关键词: 岭南水乡, 传统村落, 文化生态, 古劳

Abstract: 　The Lingnan waterfront is a relatively complete cultural ecosystem formed by the unique natural environment, social economy and regional culture. Existing research in the Lingnan waterfront has paid more attention to the physical space of traditional settlements and less attention to the overall natural environment of the settlements. Proposed by J. H. Steward, the theory of cultural ecology emphasises the relationship between human culture and its natural environment, providing an enlightening perspective for studying the relationship between the Lingnan waterfront and its natural, social and economic environment. However, few scholars have applied it to the Lingnan area. In this paper, the Gulao Waterfront in the Lingnan area is selected as the research object because it is less disturbed by urbanisation and industrialisation. Further, its traditional cultural and ecological characteristics are preserved, thus called ‘the last primitive waterfront in the Pearl River Delta’. Through a historical archive review, field investigations and in-depth interviews, the spatial formation process of the Gulao Waterfront since the Song and Yuan Dynasties have been reviewed. It is believed that the development of the Gulao Waterfront is a cultural and ecological process. In this process, human beings constantly adapt to the environment under the pressure of the West River and its frequent floods. Its core is that the ancestors in the Gulao Waterfront adapted and transformed the natural environment by building dikes and developing dike-pond agriculture and then developed the settlement space, fairs and cultural space. Specifically, as the place is proximate to the Xijiang River, the ancestors had to build dikes and reform the water system network to protect farmland, resulting in the settlement and water interweaving. Dike-pond agriculture was created to cope with the challenges of drainage, which stimulated the development of the fair space. In the natural environment with frequent floods, the belief and custom dominated by a water god appeared in the Gulao Waterfront. Further, the connection between the villages was strengthened through water folk activities. Therefore, the ancestors, natural environment, settlement space, economic and cultural space form a complex cultural ecosystem. On this basis, the cultural and ecological characteristics of the traditional villages in the Gulao Waterfront are further analysed, and it is believed that the Gulao Waterfront shows the ecological culture of taking water as the vein. The overall shape of the Gulao Waterfront is surrounded by rivers and dikes. The water conservancy space is network-like. The settlement space is divided into ‘Weidun’ in the middle and the concentrated villages in the east and west. The agriculture and fairs space is developed by water. Further, the folk belief and sacrifice space connect villages and clans through the water. The spatial generation process and the cultural and ecological characteristics of the Gulao Waterfront are typically representative of the Lingnan waterfront. Overall, historical heritage and heritage protection value play an important role and become increasingly precious in the Pearl River Delta region with the background of rapid urbanisation. As a complete cultural ecosystem, the research and protection of its historical heritage should be limited to material remains and cover its surrounding environment. However, at present, the cultural and ecological heritage value of the Gulao Waterfront has not been paid enough attention, and its protection situation is increasingly worrying.

Key words: Lingnan waterfront, traditional village, cultural ecology, Gulao