Commantory on tourism and environment

Preserving the past for the future ---Bring ancient buildings back to life

Living home, trying local foods, experiencing new activities, meeting people you never know about, taking risks... It is awesome for people to walk out of their comfort zone and travel to other places. However, more people traveling means more resources to be consumed and endangered. Tourism is an environmentally dependent activity. 【1】 Overtourism problem can become the vessel to nurture pressures and negative impacts on ancient buildings and historical heritages because of the market-oriented circumstances.

Ancient buildings are heritages that our ancestors left to the next generations. They are not only a symbol of family link, but also a symbol of local culture, especially for those with unique architectural styles. They are the culture identity of the region. Therefore, in order to remain the gifts that the past generations give us, it is key to maintain sustainability in tourism cities or even countries, which refers to develop the nature resources without harming the environment, as well as to keep the environment origin so that generations can share the same benefits.

Problem-Ancient buildings are dying

Under huge economic benefits drive, the diminishing number of ancient buildings and historical heritages is eye-catching especially in some popular ancient town. Places like the Fenghuang Ancient Town attract millions of tourists within a day in the golden season for tourism because of their profound history and plenteous culture. Albeit it is true that the boost of tourism spurs local economies and improve living standards, adverse effects on the historical heritage accelerate overtimes. When I was in primary school, I went to Fenghuang Ancient Town with my parents on vacation. At that time, there aren’t many tourists like recent years does. The most characteristic and traditional building, hanging houses, can be seen in the whole town. The town was used to be pleasant and clean with the smell of rustic. It was quite impressed that when you find yourself as if in Qing dynasty.

Yet, after many years of tourism promotion, more people at home or abroad come to Fenghuang Ancient Town for a visit. To meet the demand of the large tourists’ flow, the government and some local residence destroyed the orthodox building that their ancestors left and turned them into big modern hotels to deal with the overloading tourists and most importantly, to make profits. The number of ancient hanging houses is dwindling to satisfy tourists’ needs. Nowadays in the Fenghuang Ancient Town, only a small part of area reserves the original buildings and houses for tourists to visit and hang around. It is such a pity to see that the previous well-preserved ancient town to become a commercialization place full of money traps on tourists.

As the local government’s ignorance and greedy for more tax revenue and profits, the Fenghuang Ancient Town is unable to go back to the original look in a decade ago. The management of the overloading tourists is problematic in the area and the awareness of the conserving ancient orthodox buildings is lacking. All these lead to the dying of an ever beautiful and unsophisticated town. However, Fenghuang Ancient Town is not the only one in this case. There are more other ancient towns facing the overtourism problem and the destruction of traditional buildings.

Solution-Sustainability is the key

Now, it is our duty to save environment beauty. The environment can be physical and social. 【1】 In dealing with the overtourism issues, the government needs to develop sustainable tactics to minimize the harm meanwhile maximize the benefits in ancient architecture preservation. To preserve the inherent assets for the future generation, maintain sustainability not only helps keeping the most of the heritage, but also brings economic benefits to the local people. 【2】

Ancient towns can achieve sustainability by using the local resources rationally. A successful example in China is the transformation of the courtyard houses Shanxi Pingyao ancient town. There is very few courtyard houses remained in China now. In order to keep and preserve the little-remained courtyard house, the government cooperated with the local people to structurally resorted the old courtyard house in bad shape into the new one, retaining the previous architecture styles. The transformation brings local people who own the renovated courtyard houses business ventures. They developed their own houses into local homestays and hostels for tourists who came to visit. The renovation preserves the ancient courtyard houses, at the same time benefits local residents in making the best of their ancestral houses.

The way in which to renovate the ancient buildings without destroying is the blueprint for other cases to emulate. It is a sample of building sustainable tactic in preserving the ancient buildings and historical heritage. By this means, it not only protects tangible traditional architectures, but also the unique local culture. To make the best use of these buildings by developing them into homestays is expected to increase the income of local people and provide impressing experience for the tourists.

Benefit-Interrelatedness works in long-term

The better use of the ancient buildings benefits the related and nearby facilities, which is interrelatedness. 【2】 Similarly, there is a more local case in Zhuhai. Tangjia ancient village is located in Shangfang Road in Zhuhai city. Tangjia ancient village is well-preserved by the Zhuhai government and listed into one of the Historic Towns of China years ago. The government of Zhuhai did not exploit this area. Instead, the government prevented it from real estate investment. With the renovation of the ancient buildings that remained from the Qing Dynasty, some villagers decorate their own house into traditional Chinese handcraft studios, small tea shop, or homestays in ancient buildings that have Chinese traditional characteristics. As a result, tourists especially from other countries would like to pay a visit and spend their day experiencing various traditional Chinese cultures in the villages.

Thanks to the renovation, the tourism within the village boosted. Thus, the facilities near the village, including public transportations, restaurants and other related services become more complicated. Villagers enjoy more convenience without losing their own ancestral houses. Meanwhile, diversity in job opportunities are created, which contributes to the Zhuhai city in the long run.

In sum, tourism development could be sustainable and historical heritage can be well-preserved if people have the sense of responsibility and the government has effective tactics. The heritage that our ancestors gave us, big or small, worth well preserve by generations and generations. They are the sense of belonging and culture continuity of a family or a community. Preserve the ancient buildings for the next generations because history cannot copy once they are destroyed.

Reference:

1. Abdoreza Faraji rad. & Somayyeh Aghajani. (2010). The Relationship between Tourism and Environment, Iranian Journal of Tourism & Hospitality, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch.

2. Walker, J. (2017). Exploring the hospitality industry. Boston [etc.]: Pearson.