1 Introduction. LI Lu 1, ZHANG Yujun 2,*

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1 September, 2017 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No.5 J. Resour. Ecol (5) DOI: /j.issn x Rural Ecotourism: An Effective Way of Maintaining Indigenous Character in Rapidly Urbanizing Rural Areas: A Case Study of Five Golden Flowers in Chengdu, China LI Lu 1, ZHANG Yujun 2,* 1. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing , China; 2. School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing , China Abstract: China is the largest developing country in the world and a well-known agricultural country. China s urbanization is a subject of great interest, one that has attracted the attention of people throughout the world. Whereas a handful of studies have assessed various aspects of urbanization (urban expansion, urban transition, urban-rural relationships, the spatial changes in urban and rural areas, motivations for sustaining rural places), little is known of how to retain the indigenous character of rural areas in terms of landscape design. In this paper, the authors set out to contribute to this significant gap. They used Chengdu City and Five Golden Flowers (FGF) village in Chengdu s suburbs as case studies. A detailed description of the application of Ebenezer Howard s Garden City vision in Chengdu City was made; the Garden City vision was the key premise for FGF s ecotourism industry and successful conservation of landscapes with indigenous character. An analysis of the post-ecotourism landscape in FGF was accomplished using a typology method. Finally a set of landscape design methods for retaining indigenous character was proposed. The main conclusion of this paper was as follows: rural ecotourism can contribute to maintaining the indigenous character of rapidly urbanizing rural landscapes with the use of appropriate inheritance and renovation ways. The findings here may provide useful information for decision making by urban planners and policy-makers. Key words: rural landscape; rural eco-tourism; indigenous character; garden city theory; Linpan 1 Introduction Since 1800, urbanization has been an inevitable trend of social development in nations all over the world. China s urbanization, which began with the founding of New China in 1949, has accelerated since the Open Door Policy was introduced in 1978 (Lu et al., 2011). The urbanization rate post-1978 increased by more than 1% annually, and 56.1% of China s area was designated as urban in 2015, according to the latest data available (NBS, 2016). As landscape architects, the authors have paid close attention to the loss of indigenous character of rural landscapes, which has resulted in a phenomenon called thousands of cities with one appearance (qian cheng yi mian), particularly in peri-urban areas that are devoured firstly and have large population concentrations. Farmland decreases, and there is a quick increase of high buildings and industrial zones (Luo et al., 2015); original vernacular architecture is replaced by modern industrial buildings and housing developments; large tracts of agricultural land are taken up by new construction (Feng, 2011). These developments threaten the distinct character of indigenous rural landscapes (Smith, 2014) as well as the place attachment of residents to that rural character, which manifests itself as a connection to Received: Accepted: Foundation: National 12th Five-year Science and Technology Support Project of China (2012BAJ24B05) *Corresponding author: ZHANG Yujun, yjzhang@bjfu.edu.cn Citation: LI Lu, ZHANG Yujun Rural Ecotourism: An Effective Way of Maintaining Indigenous Character in Rapidly Urbanizing Rural Areas--A Case Study of Five Golden Flowers in Chengdu, China. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 8(5):

2 486 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 5, 2017 unique landscapes and special places, rather than operating as a uniform construct (Lokocz et al, 2011). In fact, landscape is not only a physical entity, but also a mental and social reality (Palang et al, 2005). Sustainable rural landscapes are not (and have never been) created solely as a by-product of agriculture and forestry (Haaren and Bathke, 2008); instead, they reflect the characteristics of cultural systems, and the physical geography of a region (Shu, 2011). China, as one of the cradles of world agriculture and a well-known agricultural society with a long history, has various kinds of rural landscapes. Among those, Hani terraces in Yunnan, Linpan in western Sichuan, Hakka Tulou in Fujian, and the prairies and yurts of Inner Mongolia all represent a precious wealth of Chinese rural landscapes, and these landscapes and others have sustained human civilization and indigenous character for centuries. The word indigenous (xiang tu) is interpreted two ways in Chinese, either as hometown / native land (always referring to a village) or as locality / region. Indigenous landscapes carry people s memories of childhood experience, which is suggested to act as an antecedent to place attachment (Giuliani and Feldman, 1993), bringing