Abstract
As an important relic of traditional Chinese culture, traditional villages have important cultural values. With the continuous deepening of modern urbanization and the development of rural tourism, the village landscape is also facing profound challenges. In the context of rural revitalization and tourism development, it is necessary to strengthen the landscape identity of traditional villages. Based on the background of rural revitalization, this article reviews and discusses the related concepts and research status of traditional village landscapes, the identity of village landscapes and existing problems in landscapes, and remodeling strategies by sorting out relevant research literature at home and abroad in recent years. People’s awareness of local landscape identity reshapes the landscape uniqueness of traditional villages so that the local culture and foreign culture can reach a state of balance and integration. The village landscape identity and the impact of digital technology and self-media platforms on landscape remodeling are reviewed and discussed. The study found that the landscape identity of traditional villages is reflected in the activity places with local regional cultural characteristics and relies on the spiritual emotions of the villagers. For the existing problems in the landscape, a landscape remodeling strategy is proposed to restore people’s awareness of local landscape identity and reshape the landscape uniqueness of traditional villages.
1. Introduction
The village landscape has ecological functions, production functions, recreational functions, and esthetic functions. With the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, people have paid more attention to traditional villages. And it has produced yearning and attachment. The naturalness, authenticity, integrity, regionality, and experience of traditional villages are very attractive to tourists. However, the development of tourism has also changed the landscape of traditional villages to meet diversified needs; some traditional villages have undergone landscape renovation, renovation, and project development, which have become large-scale, unified, and profitable. However, the regional characteristics and cultural diversity of traditional villages are gradually disappearing. The entry of foreign cultural elements has changed the original living conditions of the villagers. The conflicts between the villagers and tourists have gradually emerged in terms of space utilization. The villagers can only open up their relatively closed living environment and give way to tourists.
Under the background of rapid social and economic development and urbanization in our country, traditional villages have been affected by urbanization in all aspects of the village landscape, resulting in weak awareness of inheritance among villagers, blind pursuit of rapid development, and continuous strengthening of rural transformation and development. There has been a phenomenon that the rural landscape, which was originally dominated by villagers and coordinated with the natural environment, has been transformed into a tourist landscape led by the government and developed and constructed by developers in a unified manner. Village life is rebuilt, the uniqueness of traditional villages disappears, and the phenomenon of landscape homogeneity intensifies. Some landscapes with natural simplicity, traditional features, and collective memory are also disappearing, replaced by village landscapes with large changes in function, style, and pattern. The villagers’ belief and sense of identity have been diluted, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of traditional villages with local culture and national characteristics in our country. Therefore, it is particularly urgent to protect traditional Chinese villages [1].
In the implementation process of the rural revitalization strategy, the core construction requirements will be industrial prosperity. In this process, a better rural landscape environment will be built, the transformation and upgrading of rural industries will be promoted, the rural appearance will be improved, and the environmental quality will be improved in an all-around way. The main contributions of this study are as follows. The study found that the landscape identity of traditional villages is reflected in the activity places with local regional cultural characteristics and relies on the spiritual emotions of the villagers. Through the problems existing in the landscape, a landscape remodeling strategy is proposed to restore people’s awareness of local landscape identity and reshape the landscape uniqueness of traditional villages. This article protects and activates traditional villages by reshaping the traditional village landscape so that traditional village culture can be protected and inherited. It can not only drive the local economic growth and stimulate the emotional identity of traditional village residents to the local, but also have a certain reference significance for the development of other villages in the remodeling strategy. It will promote the overall improvement of the rural environmental quality and make the countryside a new livable space. The recent works of this article are shown in Table 1. To sum up, in the process of recognizing and remodeling the traditional village landscape, the characteristics of the original landscape should have been fully retained, and the overall planning and creative design should have been carried out on the basis to improve the design sense of the landscape and create a more rural characteristic.
