Abstract
Based on archival research, non-participatory observation, and semi-structured interviews, this paper examined waterway landscape changes mainly caused by tourism development in Hongcun, a traditional village in the Huizhou region, China, and how the locals have responded to water pollution in order to achieve landscape sustainability. It is found that the physical structure of the waterways of Hongcun Village has been well preserved, but the water pollution caused by tourism, with a combination of changes of land use and demographic structure, has changed the functions and cultural meanings of waterways. Although there remains quite a daunting task towards sustainability in terms of technology, heritage protection, and desire for development, we claim the waterways environmental governance in which local governments play a crucial role in resilience strategies by controlling the sewage from homestays, restaurants, and pigment sewage from sketches. However, the ways in which landscape animates, including the daily lives, processual daily practices, and mundane activities of different social actors related to waterways, deserve further implementation to build the resilience of cultural landscape from the perspective of non-representational theory. This paper adds to a new narrative to the waterway landscape research by presenting a water utilization pattern that could profitably coexist with a specific environment in the Huizhou region in the agricultural society of ancient China and discussing how the non-representational theory contributes to analyzing and managing waterway landscapes in modern times. It also sheds light on the connection between cultural landscape and resilience.
Highlights
IntroductionIn the context of a constantly changing world, tourism constitutes one of the most significant contemporary forces of local change
After a description of the fieldwork, we provide qualitative evidence of how tourism development has had an impact on the waterway landscape changes in Hongcun Village, and we discuss how this impact is manifested and how the local governments and communities have responded to water pollution issues to achieve landscape sustainability
In the wake of China’s tourism development, this heritage, with rich historical and cultural meanings in architecture, geomantic omen, clan, and ancient village layout, is represented by the developers and their media, which has quickly become the object of tourist’ gaze
Summary
In the context of a constantly changing world, tourism constitutes one of the most significant contemporary forces of local change. Britton asserts that “tourism is one of the most important elements in the shaping of popular consciousness of places and in determining the creation of social images of those places . Of how modern society orders relations between peoples and places” [1], which indicates that both the tangible and intangible aspects of a place can be shaped by tourism. Due to its imageability and tangibility, tourism generates a noticeable impact on landscapes, making landscapes a valuable means of analyzing geographical changes through tourism [2]. Tourism and landscape are related [3]. The rising locales of featuring therapeutic landscapes along with the health tourism boom [4]; a massive transformation of the environment into resort hotel landscape catalyzed by tourism [5,6]; the reorganization of border landscapes, and the dissolution of mental boundaries influenced by tourism [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