people a sense of quiet, affinity, comfort, and aesthetic feelings based on memory, and experience (Measham, 2006). Moreover, John Brinckerhoff Jackson, regarded as the father of indigenous landscape in America (Wilson and Groth, 2003), stated that the most important feature of indigenous landscape was its adaptability to nature, people s demands, and the needs of the times (Jackson, 1984). Fei Hsiao-Tung, the pioneering Chinese researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology (Boorman, 1968), pointed out that the formation and development of local culture in one region was attributed to social structure and people s interactions with family, friends, and neighbors within the bounds of the region (Fei, 1948). How to achieve a balance between the irresistible forces of urbanization and the need to retain the indigenous character of rural landscapes has always been a subject of discussion and a problematic matter for landscape planners and policy-makers. It can be traced back to 1898, to Ebenezer Howard s Garden City (Howard, 1898; Howard, 1902; Edards, 1913; Edards, 1914), which marked the coming-of-age of landscape architects awareness of the urban-rural opposition. Howard is believed to be one of the greatest guides to urban and rural planning, with many of his garden city principles being used (Clark, 2003). To some extent, Howard s theory could be considered as an early concept of rural ecotourism. Ecotourism was introduced as an independent term by Ceballos-Lascuroin in The ecotourism literature is focused on the industry, external environments, institutions, economic incentives, and potential benefits for local communities (Beeton, 2001; Campbell, 1999; Fennell, 2014; Wunder, 2000). The year 1999 was proclaimed Chinese Ecotourism Year, when ecotourism entered its climax period in China. Many domestic scholars believe that ecotourism is always driven by pursuit of diverse indigenous characters. It can organically bring together tourist activities and resident lives (Li, 2004; Lu, 1996; Wang, 1997; Yang, 2006; Zhang and Zhang, 2009). For this research, Chengdu City and Five Golden Flowers (FGF), a village located in the suburbs of Chengdu, were used as case sites, in an effort to answer the following question: How can the indigenous character of rural landscapes undergoing the urbanization process be maintained through ecotourism? The remainder of this article attempts to fulfill two primary objectives. The first objective is to explore Chengdu s application of Howard s theory in establishing a global, ecological garden city. The second objective is to develop a comprehensive comparison between the landscapes in FGF before and after ecotourism was introduced in order to abstract several design methods which might help to preserve indigenous character. The results of this paper may help urban planners and policy-makers in making decisions about city planning during the urbanization process. 2 Materials and method 2.1 Study area Chengdu Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, is located on the Chengdu Plain in the central Sichuan Basin in Southwest China. Chengdu is the fifth largest city in China, and was the first city in China to develop rural ecotourism. Owing to fertile land, distinct seasons and moderate rainfall, Chengdu has always been known as the Country of Heaven (Tian fu zhi guo), and is noted for the unique Linpan landscape in its rural areas. From 1988 to 2000, Chengdu City grew at an annual rate of nearly 2%, but the rate climbed to 5 7% after 2006 (Schneider et al., 2015). The city s urbanization rate was so staggering that Chengdu encountered the same problems and conflicts that London had during Howard s time: the city environment was deteriorating, urban-rural opposition was increasingly severe, rural areas stagnated, and city life was divorced from nature. In 2009, Chengdu City government proposed a global, ecological, garden city vision which played an important role in promoting its development of rural ecotourism and urban-rural integration Five Golden Flowers Five Golden Flowers (FGF) is located in the southeast of Jinjiang district in Chengdu. It is composed of five villages: Hongsha, Xingfu, Jiangjiayan, Fuma, and Wanfu, covering 12 km 2. It takes only forty minutes to get from downtown Chengdu to FGF. FGF had a Linpan landscape. Closely connected to the historical development of civilization over thousands of years in the western Sichuan

