Siao LU, Hui LIN

College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Abstract Hekou ancient town, Qianshan County, Jiangxi Province, is one of the famous towns in the south of Jiangxi Province in the Qing Dynasty. It is on a par with Jingdezhen Town, Zhangshu Town and Wucheng Town, and they are known as the four famous towns in Jiangxi Province. Because of the late development, people’s understanding of it is still very limited. Based on the phenomenology of architecture and the place theory of Norberg-Schulz, this paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the composition of Hekou ancient town, in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of Hekou ancient town and provide some reference for the protection and renewal of Hekou ancient town.

Key words Hekou ancient town, Composition, Genius loci

1 Introduction

From the 1960s to the 1970s, the Western countries set off the trend of post-modernism, which influenced many fields. Because of its openness and inclusiveness, the urban design of post-modern city integrates the ideas of architecture and social culture, promotes its own rapid development, and forms a set of mature design systems. In this context, the famous architect Norberg put forward the classical theory of genius loci. Its core idea is to explain that the physical meaning of the place space and the natural environment are completely different, people and the building environment continue to interact and contact, in the long run, it will form a specific concept in people’s memory and emotion. This particular concept includes specific buildings, specific locations, and special groups of people. These special factors depend on each other to form an organic whole, in which the three factors of human, architecture and environment are inseparable, which is an important product of the interaction between human and the natural environment. In addition, based on the theory of philosophical guidance, he put forward a method to analyze and evaluate architectural phenomena. This method is to directly start with the things themselves in order to describe and analyze the architectural phenomenon in detail, on the basis of which to explore the core connotation of the phenomenon at a deeper level. That is to see the essence through the phenomenon, which is the main content of the phenomenology of genius loci architecture[1]. In order to grasp and understand the genius loci connotation of Hekou ancient town in a more comprehensive and detailed way, this paper mainly studies and analyzes it from two aspects: the main structure of the place and the embodiment of the genius loci.

2 Types and analysis of place structure of Hekou ancient town

In essence, the place is the synthesis of the two elements of human and nature. In order to grasp and analyze the phenomenon of the place more deeply, Schultz mainly analyzes the structure of the place from the following two angles. First, the landscapes and settlements are used to describe the place. Second, from the perspective of space and characteristics, the structure of the place is understood, and the type of place is clearly defined[2].

2.1 Place structure types of Hekou ancient town

2.1.1Landscape. Hekou has a superior geographical location and is surrounded by a vast alluvial plain. The overall terrain is very flat, the soil is fertile, and numerous pieces of fields are connected. These are the characteristics of the layout of Hekou ancient town. On the one hand, Hekou ancient town is built along the river, being close to the river can greatly promote the development of urban economy. The water is divided into the mainstream and the tributary, surrounding the town. It greatly meets people’s domestic water consumption and fire-fighting needs. The characteristics of Hekou ancient town surrounded by the mountain and water are closely related to its own survival, and the whole layout of Tibetan settlement is the sublimation of its soul. The overall topographic feature of Hekou is very complex, from the tidal flat to the terrace and then to the hilly area. The terrain is lower in the north and higher in the south. From Hekou ancient town to the north is Jiushi Mountain, and you can overlook the Xinjiang River. From the overall effect, it creates a majestic, magnificent natural landscape atmosphere. In the folk, there is also the myth of "nine lions in Jinji town". In ancient times, when people were building houses, they chose remote areas to take stones, and were unwilling to destroy the natural barrier of Jiushi Mountain, making it a good layout of ancient towns to meet the requirements of geomancy.

2.1.2Settlement. Hekou has superior geographical conditions and is at the center of the inland river trade roads for Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, so that its commercial value can be brought into full play. The transportation and processing industries in the region are very prosperous. A large number of businessmen and handicraftsmen have gathered to form a special group. The natural environment promotes the rapid development of trade and transportation industry, and this kind of rich business atmosphere also brings a kind of imperceptible influence to the local people. Under the influence of this business atmosphere, people gradually shift the focus of their life to business. Everyone in the group exists independently, but what they do unconsciously contributes to the commercial development of Hekou. Therefore, there is a very obvious social cooperative relationship within the ancient town, the cooperation between people has brought a strong cohesion, and people’s relationship is also closer.

