Since the beginning of this new century, there has been a “heritage turn” or “heritage fever” in China. Numerous monographs, edited volumes, and journal articles have been published, and this book represents folklorists’ new contribution to ethnographic case studies of World Heritage sites. In this study, Zhang Lijun examines the transformation of Hongkeng Village in Fujian Province, China, well-known for its tulou architecture — tulou features large, enclosed and fortified earth buildings — from a traditional agriculture-based community into a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site and tourist destination. She explores how heritage policies and concepts—though shaped by global institutions like UNESCO—are understood, mediated, and practiced regionally and locally on the ground. While the designation brought global recognition, it also introduced new housing problems and restrictions, such as zoning and construction limits, that deeply affect the daily lives of residents. Residents had little agency in the heritage nomination process, which was driven by the heritage regime and government officials seeking economic development and international prestige. Heritage practice, however, remains localized and intertwined with long-standing cultural systems, including lineage networks, rituals, and ecological practices. Zhang argues that heritage is just one of many forces shaping community transformation and must be understood in relation to broader social, cultural, and political dynamics.
This book is based on Zhang’s ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2011, 2012, and 2014, primarily in Hongkeng Village. Once reliant on rice farming and cash crops, the village is now a major tourist destination and a model of “living heritage.” In addition, Zhang conducted fieldwork in nearby tulou sites and Fengcheng Town, where the county government and heritage agencies are located. Moreover, she drew on archival research, including local gazetteers, genealogies, ritual texts, and official records, to present historical and cultural contexts for understanding local changes.
As Hongkeng becomes increasingly enmeshed in global tourism networks and national modernization agendas, heritage practice becomes a site of both transformation and contestation. By examining how heritage is articulated, experienced, presented, represented, negotiated, and utilized in daily life, this book offers insight into the complexities of cultural preservation and sustainability in the face of socioeconomic changes. It shows that heritage is a negotiated process shaped by multiple actors, and that local communities play a critical role in defining what heritage means in their own terms.
Chapter 1 situates tulou and Hongkeng Village within their local natural, historical, social, cultural, and economic contexts. It explains how tulou, a unique vernacular architecture found only in Southeast China, emerged from these local conditions and became integral to community life. The chapter also shows how tulou’s historical and architectural significance supports its World Heritage status and serves as a symbol of local identity in heritage tourism. Moreover, it explores how tulou are now used as political, cultural, and economic resources shaped by local government ambitions and policies.
Building on chapter 1, chapter 2 explores both the tangible and intangible aspects of tulou as vernacular architecture. It examines the “five properties” of tulou—history, material, construction, design, and function—while also highlighting its deep connections to local culture and society. The design and use of tulou are shaped by local resources, skills, traditions, and social systems. This chapter shows how residents interact with their environment and each other through tulou’s construction, and how its physical features reflect everyday life, cultural values, social relationships, and belief systems.
Chapter 3 explores how tulou residents’ daily lives, social interactions, and cultural practices reflect both continuities and changes. Tulou shapes a strong sense of home and place through personal and collective experiences across generations of residents. Despite residents’ mixed feelings about living in tulou today, tulou continues to serve as homes, sites of life rituals, and symbols of social structure and relationships. In lineage-based Hongkeng Village, tulou embody the lineage system, helping residents understand their heritage and place within the social fabric.
Chapter 4 examines the transformation of tulou from secluded residential buildings in Southeast China to an internationally recognized World Heritage site. While tulou’s heritage nomination is part of broader national and global heritage discourses, it is also shaped by local efforts. In these efforts, local governments and cultural experts hold significant power, while community members have limited agency. The understanding and framing of heritage are influenced by multinational organizations, governments, scholars, and corporations. The chapter also highlights how the heritage nomination process demands substantial investments of time, resources, and labor, with the expectation of future returns—primarily through heritage tourism development.
Chapter 5 explores how tulou residents engage with heritage processes, tourism, and the transformation of their living spaces into museum-like settings. The World Heritage designation and tourism development have significantly impacted local daily life, reshaping cultural practices, social relationships, and connections to the world. Tulou has become stages for display, performance, and commerce, changing residents’ sense of home. Once valued mainly for their architecture, tulou is now seen as symbols of cultural uniqueness and world heritage. As residents navigate increased cross-cultural interactions, they have become more aware of their heritage, identity, representation, and cultural expressions in global contexts.
Chapter 6 explores how heritage tourism reshapes village life, making new social dynamics and power relations. As local communities undergo socioeconomic transformation, residents must navigate complex interactions involving heritage policies, property rights, and shifting authority. The lines between private and public, local and global, and authentic and performed life increasingly blur, intensifying tensions and negotiations among various actors. Community members adapt by developing strategies to negotiate space, relationships, and power. The book concludes by highlighting the importance of negotiation as a key concept for understanding the interaction between broader structures and local lived experiences in the heritage-making process.
In conclusion, this book makes a timely and significant contribution to the growing conversations around the heritage turn and the everyday life turn in folklore studies and other fields in China and Asia. By offering an in-depth, ethnographically grounded study of how local communities engage with heritage processes, it bridges the gap between policy-driven heritage discourses and the lived realities of vernacular cultures. Scholars, students, and general readers alike will find this book insightful and inspiring, as it provides both a critical framework and vivid examples for understanding the dynamic interplay between communities, traditions, spaces, and tourism in our globalized world.
--------
[Review length: 1033 words * Review posted on October 31, 2025]