Cultural interpretation for all : developing a holistic and inclusive cultural interpretation strategy for Liu’s Manor, Dayi County, Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the improper interpretation in Liu’s Manor, which is a landlord manor located in Dayi county, Sichuan province, China. As one of the representable architectures for landlord manor form in China, Liu’s Manor and its interpretation has undergone various stages after its establishment, till current times, its interpretation seems still cannot reach the principles of interpretation, which potentially affect the perception of the heritage value of the site negatively. Thus, this dissertation will focus on the interpretation issue within Liu’s Manor, to further examine the development of an inclusive interpretation plan for Liu’s Manor. This dissertation will focus on Liu’s Manor (劉氏莊園) in Dayi county (大邑縣), Sichuan Province, China. Liu’s Manor is a Landlord’s Manor that formerly belonged to one of the most powerful bureaucratic landlords, Liu Wencai (劉文彩), who was regarded as one of the “four bully landlords” (四大惡霸地主) in modern China. Liu’s Manor is composed of five individual mansions and one ancestor hall. Covering an area more than 70,000 square meters, the construction area of Liu’s manor is 21,000 square meters, and in total, there are 545 buildings within Liu’s Manor. Such a large-scale architectural compound signifies Liu’s Manor as one of the largest and best-conserved groups of western Sichuan Basin style vernacular buildings in China. In 1959, due to political propaganda, and the ideology figure of landlord class Liu Wencai, Liu’s Manor was adapted into a museum, and began to be called “Landlord’s Manor Museum” (地主莊園陳列館). The interpretation focus in the museum focuses on the extravagant lives and attributes of landlord class people, how the landlord class exploited farmers. During the 1960s, multiple influential literary works, including reportage and a group of figurines were made based on the relevant people and scenario in Liu’s Manor, which strengthened the propaganda function of this museum. After the cultural revaluation, in response to the growing tourism industry as well as recognition of heritage conservation, in 1980, Liu’s Manor was inscribed as a provincial cultural heritage site (省級文物保護單位), in 1996 it was inscribed as a national heritage site (全國重點文物保護單位), and it was also graded as a national AAAA tourism destination (國家AAAA級旅遊景區), and became a national teenager educational base site (第三批全國青少年教育基地). Since Liu’s Manor is currently functioning as a tourist attraction, a cultural heritage site, as well as a teenager educational base site, these three different functions not only attract tourists and visitors but also reveal interpretation that is not compatible with the site as a place of cultural heritage. Although Liu’s Manor has already undergone changes to improve current heritage interpretation, methods including correction of some interpretation contents and adding varieties of interpretation methods. However, the heritage interpretation seems to be falling behind to fulfil the needs and expectations of different kinds of stakeholders, while new interpretation problems occurred with the coming of different ages, which provide an opportunity for the author’s dissertation. Therefore, this dissertation will focus on the scope which is trying to develop an inclusive interpretation strategy for the Liu’ Manor, by integrating the tangible and intangible into a holistic and inclusive approach, which can be applied to other similar cultural heritage sites.