2. Related Concepts and Research Status
Landscape is a geographical entity with distinct visual characteristics composed of distinct land units [2]. The traditional village landscape is the result of the combination of the village and the villagers, the village and the surrounding environment, and the villagers and the surrounding environment. It considers the landscape as a regional complex in geography, including nature, economy, humanities, etc. In ecological research, landscape is a combined space area that interacts. In environmental design, landscape refers to the natural and artificial environment around the building itself. In the process of traditional village landscape renovation, this article proposes that remodeling design means changing on the original basis. More importantly, it emphasizes the design based on historical inheritance, so it has a certain inheritance.
“Landscape identity” is a highly externalized identity theory. Landscape identity is usually defined as “the uniqueness of the place perceived by the subject,” that is, the natural or cultural landscape of a place, including the values behind the landscape [3]. From the perspective of sociological symbol interaction theory, landscape identity refers to the interaction process of villagers with landscape in their daily life, forming a local attachment characterized by landscape intention. In this meaning, the subject is at the center, and the identity of the landscape here is manifested as the self-exploration and active transformation process of the landscape. Under the social identity theory of social psychology, landscape identity is based on “community identity.” Differences in the composition and size of communities also affect spectacle identity, such as the attachment of political power systems to the spectacle. Landscape identity here refers to the unique landscape formed by each settlement, including the built environmental landscape of buildings and public spaces, as well as the sense of identity formed by placing national beliefs on the landscape.
“We-Media” refers to the general term [4] of private, civilian, generalized, and independent communicators, who deliver normative and nonnormative information to an unspecific majority or specific individual people by modern electronic means. The development of big data technology has promoted the arrival of the “Internet +” era and has diversified the protection methods of cultural relics and some landscape sites. In the “Internet +” era, digital technology is significant to the protection of traditional village landscape sites.
3. Qiang Nationality Traditional Village Landscape Identification
Village landscape is the basic element to form identity [5], with landscape as the medium [6]; the main forms include sacrifice, festival [7], celebration, ancestral hall, temple, and so on. The Qiang people are one of the oldest ethnic groups in China with a long history and rich culture. Most of the Qiang people live in high mountains or mid-mountain areas, and a few are located near towns along the highways, where they live together with ethnic minorities such as Tibetans, Han, and Hui [8]. In their long history, the Qiang people have built their own culture through their keen perception of the external environment, forming a unique settlement form and landscape relics.
The village transformation driven by rural revitalization and tourism development leads to some traditional cultural activities, which cannot be inherited. Because there is no landscape place as the carrier, the villagers are not highly recognized by the landscape. In the landscape identification, the Qiang villagers have a high sense of identification with Shanwang Temple, Sharon Square, Sacrificial Square [9], watchtowers, and ancient streets. These cultural activity places with regional characteristics are easy to arouse the emotional belonging of the villagers and restore the spiritual sustenance of the villagers. From the perspective of the age level of the population, the older generation of aborigines in traditional villages has a higher degree of identification with the original village landscape, while the younger generation and some new villagers from outside have a lower degree of identification with traditional villages [10]. From the perspective of the perception dimension of landscape elements, the landscape location perception is the highest, followed by modeling, and the lowest is color perception. From the perspective of the identity dimension, emotion has the highest degree of identity, followed by meaning, and the lowest degree of functional identity (Table 2 and Figure 1). Figure 2 shows the difference in perception of landscape factors among traditional village residents. Figure 3 presents the identification differences of landscape factors among traditional village residents.
4. Landscape Identity and Remodeling Design
A traditional village is a complete ecosystem that is integrated with the surrounding environment. This ecosystem includes both static traditional village landscapes such as mountains, buildings, water sources, and plants, as well as dynamic traditional village landscapes such as people, animals, and activities. Maintaining the ecological integrity of the village landscape is a starting point for the remodeling design. At present, there are problems such as unified development, “decoration of the facade,” and withered landscape in traditional villages in Table 3. How to accurately grasp and utilize the heritage characteristics of the village landscape will help to find a solution to the traditional village landscape problem.
