Study on Landscape Features of Traditional Villages in Low Hilly Areas in Sichuan During Urbanization in China

The rapid urbanization is giving changes to China’s appearance. Urban areas, for their own sake, are encroaching on lands and villages. The traditional villages are open to exploitation for the development of tourism. They are severely destroyed and the buildings significantly altered for more economic benefits. The traditional culture has been lost; instead, modern villages are constructed. People have no idea about that the preservation of traditional villages can actually bring more benefits. The villages can be found in the specific environment and space, and traditional culture in these villages. The well preserved landscape of the villages lays foundation and is the prerequisite for their development. Among the 4,000 ancient towns in Sichuan Province in China, more than 1,000 of them are historically important and deserve preservation. This paper will study Shangli Town, a traditional one in the low hilly western areas in Sichuan, focus on the relation between its physical form and its traditional culture, and try to understand the deep structure which forms the featured landscape of the traditional village, so as to preserve the landscape features of the traditional villages and revitalize them in a real sense.