Ecological And Cultural Structure Of Rural Settlements In Yonghan Of Guangdong Province

There are rich implications about history, culture and ecology in the large amount of rural settlements in China. The ecological structure and cultural structure of rural settlements of the Han civilization was explored by a case study in Yonghan of Guangdong Province. The succession of these rural settlements as well as the problems during the succession was revealed, to provide references for the sustainable development of China's rural settlements.The study area was in Yonghan town, Longmen County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. In this area, more than 300 rural settlements were retained. Field research was done in this area. A total of 95 rural settlements were visited, and 68 valid samples with detailed information were obtained. Among the 68 samples, 37 settlements were Hakka settlements, 30 were Local settlements, and 1 was immigrant settlement. Hakka and Local villages were both typical clan settlements, but they were different in history length, geographical distribution, etc.Any settlement in Yonghan must gain land first before establishment, including arable land and land for construction of houses. Site selecting of these settlements were mainly based on the principles of Fengshui. Fengshui master were the planners of these rural settlements.All of these samples' landscape patches followed the mode of "woodland in Houlong mountain + building complex + open land + fish pond + arable land" or its variants. The terrain of these settlements was low in the front and high in the back.Houlong mountain was located in the back of a rural settlement The name of Houlong mountain was originated from Fengshui. Its ownership was collective by the whole settlement, and the trees on it were prohibited to be cut. Building complex was a place where all residents inhabited. Open land was a public open space between the building complex and fish pond, with functions of public activities, drying items, stacking items, breeding livestock and poultries, etc. Fish pond was situated in the front of a settlement, always with a shape of half-moon, and with functions of breeding fishes, drainage, fire prevention, water logging prevention, etc. Its ownership was also collective by the whole settlement. Arable land was located in the periphery of a settlement. It was the landscape matrix of settlements in the flat terrain.The commonality about ecological structure of the rural settlements in Yonghan stemmed from their common cultural structure. The main element of the cultural structure was Fengshui. Fengshui played a very important role in the ecological restraint mechanism of the rural settlements. It also indirectly reduced the destruction of forests by agriculture civilization, and limited the scale of these rural settlements. However, the dominant position of Fengshui also limited people's exploration of improving living environment and limited the economic development of rural settlements. The ecological structure of rural settlements was also subject to social and economic factors. Culture factor, economic factor and social factor worked together to build the ecological concept of the rural settlements in Yonghan.Succession had taken place in these rural settlements in Yonghan since the reform and opening up in 1978. The main performance was that residents gradually moved out from the old building complex and built new houses in their neighborhood. The main driving force of settlement succession was the change of ecological concept. The status of economic factors improved greatly, the influence of Fengshui weakened gradually, the social structure also changed. Problems emerged in the succession such as land waste, inadequate protection of historical heritage, conflict between ecological protection and economic development, the disregard of the continuation of historical culture. A sustainable development model need to be developed to protect and reuse the cultural landscapes and promote the economic development of rural settlements.