Landscape identity emphasizes the uniqueness of the landscape, including materials, plants, the narrative space of the village, the landscape color, and other local and memorable landscape spaces. The uniqueness of the village landscape can effectively avoid landscape homogeneity when remodeling the design, to restore the village memory more vividly. In addition, the mutual communication between the villagers and the environment has formed the “nostalgia” of traditional villages, which not only reflects the stable relationship between people and the village but also reflects the harmonious coexistence between the village and the environment. Nostalgia is a spiritual product after people adapt to the environment. After people adapt to the environment, they carry out demand-satisfying behaviors, which increase the nostalgia of villagers and foreign tourists. It can better realize the good interaction between people and the village landscape, restoring the activity of the landscape space.
In addition, the concept of local identity emphasizes cultural self-confidence and the uniqueness of the landscape. The traditional ritual activities and spaces of the village have unique landscape characteristics, which brings strong cultural self-confidence to the villagers, villagers gain local pride through self-perception. Guided by the traditional village ceremonial activity landscape, the reconstruction of cultural confidence and landscape uniqueness can improve the cohesion and attractiveness of the village.
5. The Role of Digital Technology in the Protection of Landscape Heritage
5.1. Digital Technology in the Mainstream of Repair
With the development of digital technology and the widespread use of digital instruments, the technology will become the mainstream of cultural heritage restoration technology, through digital interpretation, making the solid heritage of digital technology “live.” Tourists and villages in the younger generation through animation, digital, and other forms set to understand the local landscape heritage, which further stimulates the villagers’ landscape identity and cultural confidence.
5.2. Bring about Change to the Landscape Heritage
Digital heritage has a lot of new solutions in the current heritage restoration. Before the recovery, digital technology was used to find the problem. Through the organic combination of various technologies, the problem of three-dimensional laser scanning data was solved back to the two-dimensional plane construction. Through virtual reality technology, the digital heritage can reproduce the original appearance of the site, and through optical technology, the virtual original appearance is superimposed on the current situation of the site. By using the technology, the villagers’ emotional identity of the site for the landscape site is restored to a certain extent.
5.3. Promote New Trends in Industrial Development
Through the research, it is found that many traditional villages have landscape heritage relics. With the gradual improvement of material living standards, people increase demand for spiritual and cultural life, through digital technology, collecting and recording village physical space data. People adopt digital technology to repair landscape sites, the village’s existing ancient dwellings, ancestral temple, archway, mill, ancient digital analysis, build traditional village digital museum platform, through 3D graphics, communication network, and other digital ways (Table 4). To realize the connection between people and things, a long-term relationship is established between the villagers and the tourists, which revitalizes the traditional villages, and drives economic development of the traditional villages.
6. Problems Existing in the Village Landscape
6.1. Homogenization of Landscape Construction
“Movement-style” rural construction, that is, rural reconstruction and construction are carried out. The government pursues efficiency and performance, and the planning unit pursues profit maximization, which makes many incompetent design units also participate in rural planning and design. The planning and design of many villages lacked systematic and in-depth investigations. “Borrowism” is adapted to apply a set of plans to guide the construction of multiple villages. Thus, the problem of homogeneity is serious in the planning and construction of thousands of villages.
6.2. Urbanization of Rural Landscape
Firstly, with the “invasion” of foreign cultures, some folk cultures and village landscapes have been impacted. Due to the lack of timely protection and inheritance, it was gradually forgotten or even disappeared; secondly, the villages were hollowed out, mainly the elderly. As the main force, the youth group goes out to work or study because they think that the urban is advanced and the rural is rustic. Many rural landscape constructions lack the foundation of “country flavour” and local culture.
6.3. Formalization of Landscape Functions
At present, it is paid too much attention to the esthetic performance of the external form of many village landscapes in the construction and renovation. However, it lacks the necessary consideration in the basic functions of villagers’ production, leisure, and communication, ignoring the functional requirements. Only by understanding the needs of the villagers in the landscape construction it can become a humanized design and realize its value. However, although some villages have spent a lot of money, the effect is not satisfactory. For the construction of traditional village landscapes, it is necessary to maintain the original landscape functions while taking into account the local needs of the villagers and tourists, so as to awaken the cultural beliefs and landscape identity of the villagers.
