Repairing Forests and Vernacular Heritage: In the Carbon Deluge of Southern China

This article considers interactions between environmental law and cultural practices in Southern China by way of a trans-cultural and critical-historical perspective of carbon: through examining the impact of top-down, future-oriented environmental protection policies, their impact on the present energy situation surrounding vernacular heritage on the ground, and the ways in which they may be managed given the cultural past reflected by built heritage.

Forests that have been a hotbed for experimentation (not only as a surplus but also as a spiritual landscape) have given rise to heritage vernacular buildings in Fujian Province. The energy used in the production of these heritage buildings is embedded within an environmental conscience. Before carbon as a concept emerged, judgment of buildings was based on culturally accepted principles (originating from treatises in which energy was intertwined with religion) rather than regulations.

However today, following uncontrolled deforestation and a deluge of related laws, the policies have cut the vital link between vernacular settlements and forests. The contemporary notions of movement and associated transformation of carbon is considered alongside the tangible cultural inner-workings of processes, which have involved carbon underlying rural processes in the production of South China’s vernacular heritage— indeed, those which provide alternative (and with correct moderation, more sustainable) solutions rooted in the cultural past.