2.2 Analysis of the connotation of Hekou ancient town

2.2.1Characteristics. According to the theory of genius loci, characteristic is a very common and ordinary concept. The so-called characteristics not only reflect a comprehensive atmosphere, but also reflect the specific appearance and modeling characteristics of the place, which are the core content of the space element. Each place has its own very unique characteristics. This natural environment, geographical location, history and culture and ethnic aggregation are very closely related. These themes are not separated solely, but a kind of mutual integration and interaction, and finally form a unique place. Place is the product of the collision and interaction between natural environment and man-made environment, and it is a whole rich in special meaning. From this whole, we can analyze the lifestyle and environmental characteristics of the people gathered in the place, which is the characteristic. This paper mainly interprets the characteristics of the place from the following three aspects.

(i) Natural environment. There are three main ways to form the relationship between man-made places and natural environment. First of all, the existence of human beings improves the accuracy of the natural structure, highlighting the basic starting point of survival. Hekou ancient town uses commerce as a link to integrate the activities of local people, Zhejiang people, Fujian people and ethnic minorities. Merchants give the meaning of the existence to Hekou ancient town, and settlers and Hekou ancient town complement each other, resulting in the interrelation among place, nature, Hekou ancient town and clubhouses. Secondly, in the process of creating a man-made environment, people need to constantly expand and supplement the situation. This is what the natural environment does not have, mainly related to the material and mental pursuit. For example, the location of Qianshan Mountain is complex, with mountains intertwined with rivers, and people build pontoons between rivers and build wharfs along the river rock beach, creating the embryonic form of Hekou ancient town. This is a kind of perfection and supplement that people lack to the natural environment, that is, people need to symbolize in the process of exploring the natural environment. The so-called symbolization is based on the experience accumulated by people. The main purpose of symbolization is to better present the meaning contained in the situation. The natural environment is an inseparable and important part of Hekou ancient town. Many Hekou residents in this living environment put forward the demand for urban construction. This characteristic of the natural environment can also reflect the will of the people.

(ii) History and tradition. The architecture of Hekou ancient town can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty and has a very long history. In the process of long-term development, it has gradually formed its own very characteristic commercial culture tradition. People in business in the past were at great risk, and when businessmen were confused about their future, they chose to pray and worship the gods. For workers engaged in manual labor, the gods give them the courage to face the hardships of life. By building clubhouses to worship the gods of their respective hometowns, the merchants strengthened the concepts and internal principles and order of their fellow villagers or the same profession, and were able to share the feelings of their hometown and get rid of their loneliness. For example, the Quanfu Clubhouse in Fujian is also known as Palace for the Goddess of the Sea. The clubhouse is mainly used for worshiping the Goddess of the Sea, and sacrificing to the Goddess of the Sea, in order to pray for the prosperity and development of the chamber of commerce. From this, we can see that it presents the architectural style and cultural customs, and preserves the traces of historical development. The clubhouse has the characteristics of both ancestral hall and religious architecture, is the perfect integration of material elements and non-material spiritual elements, and is the perfect carrier of the spirit of Hekou ancient town.

(iii) Humanistic activities. In the traditional folk festivals, people like to celebrate in the streets or the main landscape nodes, which is a process to deepen the identity of the place. For example, on the ninth day of the first lunar month, people need to go to Tianru Temple to participate in the worship ceremony before the sun rises. After the worship is completed, people will go to Jiushi Mountain to climb the mountain and overlook the river and pray that they can make progress step by step in the coming year. In the annual Lantern Festival, dragon lantern gala will be held here, showing a scene of bustle and excitement. With the continuous expansion of the urban scale, in order to ensure the living safety of residents, some folk activities are usually held in the new urban area. In the past, whenever there was a festival in Hekou ancient town, the clubhouse would hold very solemn celebrations in order to define the main development direction of the chamber of commerce and form a close relationship with the surrounding environment. The clubhouse also invites famous figures to sing, usually with the support of a large number of residents. These activities can show the confirmation of the environment of the place from a certain aspect, in order to enhance the sense of dependence and sense of belonging to the place.

