Inherit and Reconstruction of Chinese Rural Landscape Culture - On the Development of Chinese Rural Settlements under the Background of Fast Urbanization

Abstract

Urban and rural are the basic forms of human settlements. China is an ancient agricultural nation and the Chinese have created great agricultural civilization. Even in the modern society, there are still a huge number of populations in the rural settlement. The Chinese living on the rural areas have created abundant rural landscape culture which has been the root of the whole Chinese traditional culture. Under the influence of feng shui philosophy and Confucianism, besides meeting to the basic needs on the environment (including the natural environment and social environment) ------security, Chinese rural settlement landscapes pursue a higher level of relationship between human and the environment------harmony. But in the process of urbanization, the space expansion of urban development, the extension of modern transportation, the infiltration of tourism and commercial penetrating are making the rural landscape split and stripped off. Pastoral rural scenes are being eroded. Lacking of understanding and forward-looking, a lot of rural construction under the name of protection results in directly constructive destruction. Meanwhile, in the wave of economic development, most of the younger generations of the rural population are moving into the city and no longer dependent on the land. The rural lost its most dynamic and creative group whose values decide the future of rural landscape and its culture. Finally, after making the renew cognition and assessment on the rural landscape, there are five positive suggestions are afforded, which should be as references in order to make current Chinese rural settlement landscape culture livable and sustainable.