7. Landscape Analysis of Radish Village
7.1. Overview of Radish Village
Radish Village is located on the alpine plateau on the south bank of the Minjiang River in Yanmen Township, Wenchuan County, with an altitude of 1800–1950 meters. According to archaeological excavations, there are 3000–4000 years of human civilization history. The village has a total of 224 households with a population of about 1100 people. It is the largest settlement space for the Qiang people on the mountains and plateaus. It is also known as “Qiang Village on the Clouds.” In 2006, Radish Village began to develop tourism. With its unique yellow mud architectural landscape and original ecological Qiang Village culture, it became an instant hit. It quickly became a famous tourist attraction in the Wenchuan area and was awarded the honor of “4A Scenic Spot.” In 2008, the Radish Village was razed to the ground by the earthquake, and the Radish Village experienced a hasty post-disaster reconstruction and a long-term reshaping of the cultural landscape.
7.2. Reproduction of Village Landscape
During the reconstruction of Radish Village, the collision of its traditional and modern landscape is particularly prominent [11]. The reconstruction of Radish Village is divided into two parts: one is the maintenance of the old village and the other is the reconstruction of new settlement space to solve the housing problem of Radish Village villagers. According to the government’s plan, the old stockade will be restored to its original appearance and used as a tourist attraction. Villagers rebuild their homes in the upper end of the old stockade. In this way, the settlement space of Radish Village is cut into new and old spaces. The old space is used as a scenic spot, while the new settlement space is the production and living space of the villagers. In 2009, the new village was born as a new landscape of Radish Village.
With the promotion of the tourism market to attract tourists, the village landscape began to beautify the appearance of the houses. The decorative patterns with the representative of Qiang culture are widely used. Tourists understand the cultural connotation of totem worship and symbols through the wall appearance, and also understand the Qiang culture. The square in front of the village committee office building has been expanded and renovated, which constitutes the content of the esthetic and cultural symbols of the modern Qiang landscape, and the new “Diaolou” has become a new symbol of the village landscape. However, excessively pleasing tourists’ preferences makes the village landscape lose some of its cultural authenticity.
7.3. The Old and New Villages Are Seriously Differentiated
The new stockades are built according to the principle of “concentrated living,” arranged in such a way that families are closely connected. In order to maintain the characteristics of Huangniqiang Village of Ruipao Village, the outer walls of the house were evenly painted yellow with iron yellow and other paints. Except for the similarity in color, the new dwellings are almost two different landscape features from the traditional dwellings in terms of materials, forms, and functions. During the survey, it was found that although the villagers live in the new village, they are still willing to hold cultural activities and ceremonies in Laozhai, and they have a low degree of recognition of the landscape of Xinzhai. This reflects the lack of cultural continuity and style integrity in the landscape characteristics of old and new villages.
8. Village Landscape Reconstruction Strategies Under the Background of Rural Revitalization
8.1. Strengthen the Identity of the Village Landscape
The village landscape is closely related to the village folk culture. The protection of the village landscape is carried by people, and its vitality is reflected in the inheritance. The remodeling of landscape functions is not just imitating the city, or simply transforming it according to some self-will. It can increase the recognition of the landscape by strengthening the identification signs of traditional villages such as ancestral halls, temples, dwellings, and sacred trees. It is also possible to carry forward the cultural traditions of traditional villages by excavating and inheriting the historical context of traditional villages. Scientific guidance methods should be used to guide the inheritance of traditional village history and culture, control the material and cultural proportions of traditional village landscape reconstruction, and connect the cultural connotation of landscape space rupture. In this way, the inheritance of traditional villages can be protected, the unique landscape of traditional villages can be displayed, the unity of historical features of traditional villages can be guaranteed, and the sense of cultural belonging of villagers can be increased.
