Conservation and Managenent of Traditional Villages in Huangshan, China

In December, 1999, two villages in Huangshan city, Hongcun and Xidi, were registered as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The number of tourists visiting both villages has increased ever since, leading to a growth of total income from tourism. This phenomenon influenced many traditional Chinese villages to develop tourist attractions. Additionally, the recognition that the traditional culture can improve lagged living standard for local villagers arose. A master plan was established by the Huangshan city government in order to protect and preserve old villages. The major principles of the plan are twofold. The first idea is to maintain and restore the traditional culture and environment while the second goal is to modernize local villagers’ lifestyle to eliminate inconveniences.However, there is a sensitive issue regarding renovation of habitats of these traditional villages as such developments may cause changes and damage the traditional way of life among locals. Moreover, there are many active efforts to construct lost facilities and buildings to restore traditional culture that are often seen in these villages. However, such restoration of buildings could be considered as the same as constructing new buildings as tourists will not be able to trace the history of these new buildings over time. Nevertheless, the traditional village preservation plan is in progress in the Huangshan city area. Due to this plan, some of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage will be damaged and some of them will be preserved. I only wish that the damage will be minimized in the process.In Korea, Hahoe Historic Village is one of the most developed traditional villages that also serve as a tourist attraction. Prior to the year 2000, the majority of policies were focused on preservation of tangible cultural heritage in the Hahoe Historic Village which set aside the issue of locals who live in the village. As villagers refused to cooperate, policies were modified to suit the needs of locals’ livelihood resulting in dissatisfaction from both locals and tourists. There are a number of traditional villages near Andong city and the surrounding area which are immediate candidates of development but yet to be developed. If the city government prioritizes development over preservation of cultural heritage, both cultural heritage and tourism income will be lost. Traditional Korean villages, especially the ones in Andong area should seriously reconsider their future by reexamining the examples of traditional villages in Huangshan.