Impacts of the World Heritage List Inscription: A Case Study of Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in China

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the overall impacts of the World Heritage List (WHL) inscription in China from different socioeconomic aspects. Kaiping Diaolou and Villages was chosen as the case study because the long period of preparation for WHL inscription led to residents’ deep understanding of its heritage values. Results are as follows. (1) Cultural cognition, sense of belonging, community cohesion and infrastructure were positively improved by the WHL inscription, whereas damage to the community cultural environment slightly increased. (2) In the economic domain, the WHL inscription had generated positive (increase in tourism development and villagers’ income and employment and solution to the Diaolou property rights problem) and negative impacts (worse tourism development, unequal income and unsolved property rights problems). (3) The WHL inscription improved the ecological environment and people’s attention to environmental protection. Although it also caused environmental damage due to an increase in tourists. (4) The positive impacts on the political domain were reflected by government leadership, community participation and plan and legislation, whereas the negative impacts included limited community participation and insufficient planning. Innovations of this study include constructing a theoretical framework to evaluate the impacts of WHL inscription, analysing the present factors of WHL inscription’s impacts and providing development suggestions.

Research progress and knowledge system of world heritage tourism: a bibliometric analysis

“…They generally believe that "inscription" positively impacts local tourism demand (n = 22). It has been shown to have a positive impact on local tourism demand through the use of "inscription" in China [4,[122][123][124], Italy [125,126], Spain [127], Israel [15], and other case studies confirm this finding. Contrary findings (n = 7) argue that the WHL does not necessarily promote tourism [128][129][130].…”

“…The effects of the WHL on heritage tourism vary from country to country and region to region, with findings running depending on the study area, research perspective, and methodology. The disagreement among scholars makes the research on the effect of WHL on tourism demand consistently popular [4,130,132].…”

“…A World Heritage Site (WHS) is a scarce area of outstanding universal value (OUV) that requires longterm protection, is non-renewable and irreplaceable, as identified by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and World Heritage Committee (WHC) [1]. World Heritage-listed areas typically receive an order of magnitude more tourist visits than their non-listed counterparts [2][3][4]. These areas are also often used as a means of economic regeneration through tourism development [5][6][7], as they have a significant economic impact on local communities [8][9][10][11].…”

Intangible cultural heritage complexes in China: Representation and restoration of pigmented reliefs in Kaiping Diaolou

“…Kaiping Diaolou is known as "a model of overseas Chinese culture" and "a stunning architectural art gallery." The research results of Han et al (2020) show that the decorative artistic features of pigments in the traditional buildings of Kaiping Diaolou are to make full use of the texture and craftsmanship of the materials for artistic processing. Others studied the pattern characteristics of pigments (Sun et al 2019).…”

Orienteering Events Along South China Historical Trail Promote Rural Revitalization

“…Let Participants realized the wisdom of Chinese traditional culture. The recognition of Chinese traditional culture has endogenous national pride and enhanced the selfconfidence of Chinese traditional culture[15].…”