Why we love our school : understanding the emotional value of Zhenhai High School in the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

Abstract

Zhenhai High School (ZHHS) is a historically significant high school in China (over a century old). It contains a number of designated buildings as "major historical and cultural sites protected at the national level." The issue is that, as a functioning school, the site has been expanding to include newer buildings since the 1990s. The question is: how can the heritage significance of the school be retained while allowing for changes that will enable to school to continue its function as a school that meets modern educational needs? Like many people with direct association with the school, the author is an alumnus of the school as well as a resident of the city where the school is located, and she is therefore a direct stakeholder of this heritage place. For these direct stakeholders, there are strong collective emotional attachment to the school, and this attachment is part of the social significance of heritage places that is often overlooked in understanding the heritage significance of these places. The focus of this research is therefore to establish the “emotional value” (a component of social value) of all the buildings, old and new, of this nationally important heritage school, in order to provide a complete understanding of the heritage significance of the school, instead of only the few recognized heritage buildings on campus. The research focuses on analyzing the emotional values of ZHHS for stakeholders. The research scope is the new and old sites and buildings on the campus. It will give the explanation and analyzation of the values and takes ZHHS as a test base for recognition of all buildings' holistic heritage significance more than already identified ones of the recognized heritage buildings (of which some values are lacking) and, more importantly, providing a recognition basis for future newer architectures and sites on the school and giving other places an example of analyzing emotional values.