"Let the Past Serve the Present." Rural Development and Soft Power in the Preservation of Chinese Villages

In 2000, two villages in Anhui Province, Xidi and Hongcun, were declared World Heritage Sites. This designation was a pivotal moment, for it was the first time the historical and cultural values of a Chinese village were recognised at such a level. Twenty years later, the country is eminent in the discourse on World Heritage Sites and is experiencing a national rural revival on a grand scale. World Heritage properties in China already include thirty villages, with more than seventy-five other potential nominations on the national Tentative List. As a result, nationwide protection measures have been established, and rural heritage has been identified as an intertwined set of tangible and intangible, natural and cultural components. However, attention remains mainly focused on the promotion of tourism as a leverage for rapid development. This approach often leads to the transformation of traditional urban spaces into empty stage sets, the marginalisation of local communities, and the reinvention of cultural practices. In this conflicting framework, understanding the situation and promoting alternative paths of development is a challenge. Drawing upon four years of research and on-field assessment of historic villages in China, this article presents a critical overview of the situation describing the policies, approaches and practices at stake.