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Master Thesis
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
Submitted by: Fan Li Matriculation No: 2214820 27th October 2004 Cottbus, Germany Supervisors Professor Hans Detlef Kammeier Professor Volker Martin
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Urban Planning
Entitled: Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions and submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (M.A.).
Complies with the regulations of this University and meets the accepted standards with respect to quality.
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Abstract
This thesis deals with heritage management with emphasis on urban conservation and tourism development in the old town of Lijiang in China. The case study about Lijiang shows the history of urban conservation and tourism development, identifies the achievement and problems, assesses the way how the local government deals with problems, and gives recommendations.
Past evaluation: The thesis identifies the issues including how tourism develops and conservation works in Lijiang; the impact of tourism development; the intervention in heritage management by the local authorities.
The present situation: The thesis explains how tourism contributes to conservation and works for tourism, the roles of different stakeholders in heritage management.
Future options: The possible scenarios for the old town are envisaged and evaluated.
Recommendations: Based on the previous research, the thesis demonstrates how to improve the present situation and how to integrate heritage management into social, economic and cultural development by the different stakeholders at different management levels
Acknowledgement
There are many people who played a role in my being able to write this thesis. Special thanks go to Professor Ruan Yisan, the directer of the National Research Center of Historic Cities in China, for initiating my interest in historic towns in China. Thanks to my employer, Dr. Shao Yong, in Shanghai Urban Planning and Research Institute, for giving me the chance to work in the field of urban conservation in historic towns in China and sharing her ideas and discussions with me.
Thanks to the people in Lijiang who contributed to this thesis Officers from the Heritage Conservation and Management Committee in Lijiang, tourists, local residents and shop owners whom I interviewed. Special thanks to officer Yao Jindian from the Heritage Conservation and Management Committee in Lijiang, for providing me with a lot of field information. I would particularly like to thank Professor Kammeier and Professor Martin, for their relentless efforts in helping me to write this thesis from the beginning to the end. Professor Kammeier helped me to structure my thesis and encouraged me to go ahead. Professor Martin gave me many useful suggestions.
Glossary
ATCF: the Ancient Town Conservation Fee (Lijiang) RMB: Chinese currency (1 RMB 0.1 EURO) GDP: Gross Domestic Product GHF: Global Heritage Fund (USA) HCMC: Heritage Conservation and Management Committee (Lijiang) LCAP: Conservation Action Plan for the old town of Lijiang (by UNESCO workshop2002) MCP: The Master Conservation Plan for the old town of Lijiang (2003)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....1 1.1 Rationale.1 1.2 Objectives...1 1.3 Methodology...2 1.4 Scope..2 1.5 Justification about the year 1994....3 Chapter 2: Concept framework..5 2.1 Identification of urban heritage in China ...5 2.2 Present situation of urban heritage in China.9 2.3 Tourism development in China.....13 2.4 The way forward: the future of urban heritage in China...16 Chapter 3: Urban conservation in Lijiang.....19 3.1 Introduction of Lijiang.....19 3.2 Urban conservation in Lijiang....21 3.3 Finance for urban conservation in Lijiang24 3.4 Attitude of different groups about conservation: residents, tourists, shop owners...30 3.5 Overview and recommendations about heritage conservation in Lijiang...31 Chapter 4: Tourism in Lijiang...34 4.1 History of tourism development in Lijiang...34 4.2 The impact of tourism in Lijiang....36 4.3 Attitude of different groups about tourism: residents, tourists, shop owners....43 4.4 Commercialisation in Lijiang..45 4.5 Government intervention on tourism development47 4.6 Critiques and conclusions..48 Chapter 5: Current situation of tourism and conservation in Lijiang...54 5.1 Review of the past..54 5.2 The relationship between tourism and conservation in Lijiang...54 5.3 The UNESO workshop: Lijiang Model concerning conservation and tourism development (2001).....56 5.4 The Master Conservation Plan for the old town of Lijiang (2003).......60 5.5 Summary of findings about heritage management in Lijiang...63 5.6 Problem identification and conclusions69 Chapter 6 Scenarios dealing with the future of the old town..86 6.1 Pre-conditions for the scenario.....86 6.2 Description of the scenarios..87 6.3 Evaluation of scenarios..91
6.4 The feasibility of the scenarios.....93 6.5 Retrospect....95 Chapter 7 Conclusion and recommendations.....97 7.1 The recommendations for the urban heritage conservation system in Lijiang..97 7.2 A recommended system and model for urban heritage conservation in China....98 7.3 Concluding remarks..101