2.2.2Space. The expansion of Hekou ancient town is characterized by linear expansion, which is closely related to the water body, and the fusion of it and the water body can help to obtain better daylighting effect and ensure smooth ventilation. The water body affects the boundary of the expansion of the town, and the buildings of the ancient town are built along the river, forming a very characteristic main street. The main street is parallel to the Xinjiang River as the main skeleton of the building. On this basis, it carries out penetration development, and then forms a crisscross vertical and horizontal sub-streets, and there are also T-shaped streets and Y-shaped streets, finally forming a very characteristic spatial distribution pattern. Because the ancient town is limited by the river, it makes cities and towns grow with the river, showing a banded pattern. Because the traffic of the ancient town is very convenient, more and more people have gathered in this area, and the whole spatial layout presents the form of "looking at the mountains across the water, the new coexisting with the old". There are also differences in the human and natural environment in different areas of Hekou ancient town, such as the river embankment that separates Hekou ancient town from the Xinjiang River, and the iconic shop bridge in the town streets and lanes. These signs contain two aspects of function and meaning, different geographical location and natural environment will form different regional space. The blocks tightly laid out here are the most common regional spaces. The three areas of shops, houses and yards have different functions and are organized in an orderly manner in the layout of the ancient town. First of all, different shops define the level of space. There is a door between the street and the shop, the shop space is behind the door, and a dazzling display of goods reminds people that they have arrived in the store area. The second is residential areas, and there is a land shortage along the river area, so the patio here is also closely connected with houses. Therefore, the internal space is not very large, the main role of the wall is to divide the residential area, and the door is the boundary between the street and the private space. People enter the private space after they enter the door. Another is that the house will have its own courtyard, which is mainly wooden house projecting over the water. Usually the platform courtyard will be built, leaving a certain amount of space to grow some flowers and plants. This is a transitional semi-open space between public and private space. The contrast between public and private space will give them a stronger sense of belonging.

The path is the key to connecting with each region, and the spatial sequence can guide people to carry out activities. These have a very close relationship with the geographical location and the natural environment, and the size of the ancient town is also growing with the increase of population. The water network and business roads have laid the foundation for the development of the street and lane system, and formed two sets of closely connected and complementary systems, and jointly formed the path of the ancient town. It is to spread the old street as the core. The average width of the old street is between five and seven meters, while the height of the building is between ten and fifteen meters. Scale design is very reasonable, creating a very harmonious space environment, and showing a flavor of life. The road surface is paved by bluestone slabs, and the rut marks of different depths on the road surface can reflect the feelings and memories of the prosperity and development of the wharf in the last century. The parallel streets connect the alleys, making the texture of the street space more hierarchical and more convenient for people to communicate with each other. With the passage of time, the main trunk and branches of Hekou ancient town continue to expand, thus forming an organic whole, and a unique path pattern of Hekou ancient town.

3 Analysis of genius loci in Hekou ancient town

Place is the embodiment of environment and living space, which contains different connotations. Place can provide a place for people to live and form a fixed space. It creates a very characteristic scene in the process of collision and integration between the natural environment and the man-made environment. Living in this environment, special groups will constantly feel the spiritual connotation of the place, and people will eventually form a sense of dependence and belonging to the place. The formation of the genius loci and the characteristics of the building are closely related to the human. It not only has its own architectural form, but also contains spiritual connotation, which is a special sense of space formed by people in the living environment. The structure of place is mainly reflected in two aspects: space and characteristics. The physical layout of the place forms a special space, and the atmosphere and spirit contained in the place is the main presentation of the characteristics. The space of the place corresponds to the sense of direction, while the feature corresponds to the sense of identity. The genius loci and structure of the place interact with each other and co-exist[2].

3.1 Existence of placeUnder the guidance of natural places, people have gradually formed the ability to determine themselves and place management, that is, people can correctly understand the objective relationship between man and nature.

It is mainly related to: Under the condition that the level of social productive forces is consistent, the possible impact of climate, soil and water and topography on human life can make human have a correct understanding of the phenomenon of human places. Geo-environment has a decisive impact on the settlement, which directly determines the main characteristics of the settlement. This is mainly through the place energy exchange and information transmission to promote historical development and human progress. In this process, a unique place logic has been gradually formed. Hekou ancient town was still a small bazaar at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In Jiajing period, because of the influence of flood disaster, Qianshan County had to change its way and regarded Hekou ancient town as a concentrated place of water transportation. From the analysis of climatic factors, Qianshan Mountain is very close to the sea and has a subtropical monsoon climate. The annual precipitation is very sufficient, the climate temperature difference is relatively large, the summer temperature is relatively high, and the sunshine time is relatively long. The climate environment of Qianshan Mountain is also closely related to the topographic conditions, and the climate in the south shows obvious vertical differences[3]. Under such climatic conditions, moistureproof, ventilation and heat dissipation are very important to the life of residents. This survival demand has a direct impact on the architectural layout format. The building hall is very bright, and the patio along with a building facilitates lighting and ventilation, and helps residents to enjoy the cool and get light. Doors and windows can be opened for ventilation, which makes it effectively moisture-proof. These architectural features are the result of adaptation to climatic conditions. In addition, people will also use some very special terrain conditions to build the settlement system, and use limited sites to build cluster houses, which is the integration with the natural environment. Therefore, under the condition that the level of productive forces is not very high, the geo-environment is the core factor affecting the relationship between man and land, and has a decisive impact on the development of settlements.

