Heritage Conservation in Chinese Colonial Port Cities

Abstract

Heritage is a social construct: it is the way contemporary society relates to its past, and transforms the past for current experiences. Heritage is the product of contemporary political, social and economic requirements from different stakeholders. Similar to Western countries, Chinese heritage thinking and practice has seen a move away from restrictive preservation to more dynamic management, from opposition to development, from adjustment to adaptive reuse, and from an expert-based ‘authorized heritage discourse’ to a more community-led process. This thesis focuses on Chinese port cities with a colonial past: Hong Kong, Macao, Qingdao and Taipei. It explores the present dynamics of heritage conservation, management and interpretation in these post-colonials, but otherwise culturally Chinese, cities. The primary purpose of this study is to gain insight in heritage interpretations and potential dissonance among stakeholders in these post-colonial cities. Colonial pasts can be contested – especially when used as heritage for contemporary purposes. Comparing experiences from four cities that have various colonial experiences and function in different current political, economic and social situations, sheds light on the role of the local context in heritage issues. This dissertation starts off by exploring the (changing) interaction between Chinese and Western notions of heritage conservation in China. It then presents a model for urban morphology of colonial port cities and applies this model to the spatial development of the four case study cities. Chapters 4 – 7 discuss the place of colonial heritage in Chinese colonial port cities from political and economic perspectives, whereas Chapters 8 and 9 focus on the (potential of) public participation in heritage issues.