanization and globalization, the relationship between place and identity is not only under the influence of the infiltration of externalized cultures, but also strengthened by the identity of internalized cultures; ② ancestral hall centered place-identity is fortified through the physical shaping of place by collective memory and nostalgic space; ③in the background of fast urbanization, a crisis over village survival has inspired the internalized place identity which, being attached to the homeland, has become internal, innate and stable and is constantly strengthened through the restoration, construction and preservation of ancestral halls. In a word, changes in ancestral hall landscape have in some way reflected the rapidly changing social relations of contemporary rural communities as well as the reconstructing place identity.
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Received: 30 October 2012
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2013, Vol. 28 