3 LI Lu, et al.: Yujun Rural ecotourism: An effective way of maintaining indigenous character in rapidly urbanizing rural areas--a case study of Five 487 Plain, Linpan is a complex dwelling pattern which mixes production, livelihood, landscape, and indigenous character together. Linpan is composed of courtyards, houses, plants, farmlands and roads (Chen, 2011). It attaches great importance to the harmony of man and nature and advocates a self-sufficient Taoist way. However, with the acceleration of the urbanization process and expansion of cities, Linpan landscapes are gradually being removed to free up space for real estate development. The remaining houses are in disrepair, and some of them are dilapidated. In Chengdu s global, ecological, garden city vision, FGF is positioned as the backyard garden of Chengdu City and has accomplished a series of renovations of the traditional Linpan landscape accordingly. FGF is now a nationwide famous AAAA-level scenic tourist area, with a total of 9 million visitors per year from all over the world. It includes five scenic tourist areas: Happy Wintersweet Forest (Xingfu), Flower Village Farm House (Hongsha), Moonlight over the Lotus Pond (Wanfu), Dongli Daisy Garden (Fuma), and Jiang s Farmland (Jiangjiayan). The rationale for using Chengdu City and FGF as case studies is based on the following criteria: (1) The urbanization level of Chengdu City ranks fifth among 50 major cities throughout China (Niu, 2013); (2) The landscape in FGF has improved dramatically as a result of ecotourism and received consistent high praise from both locals and visitors; and (3) Linpan is a representative indigenous landscape in Southwest China which makes this research more persuasive. 2.2 Methods This study used a combination of methods including field investigation, in-depth interviews, typology method, and questionnaire survey. Among them, field investigation and in-depth interviews were for data collection, and the typology method and questionnaire were for data analysis. Details on the methods used are as follows Field survey A field investigation was conducted in FGF on August 16 20, 2016, by a group of nine landscape researchers. The researchers walked through every part of FGF guided by FGF Scenic Area maps and the photo layer in Google Maps relevant to this field. Indigenous characteristics were well documented with 1,089 photographs, 62 sketches and analysis diagrams, and 218 pages of notes. Researchers recorded objective information based on their visual observations, as well as recording their subjective experiences and impressions. Sketches and diagrams were used to illustrate sophisticated spatial structures and elevation differences In-depth interview Twelve government officials and 35 local residents participated in in-depth interviews. The interview duration time was 20 minutes per person on average. The 12 government officials interviewed were chosen from nine related government departments and five committees of FGF. The interviews with officials were an important component for getting as many specifics as possible concerning Chengdu s urbanization strategies and the process of changing the landscape in FGF. Purpose sampling strategy was used for selecting the 35 local people interviewed. This group included 15 operators of farm hostels, 10 grocery store keepers, and 10 senior citizens (5 native to the area and 5 non-natives). Two important questions were asked of the locals (see section 3.4, Tables 3 and 4) in order to obtain their overall attitude towards the landscape changes in FGF Typology method Architectural typology method, introduced by Aldo Rossi and Leon Kriers (Krier, 1992; Rossi, 1982), was approved as an applicable analytical method and has been applied by many Chinese designers and planners in landscape analysis (Ren and Lv, 2010; Wu and Ni, 2013). In this research, typology method was used to classify the sketches into several types so as to make a clear summary of the landscape space and design methods used in FGF s landscape transformation Questionnaire survey Questionnaires were handed out at several scenic spots frequented by visitors, such as the viewing platform on the lotus pond, the entrance to Moonlight over the Lotus Pond, the flower sale greenhouses in Flower Village Farmer House, and the Wintersweet Museum. Five hundred questionnaires were completed by randomly selected volunteer respondents in five villages, and of these 469 were properly completed and effective; the recovery rate was 93.8%. 3 Results and analysis 3.1 Chengdu s applications of Howard s theory Chengdu s global, ecological, garden city program is consistent in many respects with Howard s Garden City; it is a combination of Chinese city development and Howard s vision, and has a more specific form and function than Howard s vision (Zhao, 2012). The following analysis considers four aspects of Chengdu s application of the Garden City theory: Scale Chengdu s vision presumes that the scale of city-zone should be controlled and the development of small towns should be accelerated. One mega-city, four medium-sized cities, four small cities, and thirty key small towns are invoked by the vision. This is similar to the form of Howard s social city. Land Howard s Garden City was built on low cost agricultural land, which was owned by the municipality and entrusted to specially designated persons. In Chengdu, a similar situation exists with land ownership in the hands of the village collective. Contractual management rights ( chengbao quan ) for the land are transferred to leading enterprises or princi-