3.2 Sense of direction of architectural patternIn his bookTheImageoftheCity, Kevin Lynch mainly uses five factors (road, node, region, sign and path) to describe and explain the sense of direction of the basic spatial structure. As an ancient town with business as the center of operation, if outside people want to do business here, the most important thing is that they need to have the ability to identify the direction and know how to get to the destination where they want to go quickly. In other words, a clear understanding of relationship between oneself and the place is an important prerequisite for settlement.

3.2.1Taking the streets and alleys as the direction. There are three main types of road systems within Hekou ancient town: One is the street (Fig.1a); the second is the roadway; and the third is the wharf cargo lane (Fig.1b). Among them, the street directly controls the spatial pattern of the whole building, which is the core road. The vertical distribution of buildings and streets constitute a semi-closed space, which is the main reason for the formation of mesh roadway. The grade of the road is constantly declining, making the personal space gradually prominent, while the internal public order is weakened. The terminal from the clubhouse to the dock is the wharf cargo lane. Therefore, streets and alleys play a very important role, which is not only the main cause of the formation of commerce, but also the core of maintaining social order.

3.2.2Taking residential houses as the field. Hekou ancient town contains three main residential houses, namely: houses along the river area, houses in the Huijiqu area, houses in the Dazhaiyuan residential area. In the process of long-term development, because of the comprehensive influence of a series of factors, such as terrain, direction and function, people have the ability to recognize and define the place in the process of experiencing the place. As a result, the three groups have formed an inward encirclement relationship with regional characteristics, which is independent and also interrelated with each other, constituting a very characteristic pattern of human settlements.

Note: a. Street; b. Wharf cargo lane.

Fig.1 The road system inside Hekou ancient town

3.2.3Taking the clubhouse as a node. There are all kinds of clubhouses in the ancient town, and the shapes of these clubhouses are different. The clubhouse, which often stands at the end of the wharf cargo road, is a necessary place for businessmen to do business. It is like a lighthouse in the fog, watching a team of businessmen coming and going (Fig.2a). Under the influence of the clubhouse, businessmen have a very clear understanding of their own positioning. These important nodes point out the spiritual direction for businessmen. In a clubhouse dedicated to all kinds of gods, businessmen can feel the sanctity of the situation and make clear their own position. In Hekou ancient town area, merchants, wharves and clubhouses are integrated and interact with each other to form an effective whole, these elements are indispensable (Fig.2b).

Note: a. Gate tower of clubhouse; b. Ceremony gate of clubhouse.

Fig.2 The shape of the clubhouse in Hekou ancient town

3.3 Sense of identity to business lifeIn the environment, it contains not only the spatial structure, but also the very clear object. Without this object, the environment will not be able to identify with itself, and landscape expansion will have no boundaries. Place identity is an important prerequisite for human identity. Hekou ancient town has a very long history of development. In the process of long-term development, it has gradually formed a natural environment and human environment with its own characteristics. Settlement is the result of equilibrium and stability of spatial structure and place characteristics. With the passage of time, the specific form of settlement has also changed, and the meaning of the place has a more hierarchical sense. Identity can be extended and preserved for a period of time. Business culture is characterized by a keen response to social change. Hekou ancient town has undergone historical changes and has been repaired and planned many times. In this process, a lot of new content has been absorbed, but it does not mean that the genius loci has disappeared. The characteristics of Hekou ancient town are still contained in its architecture, and the sense of identity has never been lost. From the perspective of landscape and settlement level, landscape is the definition of extension, and the settlement mainly reflects the covered entity. Now, with the development of society, the rise of railway transportation, the expansion of the new urban area, the historical mission of Hekou ancient town has come to an end. However, the unique relationship between its huge volume and Xinjiang River and Qianshan County is clear and evident, so that Hekou ancient town has a self-identity.

4 Conclusion

Hekou ancient town has a very long history of development and plays an important role in the construction of Qianshan County. The structure of the ancient town will continue to change with the intention of the builders in different periods. But this does not mean that the genius loci will die out, on the contrary, there will be a new structure that will bring new "genius loci". The new "genius loci" can still have a very close relationship with people’s life. If you want to maintain the genius loci, you need to symbolize the characteristics of the place. In this process, it can form a high degree of recognition of the place. In order to protect and renew the architectural space design of the ancient town, it is necessary to explore the long history and culture of Hekou ancient town and the culture of genius loci behind the rich sentiment of humanity. This requires respect for the characteristics of the place, in order to arouse people’s subconscious experience, and put it into people’s real life. Through the blending of people and places, the effective continuation of the genius loci can be ensured.