Annexes Annex 1: Figures and tables..103 Annex 2: Boxes108 Annex 3: Interview description..118 Annex 4: Interview findings....121 Annex 5: The description of questionnaire survey by Tongji University in 2002..129 Annex 6: Tourists questionnaire survey by Tongji University in 2002130 Annex 7: Residents questionnaire survey by Tongji University in 2002....133 Annex 8: Open questions survey by Tongji University in 2002...137 Annex 9: Lijiang Model formulated in the Fifth Annual UNESCO Workshop of Culture Heritage Management and Tourism in October 2001, Lijiang..140
References..144
List of Figures Figure 1.1: Structure of the thesis.....4 Figure 3.1: The proportion of different fund sources....29 Figure 4.1: The increasing tourist numbers (1990-2003)....35 Figure 4.2: The monthly distribution of tourist numbers in year 2002...42 Figure 4.3: Components of the heritage industry.45 Figure 4.4: The former shop in the Ancient Tea Caravan Route ......49 Figure 4.5: The life cycle of tourism development51 Figure 5.1: The interaction between tourists, residents, shop owners, government and heritage...............67 Figure 6.1: the structure of scenarios for the old town of Lijiang86 Figure 7.1: The recommended system and model for heritage management in China (Lijiang as a case study) ...100 Figure 7.2: The beautiful views of the old town..102
List of Tables Table 2.1: The Changing Model of Tourism Policies in China14 Table 2.2: The Tourism Policy in China in 1984...14 Table 2.3: The impact of tourism on the urban environment..16 Table 3.1: The development of the organisation dealing with conservation after 1997 (the year of World Heritage inscription)..23 Table 3.2: Policies dealing with heritage conservation in Lijiang...24 Table 3.3: Fees from the ATCF in Lijiang..27 Table 3.4: The comparison between different funds for urban conservation in Lijiang...29 Table 3.5: The public fund and sources for urban conservation in Lijiang...29 Table 4.1: Important policies and projects dealing with tourism in Lijiang ..34 Table 4.2: The price difference in the old town and the new town.37 Table 4.3: Critiques about shop control by the HCMC....49 Table 4.4: Anticipated tourist numbers by Lijiang Tourism Bureau...51 Table 5.1: Interview opinions about interaction of tourism and conservation..54 Table 5.2: The development of a mechanism of collecting the Ancient Town Conservation Fee .58 Table 5.3: The interaction between tourists, residents, shop owners, government and heritage..67 Table 5.4 Structure of the above table...68 Table 5.5: Assessment of conservation efforts.....69 Table 6.1: The evaluation of the scenarios based on criteria.92
List of Boxes Box 5.1: Examples of public education about heritage conservation in Germany..82 Box 5.2: Public education for appropriate restoration in Lijiang.83 Box 5.3: Examples of interpretation in historic towns. 84 Box 5.4: The commercial activities in historic towns....84 Box 5.5: Promotion of cultural activities in historic towns...85 Box 5.6: The market square....85
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Rationale
It seems that there is a dilemma between the economic development and heritage conservation.
The tourism industry in historic towns such as Lijiang has a significant impact in the built environment, local economics, culture, and the community. Tourism influences city development in both positive and negative ways. Under this situation, urban conservation has its own characteristics. Urban conservation has new problems because of tourism development. This research tries to identify the problems brought about by tourism in historic towns, it considers integrated urban conservation and it tries to find out how to manage heritage in a proper way.
This study is intended for planners, scholars and researches in the area of urban conservation, cultural tourism and heritage management. This study will provide a detailed understanding about heritage management in Lijiang. In addition to this, it will provide detailed information useful for research in this area.
1.2 Objectives
The main objectives of the study: To identify tourism development and conservation efforts since year 1994 and find out the actors, private or public. To structure actions, interventions, incentives and projects in order to support future integrated tourism development and urban conservation. To identify for the future, the most important actions which the private or public sectors will play. These may be either positive or negative roles in the process of heritage management.
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
1.3 Methodology
This study was mainly based on reviewing literature, case studies and analysing data in the following way, Reviewing literature Literature in this thesis was collected by gathering information, carrying out background reading and critically reviewing research in this field and theories related to this topic were analysed. Survey and interviews A questionnaire survey was undertaken which was organised by Tongji University for the project of the Master Conservation Plan of Lijiang in August 2002.
In March 2004 interviews were conducted, as a fresh supplement to the questionnaire survey. This enabled author to get information about the present situation. Data Analysis Author got the figures and facts in this thesis by reproducing and collecting information, statistics, searching for literature about tourism development in Lijiang from certain departments, bureaus and institutes such as the tourism bureau and the city statistics office in Lijiang.
