Water as elemental medium and heritage: The case of Sangyuanwei Polder embankment system

Abstract

This paper argues that elemental media studies, which emphasize the entanglements between humans and non-humans, can offer new avenues for addressing the challenges faced by post-humanist heritage studies. Due to the importance of tourism for heritage revitalization, this paper examines the limitations of the local tourism industry’s understanding of the water element in the context of the tourism plan of the Sangyuanwei Polder Embankment System, particularly the neglect of the destructiveness of water. It also investigates human-water interactions in the history of SPES through elemental analysis, examining how water as a medium of life has inspired human affects, feelings, actions, as well as facilitated the transformation of and communication with water through the development of water-related engineering and social institutions. By focusing on the affective aspects of the elements, as well as revisiting the histories and local knowledge, elemental aesthetics derived from elemental analysis aims to reconnect humans to the elements as media of life, thus allowing for the initiation of dialogs with heritage management and tourism. The elemental aesthetics of water for the life of heritage sites aiming at flood control has often included the destructive characteristics of water, as well as the complex feelings of fear, awe, reverence, and dedication that it stirs. Based on this, this paper also points out a possible new orientation for the future development of water-related heritage sites.