Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Wei Zhao
Longji (Dragon Bone) Rice Terraces, largely constructed in the last five hundred years, are located in Guangxi Province, China. For centuries, a system of trails, connecting about two dozen settlements in Longji, was the only access connecting the residents and the world outside the valley. Since the 1990s, the decision to develop tourism has significantly changed local residents’ lives and the cultural landscape of Longji. Drawing upon archival research and limited fieldwork, this paper scrutinizes the local heritage management and tourism development approach since the turn of the twentieth century, and their impacts on the cultural landscape and local people’s lives. Although recognizing the benefits from developing tourism, this paper challenges the current approach, which presents heritage as many destinations, each being rather complete and independent, and overlooks the integrity of the cultural landscape. As a result, many segments of the rice terraces are abandoned, and the trails deserted. Moreover, the memories and stories attached to these places are forgotten. This paper argues that heritage should be viewed as narratives, connecting events and places both in space and in time. In this case, the trails, in addition to being the gateway to the outside world, not only connect the past and the present and the residents from all the villages but also provide access to the rice terraces and the entire landscape. Thus, this paper advocates an alternative approach on heritage management, which not only emphasizes the integrity of the cultural landscape by considering the trails as the axis and the access, but also celebrates and promotes the narratives that construct and connect the cultural landscape in space and in time.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.109.41
Volume Editors
ISBN
978-1-944214-37-1
