From Sacred Places To Cultural Heritages:Discourses And Practices Of Temple And Cemetery Of Mencius

Heritage conservation movement has shown many problems both in China and abroad,which is critically examined increasingly.In the “global hierarchy of value”(Herzfeld2004)which involves different nations,organizations and individuals,the voice and interests of the local people are at the bottom and easily overlooked.The field of heritage is dominated by a hegemonic “authorized heritage discourse”(AHD,Smith 2006)which privileges the fabric of heritage and downplays people and their associations of heritage.This study scrutinizes the mainstream discourse of heritage conservation in China by exploring how it emerged in China,and how heritage was discursively constructed and managed before the discourse of heritage conservation entered China.By combining critical discourse analysis and historical ethnography,it explores the discourses and practices of heritage in the Temple and Cemetery of Mencius in Zoucheng as an alternative mode of thinking.The major findings are as follows:Firstly,several factors led to the emergence of the AHD.There was an outflow of cultural relics to the Western countries.Newly established materiality-oriented disciplines exerted influence on national legislations on heritage.The transformation of China from an imperial state to a nation state created the needs of conserving heritage for the national state.While heritage was valued in pre-modern China for its associations with people,these associations were cut since the AHD was formed.Five legitimation strategies are identified which are used by heritage experts to legitimize their power in the field.Secondly,by analyzing stone inscriptions during constant restorations of the Temple of Mencius and the Cemetery of Mencius,it reveals that offering sacrifice to Mencius was the core meaning of these heritages.Officials and literati were the main sponsors who donated to these projects and helped the Meng lineage with these projects.They preferred buildings that looked anew after restoration instead of keeping the historic condition of them.There was a dialectic understanding of heritage among them which regarded both the tangible and intangible as indispensible to these heritages.Thirdly,members of the Meng lineage related to the past in two ways,including offering sacrifice to ancestors and composing family genealogy books.These heritages matter for them because they provide space for these Mencius’ s descendants to make sense of who they are.Finally,I suggest that a paradigm shift in heritage discourse is noticeable,which moves away from the material-centric approach to a people-oriented approach.Heritage is people’s perception of the material things and the interaction between them.Expertise on heritage which claims to be scientific and objective should be reflected.This study contributes to the diversification of heritage discourses and aims to make the field of heritage in China more dialogic and inclusive.