Shangping Village Regeneration: a Cultural Heritage Area

3andwich Design, Low Density, Project, Territory and mobility, Urban Paradigms

Architecture&nature, Cultural identity, Design, Landscape, Landscape Architecture, Local Awareness, Project, Regeneration, Rural environment, Territory&Mobility, Tradition, Urban Agriculture, Urban Paradigms

Selected as one of the “historical and cultural villages” in Fujian province, Shangping village has been sustained by its agricultural tradition and Hakka culture. In Shangping, most of the villagers have the surname of Yang, who are the descendants of Captain Yang Zhen from the Han Dynasty. Shangping village has a complete rural feng shui pattern where two streams run around the village and gather at Shuikou area (the water gap, village entrance). It has many buildings of provincial-level cultural heritage such as the Tai Fu Tai Mansion, the Yang’s Ancestral Temple, Shezumiao Shrine, Zhaogongmiao Temple, etc. According to the legend, the great scholar Zhu Xi used to give lectures in Shangping and left it with treasured calligraphy works. Therefore, Shangping has a reputation for being a “literary village surrounded by water”.