Preserving the intangible: The importance of form and use in East Asian preservation and the need for a new authorized heritage discourse.

摘要

The current international heritage discourse, as developed by organizations such as UNESCO and ICOMOS, are founded on European principles of conservation and restoration. This discourse ignores local traditional practices of non-European communities, including in Beijing, China, where preservation is focused on the use and form of a site. East Asian preservation focuses on the intangible, in contrast to the tangible forms of European preservation practices. Although efforts are being made to include intangible aspects into the authorized heritage discourse, communities are often trapped between adhering to local and international ideologies while engaging in preservation work. Beijing, China, built to its current form in 1420, has retained much of its historic fabric and character through planning practices based upon a modern form of Chinese tradition. The Bell and Drum Tower hutong neighborhood, located in the northern section of the Old City, is a historically designed residential district that houses culturally significant courtyard houses connected by narrow lanes. Beijing's urban fabric, including the Drum and Bell Tower hutong neighborhood's historic form and use, is being threatened by demolition and reconstruction. Conflicting ideology on how to save and protect the neighborhood exemplifies the struggle between local tradition and the current authorized heritage discourse. Beijing and the Drum and Bell Tower hutong neighborhood are used in a case study to examine the effects of this intellectual conflict on the preservation of the built form, and how local traditional practices can be used to properly save local historic sites.