4 488 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 5, 2017 pal grain-producing individuals in order to realize land-intensive management ( jiyue hua ). Once this transference occurs, the monetary value of the farmlands is increased. Green belt In Howard s vision, farmlands and orchards around the central city were used to form a green belt to control city expansion. The ecological development method of Chengdu is arranged as Rings of Greenbelt and Wedges of Greenland. The ecological line has been delimited in such a way as to manage urban growth, maintain the overall ecospace pattern of city in farmland, and establish a favorable human settlement space as landscape in city (Zhu and Zeng, 2013). Social justice Howard advocated for breaking down urban-rural institutional barriers to provide equal opportunities and full employment for rural residents. In Chengdu, rural populations that have transferred to cities have increasingly been able to obtain urban household registrations ( hukou ). For people who stay in the village, the ecotourism industry is providing them with more job opportunities and has increased their incomes. The gap between urban and rural residents in areas such as wealth distribution, development opportunities, and public services, such as habitat, medical treatment, health, education, and social security, has been gradually narrowed. 3.2 Landscape features before and after ecotourism and indigenous character conservation methods Rural ecotourism has transformed FGF into the Five Golden Flowers scenic spot. Table 1 shows the main features of the landscape in FGF before and after ecotourism. In four respects, the landscapes in FGF before and after ecotourism are similar: (a) Courtyard spaces remain cozy and natural. (b) The architectural details of original farmhouses (before) and farm hostels (after) are the same. (c) Indigenous plants have been protected and mass-cultivated for their high degree of adaptive capacity and survivability. (d) The total area of farmland has not been reduced during ecotourism development. There is growing evidence that farmland significantly contributes to rural character (Ryan, 2002; Sullivan, 1994). The before and after differences can be seen in the following ways: (e) Modern materials have been used for ecotourism facilities. (f) Space has been reorganized according to the requirements of ecotourism, including the reshaping of courtyard spaces, the combining of houses, and the integration of plants and places. (g) Some functions have been added, such as ornamental function of farmland and sight-guiding function of roads. In summary, the similarities (a) to (d) could be collectively called inheritance, referring to the way the new features draw on traditional landscape features. Inheritance provides people with a sense of continuity and comfort, and weakens the nervousness that can be caused by a visual response. The differences (e) to (g) are renovation, which refers to making changes, such as eliminating the deficiencies of traditional Linpan and accomplishing improvements in landscape design. Renovation fits well with the demands of urban development and contemporary life. 3.3 Questionnaire results Demographic analysis Questionnaire respondents were 44.1% male and 55.9% female. The age group years accounted for 73.6% of the respondents and 82.3% of the respondents had high school or university level education. The facts that FGF has no entrance fee and that it was the summer most likely explain the large number of students who participated in the survey. Family income was mainly distributed between CNY per month, accounting for 45.2% of the respondents, while the family incomes below CNY 3500 accounted for only 26.2%. 72.9% of visitors were from Chengdu City, while 27.1% of visitors were from other areas in Sichuan Province or other provinces in China Evaluation of landscape satisfaction Tourist preferences with respect to important landscape elements were measured according to a 5-point Likert scale where the highest score indicates the most desirable situation (Table 2). The scores for away from the hustle and bustle of the city, natural beauty of the landscape and sanitary conditions were all greater than 4, indicating that the natural/rural environment of FGF was acceptable to tourists. The attributes of residential characteristics, food specialties, festival features and availability of public service facilities scored slightly lower, but were all higher than 3.5 points. The results revealed that tourists were satisfied overall with 15 items from the current ecotourism landscape. 3.4 Interview results The interview centered on two sets of questions. The first set focused on the question Do you think the following characteristics are consistent with the traditional rural landscape (Linpan) of this village? This was asked about five categories of current landscape elements based on Linpan elements, as shown in Table 3. For each of the current elements researchers sought the opinions of interviewees about several detailed characteristics and design methods. Of the 35 local residents interviewed, 30 indicated that current houses were more consistent with traditional landscape style than were the other four current elements. They considered the color of houses to be the closest to indigenous colors (34/35), followed by other architectural details including roofs, windows, eaves and doors (32/35). As one farm hostel operator described, [Local government] stipulates that the Western Sichuan dwelling style cannot be degraded or changed. So all the rebuilding work for houses focused on