8.2. Protection of Villagers’ Daily Activity Space
There is a direct and close relationship between traditional villages and people’s production and life. Traditional villages have strong regional and local characteristics, which can stimulate people’s esthetic feelings. Villagers are the main body of the settlement and the largest user and successors of the village landscape. The protection and renewal of the village landscape require the active participation of the villagers. Therefore, to develop tourism under the background of rural revitalization and the entry of foreign culture, we should protect the material space of traditional villages, protect the daily activity space of villagers, and continue their local cultural life. The tourists separate from the villagers reasonably, leave some free and quiet space for their daily life, appropriately restore the holding of traditional festivals, and maintain the villagers’ dependence and recognition on the function of the landscape.
8.3. Continuing the Spirit of the Village Landscape
The villagers are psychologically and emotionally very attached to and identify with the traditional landscape. The development of tourism will inevitably change the atmosphere and conditions of traditional villages. To retain nostalgia, we must try our best to protect traditional landscape patterns and typical landscapes such as dwellings, lanes, squares, and temples. The unique local spirit should be protected and created as much as possible, the cultural vitality should be stimulated, and the local cultural identity should be perpetuated. These symbols and spaces are not only products of a specific culture, but also express a shared life experience. Only by understanding the traditional village landscape from the perspective of “human-land symbiosis,” understanding the phenomenon, process, and reasons for its changes, and protecting the authenticity of its cultural core, the original style, and the surrounding environment, can the collective memory and emotional resonance of the villagers be aroused., so as to continue the cultural context of the village.
8.4. Understand the Main Relationship between the Development and Inheritance of the Village Landscape
Landscape identity and village development are interactive processes. Local governments, tourism enterprises, and community residents are important driving forces for the protection, utilization, and management of traditional village landscapes. Among them, the villagers know the value of traditional villages best. In the modern development of the village, the space places, landscape elements, and cultural images that have a strong sense of belonging to the villagers are protected, and the villagers’ inner identity and sense of responsibility for the village are stimulated. Therefore, the continuation of traditional landscape places is not conservative but keeps pace with the times. In the development of tourism, more consideration should be given to the living needs of villagers, to create a convenient and comfortable living environment, and to guide and support villagers to participate in the coordinated development of tourism. In this way, the connection between villagers and traditional villages will become stronger and stronger, and the rural landscape will have a lasting appeal.
8.5. Use the We-Media Network Platform to Publicize the Village Landscape Image
With the development of media, print media and websites have gradually lost their promotional effect. With the rapid development of We-media and network technology, digital protection, original appearance reproduction, mass communication, and interaction with traditional villages have become the development trend of the times. Therefore, the choice of We-media to publicize the village landscape will have a wider advantage. Compared with traditional media, We-media has a low threshold and simple operation. Anyone can build a We-media account and push content to the audience, which can be completed by uploading and publishing videos or pictures to publicize to attract the attention of more tourists, which is also conducive to the publicity of the traditional village’s own image and the development of the village.
9. Conclusions
Traditional village landscape as the culture is the most complete environmental embodiment of human social wisdom. The village landscape is the historical memory of human beings shaped by agricultural civilization and nature. It is a symbol of regionality and the accumulation of the history of regional social development. These unique cultural landscapes are undermined by excessive commercial exploitation. To reshape the landscape, it is important to listen to the needs of the villagers, meet their emotional sustenance, and use scientific methods as the basis and standard of protection. In addition, there are some limitations in this article. On the one hand, because the traditional village landscape involves many elements, this study integrates the literature research method to identify the elements of landscape identification, but some important factors may still be missed. In the future, further research can be conducted in-depth and can adopt quantitative and qualitative research methods to improve the research content. On the other hand, this article focuses on restoring the villagers’ “landscape identity, and future studies can integrate the tourists” perception of the traditional village landscape experience. In addition, future works on smart cities can also be used in traditional village landscapes, and modern elements are introduced into traditional rural areas. How to restore the villagers’ landscape identity and landscape remodeling needs more exploration.
Data Availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China, project number: 20BMZ053.