1.4 Scope
Lijiang was chosen as a representative town for urban heritage in China. This was done in order to study its past, present and its future possibilities. Lijiang is one of the most typical tourism towns in China which has undergone major changes in the last 2
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
20 years in terms of social, economic and cultural development due to rapid tourism development. It is the first town in China where great conservation efforts have been conducted. This thesis does not cover all the historic towns in China, but the case of Lijiang has some characteristics and features with other historic towns.
The way it may go and should go could be referred to other historic towns in China which are under present or potential future pressure from tourism similar to Lijiang, while most of them are being actively promoted to develop tourism by the local governments. The study of this town discovered the similar or contrary fates of many other towns which have experienced the same dramatic political, economic reforms in the past half of the century in China.
The discussion about heritage mainly focuses on the built environment. The economic and social aspects are mentioned, but are not the main emphasis in this research. For instance, when discuss about the impact of tourism on heritage, the impact on the built environment is regarded as the main emphasis.
In October 1994, a conference held by the provincial government with the topic of Northwest Yunnan tourism planning had significant impact on Lijiang. Firstly, the development strategy about Lijiang city was identified as the tourism industry. Secondly, a decision was made to apply for enlistment as a world heritage site, which meant that serious conservation work had to begin. Since this year, Lijiang has undergone huge social, cultural, economic changes. The old town of Lijiang, a small town hidden behind mountains is well-known by the world for hosting more than three million visitors a year (2003).
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
Future
Chapter 3: Conservation assessment Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Background about urban heritage in China Chpater 5: Management assessment Chapter 4: Tourism assessment Chapter 6: Scenarios for the old town Chapter 7: Recommendatio ns for heritage management Referring to other urban heritage in China
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
Urban heritage in China has undergone dramatic political and economic reforms. In the long history of China, from feudal time to modern time, the central government had powerful intervention on the built environment. The identification of urban heritage changed with the change of regime. It was the year 1949 when the Peoples Republic of China was founded.
2.1.1 Before 1949 Feudal time: Heritage as a symbol of the former regime, demolition of precious constructions
Heritage, relics, is taken as the symbol of the past. New governors who took over the previous regime always destroyed visible constructions especially magnificent palaces of previous governors. In history books, there are many records about how rebel armies burnt the palace after they occupied the capital. Therefore, apart from the problems of fire and decay to Chinese wooden architecture, the ideology of the governors determined the difficulties in heritage conservation. Despite the long history of civilization (more than 2000 years), only a few buildings older than 1000 years exist now. Most ancient buildings which can be seen now were built during the Qing Dynasty (about 200 years ago), though some were built during the Ming Dynasty (about 300 years ago). Compared to Europe, the ancient fabrics which are more than 1000 years are in big numbers. The beginning of democracy: Heritage as culture, the beginning of conscious conservation by Kuomintang (1912-1949)
In the late 19th, with the coming of colonists, foreign scholars and missionaries came to heritage sites in China and many precious masterpieces were robbed or stolen and taken to foreign countries such as the famous grotto in Dunhuang. Now you can
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions
find them presented in The Great Britain Museum and other museums in France, Germany and other European countries.
In 1922, the first heritage conservation academic institute, The Institute of Archaeology was founded in Beijing University. The Kuomintang government issued The Antique Conservation Law in 1930. Two years later, The National Heritage Management Committee was founded. Because of the chaos during the wars, real conservation work was not carried out. Most antiquities were abandoned.
2.1.2 After 1949 1950s to 1960s: Heritage as culture, the beginning of conservation After the foundation of the new country, the government issued laws and regulations about antiques. An antique conservation system had been developed in mid 1960s. But the work only focused on single monument conservation.
During this period, the house ownership was changed from private ownership to collective ownership. Some historic buildings which had private ownership were taken over by the government. They were changed to collective ownership which meant that houses no longer belonged to the original owners but to the nation or community. The government allocated these houses to more people to live there for free. On the one hand, the rising population density per house increased the deterioration of the buildings. On the other hand, due to unclear ownership, people who lived in these houses did not care about maintenance of the property. Both factors brought difficulties for heritage conservation. Since the economic reforms in the 1980s, properties were partly returned to the original owners. This situation is similar to the some historic towns before and after reunification of Germany, for instance, Quedlinburg.
Tourism and urban conservation: Heritage management in the old town of Lijiang, China, 1994-2004, and future directions