5 LI Lu, et al.: Yujun Rural ecotourism: An effective way of maintaining indigenous character in rapidly urbanizing rural areas--a case study of Five 489 Table 1 Landscape features before and after ecotourism Element Before After Similarities Differences Courtyard House Plants Farmland Road Space was not divided. Mainly flowers and fruit trees were planted. Main space is used for farming and grain insolation. Western Sichuan traditional farmhouses. Living room, dining room and bedroom for locals. Plants are for dividing space and limiting sight lines. Mainly used for agriculture and horticulture. Roads are only for traffic functions. Space has been redesigned and divided. The space is cozy Four space patterns: and natural. a. Winding path - A commonly used technique in Chinese classical garden space design, emphasizing keeping out of sight or guiding the sight line. b. Coming straight - A gravel path extending straight to the main house, creating a guide for visitors. c. Using elevation - Use existing differences of elevation to create an attractive atmosphere when houses with different functions are arranged on different levels. d. Two halves - The open half is for parking space and sun umbrellas, while the more secluded half is for private and quiet communication. Old houses have been transformed into farm hostels, including Use of Western dining rooms, guest rooms, chess rooms, and private booths. Sichuan traditional New houses have been added to accommodate the increasing decorations, such number of visitors. as Chinese style Three ways are used to combine the old and new houses: new tiles, white walls, connects to old, new integrates with old, and new replaces old. Bordeaux red wooden frames, and upturned eaves. Plants and adjacent objects beautify space and organize visitors sight lines. Four applications: a. Bamboos, aspens, and hedges effectively divide the roads and parking spaces and make originally boring parking lots into interesting areas. b. Trees or brushwood are planted between the house and the curb to obscure the sight lines of pedestrians. c. Plants are luxuriant and combined with walls and statues to attract the eye on one corner of a cross-shaped road. d. Ligustrum hedges are trimmed and planted on open lawns in conformance to the terrain. Hedges and Osmanthus trees add a harmonious rhythm to the lawn space. In Flower Village Farmer House (Hongsha), flower fields and modern breeding greenhouses form a unique kind of agricultural landscape. Moonlight over the Lotus Pond (Wanfu) combines water, lotus flowers, and frogs into a regional industry, creating an ecological lotus pond landscape. Dongli Daisy Garden (Fuma) grows chrysanthemums and is famous for its chrysanthemum culture. Happy Wintersweet Forest (Xingfu) cultivates 200,000 wintersweet shrubs on sloping fields, and has built a Wintersweet Museum to make a spectacular landscape. Jiang s Farmland (Jiangjiayan) divides 0.3km 2 fields into 5,000 lots. City residents can rent any part for a family garden. Indigenous species are cultivated on a large scale Farmland area in each village has not been reduced. Land ownership has not changed. Besides traffic functions, roads are used for sight guidance: Traffic functions. a. Gather sight lines. The sight lines of visitors are gathered together by the houses and trees on both sides of the road, directing visual focus ahead. b. Diverge sight lines. The sight lines of visitors diverge when one of the road sides is adjacent to open greensward or water. c. Make visitors look up and down. In some places where there is an obvious change in elevation, the road acts as a divider between levels, and allows visitors to see and communicate with each other. Space has been adapted for leisure and entertainment. Space layers have been added. Modern materials are used in renovations. Visitors become the main users of houses. House functions have been transformed from living space to unique dining and accommodation space. The function of plants has changed according to the demands of ecotourism. The contractual management right to the farmland has been transferred to leading enterprises. The land has a unified design and is under common management. Farmlands have been turned into family gardens and scenic flower fields. The roads are built into the landscape. that rule and the architectural features were perfectly conserved. Roads were considered the least consistent with the original Linpan element, probably because they have undergone relatively large function changes to make them suitable for landscape viewing and sight line guiding. The second set of questions gathered information about income level, infrastructure, transportation, sanitation, and entertainment life (Table 4). The results revealed transportation (35/35) and sanitation (35/35) were highly regarded by the interviewees. In the words of one interviewee, Before ecotourism, we had extremely inconvenient transportation in our village. Narrow dirt roads made walking quite difficult,

