Living heritage and place revitalisation: a study of place identity of Lili, a rural historic canal town in China

Abstract

China is confronting intractable challenges during the process of urbanisation. The urban-rural binary structure that has developed since 1958 has led to a gap in development between urban and rural China. Rapid urbanisation has exacerbated the gap between urban and rural areas and has caused the outflow of rural residents seeking employment in cities, which has led to 'hollowed villages', that is, with decreasing populations, in rural China. These issues have attracted much attention from the central Chinese government who have promulgated a series of policies to support rural development, especially economically. In recent decades, developers and governments have increased the economic profits from real estate and tourism economies in rural areas, so that historic cultural landscapes have, in some places, been replaced by modern residential apartments or pseudo-historic districts in rural historic towns and villages. Under this situation, historic cultural landscapes with significant place identities, attachment and collective memories have been impacted, and the cultural and social values within these rural communities are gradually diminishing. In consideration of these issues in rural China, in 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the 'Rural Revitalisation Strategy' for future rural redevelopment. This research examines how such strategies are unfolding in rural China taking Lili, a Chinese rural historic canal as an vii Acknowledgements When I start writing the acknowledgement, I have just realised that my PhD journey at the University of Queensland (UQ) is coming to an end. These four years in UQ trained me to be an early career researcher with generous support from my supervisors, colleagues, friends and family. The thesis would not be possible to be accomplished without your help and I own my deepest debt of gratitude to all of you! I would like to initially express gratitude to my supervisors. Working with them is a great fortune to me during the study at the UQ. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my principal supervisor Dr Kelly Greenop for her thoughtful and patient supervision, as well as her encouragement whenever I felt confused in my study and life. I was so grateful to her message that cheered me up when I failed in the first confirmation. I would also like to express my gratitude to Associate Professor Chris Landorf, my associate supervisor. She has been extraordinarily inspiring and informative for my research, offering professional guidance and warm encouragement. I still remember the constructive recommendation notes on my thesis chapters and other paper works that written carefully word by word. I also want to thank my co-supervisor Professor John Macarthur who met me during my master study in Nanjing. His professional suggestions and advice inspired me at some difficult stages of this thesis. I also express my gratitude to all the friendly colleagues and staff at the UQ School of Architecture,

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