Abstract
Similar to the plight of other traditional villages, Qiqiao Ancient Village is declining under the impact of urbanization and the devastation of modernization. Qiqiao is chosen as the case study as it is the second-largest settlement of Confucian descendants, with a rich cultural heritage. In recent years, the local government has taken measures such as cultural heritage restoration and tourism development to protect their traditional village, but the result is unsatisfactory. By field observation and interviewing three groups of stakeholders, the protection project manager, villagers, and tourists, this research analyzed the current situation of Qiqiao and digital protection applications for its heritage tourism to reveal some recent problems. Considering the local economic and technological conditions, this research suggested digital solutions for similar traditional villages in protection projects for sustainable heritage tourism.
TopIntroduction
Traditional villages are the heritage of historical development and agricultural civilization, carrying much human historical information, and are essential for traditional cultural history. In China, agrarian society has lasted for thousands of years, with numerous precious tangible and intangible cultural heritage embedded in traditional villages.
With rapid urbanization over several decades causing the gradual decline of the countryside (Fuguitt, 1965), the magnificent cultural heritage in traditional villages has been damaged or even destroyed. This phenomenon has not received enough attention worldwide until the 1930s and much later in China. Since the 1960s, archaeology, architecture, environmental science, and sociology experts have taken the lead in saving, restoring, and protecting traditional villages (Halpern & Halpern, 1972; King, Hickman & Berg, 1977). In the 20th century, some positive results appeared in cultural heritage conservation, as heritage restoration and conservation procedures have adopted advanced and innovative digital technologies for more possibilities to improve effectiveness and efficiency (Wong & Chiu, 2023). So, it is meaningful to explore digital methods and strategies for better preserving traditional villages, as in many other protection projects widely used in various village conditions (Stanco, Battiato & Gallo, 2011).
In this study, Qiqiao Ancient Village (漆桥古村落), listed in “The List of Chinese Traditional Villages” in 2013, was chosen as the case. Qiqiao locates near Nanjing, a provincial capital city in middle China, and was previously China’s capital. As the second-largest settlement of Confucian descendants in China, many historical sites and unique folk customs are well retained, recording the brilliance of Chinese Confucian culture. Besides as an ancient commercial hub, this village also documented commercial culture and practice development in southern China’s history. However, most cultural heritage there has been severely damaged by experiencing the devastation of war and the impact of urbanization. In recent years, the local government has carried out cultural heritage restoration and protection projects for this traditional village and developed heritage tourism to retain its traditional culture. However, the results of these measures appear to be unsatisfactory. Therefore, this study explores digital protection methods to solve Qiqiao’s problems during the protection projects for the following objectives:
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To investigate the current situation of heritage restoration in Qiqiao Ancient Village, focusing on digital technology applications and tourism development (Chiu & Ho, 2022a; 2022b).
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To discover the problems in these efforts focusing on sustainable heritage tourism development.
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To suggest digital solutions for overcoming the problems in such a development project.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Heritage Tourism: traveling to the destinations to experience the attractions, artifacts, and activities telling the authentical stories and people in the past.
Digital management of cultural heritage: comprises information visualization, virtual analysis, spatial geographic information system, data mining, knowledge discovery, non-immersion virtual reality, and other technologies.
Sustainable heritage tourism development: tourism development that meets the present needs of tourists with minimal environmental impacts on the local attractions and communities.
Intangible Cultural Heritage: is recognized as nonmaterial practices, expressions, skills, knowledge, and even people associated with the physical artifacts (“the producer”), such as performing arts, traditional skills, and oral traditions.
Tangible Cultural Heritage: is defined as physical artifacts with cultural significance undergoing maintenance and intergenerational transmission in a society, for instance, buildings, monuments, and paintings.
Traditional village: an early-established village with substantial traditional resources and specific protective values in its history, culture, science, arts, society, and economy, for instance, the village’s natural features, traditional folklore, culture, arts, and architecture.
Digital restoration: employing digital imaging and reproduction technologies to visualize the original image or structure of the cultural heritage for effective and time-saving restoration.
Digital Technologies: electronic tools, devices, resources, and systems processing or storing data, such as social media for marketing and promotion, mobile applications for leisure, promotion, and education, and 3D technologies for geographical surveying, etc.
Heritage preservation/conservation: protecting tangible or intangible things being parts of the culture of a particular society, for instance, the craftsmanship, customs, and symbols, from decaying or destruction.
Digitization of cultural heritage: digitally transferring cultural heritage information, for example, collecting and creating digital information of the cultural heritage via advanced digital technologies, for long-term preservation.