From Rhetoric to Reality: Unpacking the Participation Paradox in Chinese Traditional Village Conservation

Community participation has been widely endorsed as a cornerstone of sustainable heritage conservation, yet its implementation in Chinese traditional villages reveals a persistent gap between policy rhetoric and grounded realities. This conceptual paper critically examines this participation paradox by synthesising insights from 26 empirical and theoretical studies. Drawing on Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation, recent critiques of participatory models, and the critique of expert-dominated heritage discourse, the paper argues that current participatory frameworks in Chinese traditional village conservation often constitute tokenistic engagement rather than genuine power-sharing. Three interconnected barriers are identified: top-down governance structures that limit community influence, the ambivalent role of clan networks as both resources for and mechanisms of exclusion, and the disjuncture between expert-led conservation values and community understandings of heritage. The paper proposes a pathway toward more substantive participation through recognition of community knowledge, integration of informal governance mechanisms, and capacity-building initiatives. Theoretical contributions include extending the participation critique to the Chinese traditional village context, unpacking the dual role of clan networks, and identifying the conditions under which participatory rhetoric can be translated into meaningful practice.

Community participation; traditional villages; heritage conservation; clan network

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