The development of conservation practices in China from the 1980s to the present

Finding Common Ground between United Kingdom Based and Chinese Approaches to Earthen Heritage Conservation

“…Despite many similarities between policies, multiple differences between heritage conservation practice in the UK and China have been found, caused in part by historical, cultural, political and practical differences [10,12,40]. According to reviews of conservation in China [6,10,41], contemporary conservation practices which focus on conserving physical remains and historic material of sites were not established until the early 1900s and grew in popularity in the 1980s with the opening up of China. This means conservation practice is still relatively young in China and collaborations need to recognize the challenges caused by this, such as a lack of public awareness.…”

“…The first international Terra conference took place in 1972 which addressed the protection of earthen heritage and the establishment of national and international networks [2]. Interest in earthen heritage conservation has developed rapidly since the 1990's with research now being undertaken worldwide [5][6][7]. Nevertheless, earthen heritage conservation still faces many challenges caused by a lack of research into earthen materials [8]; the vulnerability of earthen materials to degradation by environmental processes [4,9]; and the locations of many sites in remote and/or politically fragile areas [4].…”

“…To aid future research into earthen heritage conservation, establishing international collaborations is vital for forming sustainable mechanisms for promoting knowledge sharing and understanding [6,15]. There have previously been several such collaborations [12,34].…”

“…(2) To assess more specifically the potential for future collaborations for earthen heritage conservation, through an investigation of the similarities and differences between small groups of UK based and Chinese experts with backgrounds in conservation practice and conservation and deterioration research. Heritage experts were chosen for this study as in both the UK and China they play a crucial role in developing new strategies and disseminating information to relevant bodies who implement conservation strategies [6,14,35]. Experts from a range of ages and academic positions were included to assess the current potential for collaboration as well as incorporating the views of early career researchers to understand potential future trajectories for collaboration within earthen heritage research.…”

“…Substantial differences were found over who can participate in the process of conservation. The China Principles are based on a top down approach where the national government holds the ultimate decision making power [6,35], all heritage practitioners are expected to follow them [12] and the public should feel a responsibility and obligation to support heritage conservation [37] (p. 64). In contrast, Historic England's Conservation Principles provide a framework to advise government but they are not dependent on the government's support and there is a greater emphasis on experts engaging and encouraging participation from communities and other stakeholders [36] (Principle 2).…”