Towards a Holistic Narration of Place: Conserving Natural and Built Heritage at the Humble Administrator’s Garden, China

Abstract

World Heritage tourism in China regulates conservation approaches employed across natural and built heritage sites. However, focusing on the revenue-generating potential of these sites sustains material authenticity and technical conservation methods. The outcome is a conflict between conservation and commercialization, where socio-cultural values are overshadowed by the process of museumization. Underpinned by critical heritage theory and a focus on intangible heritage, this research seeks to confront this conflict by examining the shifting conservation practice at the Humble Administrator’s Garden (HAG), a World Heritage Site and Classical Garden of Suzhou, China. A mixed-methodological approach explores the interplay between architecture and landscape within its heritage conservation process, utilizing archival research, semi-structured interviews with HAG Management, and visitor journals. The study shows how HAG’s heritage is shaped by visitors’ personal experiences and emotions alongside expert interpretations, resulting in the foregrounding of diverse narratives that contribute to a holistic sense of place. Within its politicized system, the safeguarding of intangible heritage requires constant negotiation among the municipality, the market, and emerging narrators. Attempts to reinterpret its former heritage buildings demonstrate a changing conservation discourse as the site transitions from an exclusive literati estate to a multivocal space of cultural encounter. The study illustrates how a focus on narrative representation unifies architecture and landscape, reimagining centuries of literati culture. This makes conceptual space for considering how conservation management can inform a more holistic narration of ‘place’ at similar World Heritage sites via the foregrounding of previously silent stakeholders.