Issues of Local Residents in Chinese Large-scale Archaeological Site

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3.5. Issues of Local Residents in Chinese Large-scale Archaeological Site

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the local residents’ emotions are the main causes of issues between locals and archaeological site conservation. For instance, the delay in relocating all Huayuanzhuang villagers and some Xiaotun villagers caused dissatisfaction among the residents.

(2) Conflicts in Daily Lives

Archaeological site conservation imposes many limitations on residents’ lives and their productive capabilities, including house reconstruction, land cultivation, individual operations such as livestock breeding, and factory establishment. Simultaneously, no rules have been proposed to compensate them properly for their damages. For instance, house reconstruction is strictly limited in the Yin Xu site even though the population is increasing, while the effect of this regulation is unsatisfactory and illegal construction cannot be stopped. All of the local factories are closed at Yin Xu and Liangzhu sites, which force the local residents to find new jobs outside. The living conditions of residents in the protective area are very tough.

(3) Limited Job Positions

Although some events can provide jobs for local residents, the number of positions is quite limited. For example, at the Yin Xu site, more than 2,000 people were relocated for the World Heritage designation and the National Archaeological Site Park establishment.

However, the Yin Xu Museum could only offer about fifty jobs, presenting a huge gap.

Such events may give locals some opportunities for new business as well. However, the number of visitors to Yin Xu fell from a height of 2,400,400 between July 16 and August 15, 2006—when the site was nominated to the World Heritage List and opened to the public for free—to about 200,000 per year. Many restaurants that opened near the Yin Xu site park have closed down. Even worse, at the Han Yangling site, the route to the museum does not stop at the surrounding villages, so no business comes to them.

(4) Difficulty Offering Direct Compensation

The conservation of archaeological sites is the duty of all human beings. Many

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administrators and archaeologists have proposed giving Cultural Relic Protection Compensation directly to local residents. At the Liangzhu site, the Yuhang District allocates five million yuan per year to local residents for losses caused by protection of the site. The budget comes from the county-level government instead of the provincial or national government. However, in the middle and western parts of China, the finances of local governments are limited. Therefore, such allocations cannot be realized in those areas, as is the case of the Yin Xu site. Those sites would need national-level regulations to achieve such a goal. It is difficult, however, to pay compensation for all sites in the country at the national level. As a result, achieving this goal remains difficult for most sites.

3.5.2. Diverse Participation Issues

Archaeological site conservation and utilization requires the support and involvement of local residents. Meanwhile, locals have responsibilities for their own land and its significant sites, as well as memories of their local history and customs. Therefore, local residents and local organizations should be encouraged to participate as a means of promoting the archaeological site. With this active participation by locals, archaeological site conservation can be stable and sustained. However, actual participation of locals in site conservation and utilization remains low.

(1) Lack of Local Conservation Organizations

The government mainly conserves and utilizes of the archaeological site and the involvement of local organizations is low in number, limited in content, and non-persistent.

The only group in Xiaotun Troupe was eventually discontinued as a result of unfavorable relationships and insufficient funds. The disintegration of the local organization is related to two aspects, interior and exterior aspects. The interior one is the purpose of setting-up, including the content of activities and the sustaining capabilities of the organization while the exterior one is the support of government, especially the local government.

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(2) Difficult to Understand Displays and Irregular Experiential Activities

Generally, archaeological site conservation aims to conserve and pass down cultural heritage. Specifically, it aims to share the achievement of the archaeological site with the surrounding residents who have lived there for generations. Although there is still much discussion about display methods in archaeological sites (such as whether or not to restore and the choice of reinforcement material), the displays are still insufficient and difficult to understand.

Moreover, archaeological sites offer few events that are related or attractive to local residents, generally providing only some irregular activities for tourists. For example, at the Han Yangling site, experiential activities such as doing excavations in the experience zone and making replica figurines in the experience room are mainly planned for tourist groups and require reservations. The Yin Xu site, meanwhile, offers no experiential activities. Neither site has displays or other elements that would connect local residents with the site.

(3) Insufficient Educational Activities

Recently, educational activities in school or the archaeological site park have been emphasized in China, such as International Museum Day, World Heritage Day, Introducing Archaeology to the Campus and Archaeological Summer Camp. However, publicity and education programs related to archaeological sites and their history for primary and junior high students are intermittent and uncommon. Live presentations conducted by archaeologists are still not accessible and regular. Many media campaigns covered the period when Yin Xu registered on the World Heritage List, but this did not continue.

Publishing textbooks for elementary and middle school students in Yuhang District has started in 2014 at the Liangzhu site, which helps young people to learn more about their hometown, however it is still not popular throughout the country. The reasons for this may be summarized in four points: first, there is a lack of awareness among managers that site

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dissemination and education are as important as site conservation; second, there are a lack of special funds and requirements for site dissemination and education; third, there are a lack of professionals or staff in charge of site dissemination and education; and fourth, there are a lack of incentive mechanisms and enthusiasm for the staff to conduct site dissemination and education.

(4) High Ticket Prices Blocks Access

Yin Xu and Han Yangling are both National Archaeological Site Parks. Tickets for the two sites are rather expensive; in 2014 ticket cost was 90 yuan for the Yin Xu site and 80 yuan for the Han Yangling site. However, reduced rates are not available for local residents.

The management staff L of the Yin Xu site noted that the site used to open to local residents for free three days each year, but this policy was discontinued in recent years. It is only on International Museum Day and Chinese World Heritage Day that local residents can get half-price tickets. The same applies to the Han Yangling Museum; it used to be open to locals for free during certain times, but this is no longer the case. Staff H in Han Yangling Museum said that with written permission from the village leader, local residents could visit the museum for free. However, local resident Y said this does not always work.

3.5.3. Recognition of Local Cultural Issues

The increasing contradictions around survival issues for local residents in site conservation and the limited participation of local residents in site utilization cause the low conservation awareness and a lack of recognition of the local culture.

Without improvement of the environment and improvement of living standards, what happiness is there for local residents? The content and approach of the exhibitions in the archaeological site is beyond local residents’ understanding, so how can the site be accepted? The shortage and irregularity of educational and participant activities do not allow local residents to share in the achievements of the site. Thus, to enhance their

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protective consciousness and recognition of local culture, one should begin with solving the basic survival issues, such as compensation for relocation and land acquisition, reconstruction of houses, vocational guidance, etc. Then, enriching activities involving local residents can be incorporated, such as enjoying leisure, learning history and archaeology, and participating in local festivals. Finally, the recognition of local culture by local residents can be established through time.

In summary, Chapter 3 addresses how CLAS is closely related to local residents and how its conservation not only requires the conservation and display of the ruins and remains but also a steady demand for the comprehensive harnessing of the environment, as well as harmonious regional development of related cultural, social, and economic aspects.

During the course of its implementation, issues such as how to protect the environment, how to promote local residents’ living standard and quality, how to enrich the participation of local residents, and how to increase local residents’ sense of pride and achieve the recognition of local culture in practice still needs discussion in practice. In short, the core issue is how to achieve sustainable development in the conservation of large-scale archaeological sites.

In the following three chapters - Chapters 4, 5, and 6 - a number of successful cases in relation to JASC will be examined. There is a wealth of experience here in solving the aforementioned issues.

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