6 490 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 5, 2017 let alone driving. Now the whole village is cleaner and more convenient, and we have beautiful scenery everywhere. Relatively speaking, infrastructure (32/35), income level (30/35) and entertainment life (29/35) were approved of few Table 2 Descriptive statistics from tourist evaluations for landscape satisfaction Items Number Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Naturality Rurality Away from city Sanitary Rural landscape Residence characteristics Food specialties Festival Infrastructure Service facilities Architecture Accommodation Farm Transportation Farming landscape Valid N (listwise) 461 Table 3 Interview survey results 1 Do you think the following characteristics are consistent with the traditional rural landscape of the village? Number of people Courtyard 23 Space organization 24 Layout arrangement 22 House 30 Color 34 Details (roof, window, eaves, door) 32 Wall material 28 Combination of old house and new house 26 Plant 26 Species selection 28 Plant scenery 24 Land 25 Flower field 24 Greenhouse 22 Lotus pond 24 Chrysanthemum culture 28 Wintersweet museum 28 Family garden 24 Road 22 Landscape viewing function 22 Sight line guiding function 22 Table 4 Interview survey results 2 Do you think the following life demands are well met after landscape transformation? Number of people Income level 30 Infrastructure 32 Transportation 35 Sanitation 35 Entertainment life 29 people, suggesting that people of different ages with different careers had different life requirements. As one interviewee who was neither a farm hostel operator nor grocery store keeper described, Our household income does not rise as prices go up. To summarize, local residents were generally satisfied and accepting of landscape transformation and indigenous character conservation. 4 Discussion China s rapid urbanization has increasingly encroached upon many rural landscapes, especially those in suburban areas. Indigenous character and local culture have been damaged, leading to a disheartening picture full of thousands of cities and villages that have the same appearance. Unfortunately, few researchers have focused on the guiding role that traditional rural landscape and classic Western visions play in the conservation of indigenous character, and minimal research has been conducted concerning what we can learn from traditional landscapes and how to maintain indigenous landscapes in the urbanization process. This research has undertaken careful analysis to accomplish its two main objectives. First, the authors analyzed Chengdu s application of Howard s Garden City to establish itself as a global, ecological, garden city. The analysis took into consideration the aspects of scale, land, green belt and social justice emphasized in the Garden City vision. Second, they analyzed the inheritance and renovation of traditional Linpan landscape in FGF. The indigenous character of Linpan landscape has been well maintained in the post-ecotourism landscape of FGF, and this has proven satisfactory to both residents and visitors according to the questionnaire and interview results. Several issues need to be discussed, as described below. 4.1 How did Chengdu learn from Howard s theory? Chengdu s process of learning from Garden City was never smooth sailing, and success did not happen overnight. Before the arrival of the global, ecological, garden city vision, Chengdu had already borrowed from Howard s theory on two previous occasions, both of which laid the foundation for Chengdu s final success in the application of Garden City. In 2009, Chengdu s urban core had already moved into the later stages of industrialization. Chengdu s conditions met the requirements needed for the use of Howard s Gar-

7 LI Lu, et al.: Yujun Rural ecotourism: An effective way of maintaining indigenous character in rapidly urbanizing rural areas--a case study of Five 491 den City theory. In addition, experts understanding of the theory went from surface to core. The above factors hastened the birth of Chengdu s global, ecological, garden city vision, which combined city with country, and connected Chinese city development with Howard s Garden City vision. 4.2 What are the mechanisms for the success of FGF? Internal mechanism The internal mechanism refers to the intrinsic circumstances of FGF and Chengdu city. FGF s geographical proximity to downtown Chengdu and its natural endowments and pleasant climate that are its ecological background form the basis for the ecotourism industry. In addition, the traditional landscape characteristics and indigenous cultural features of the area have acted as the most important factors in the success of FGF and Chengdu. Fei Hsiao-Tung believes that indigenous culture has many levels, including those that are visible and those that have potential but remain hidden. He places great emphasis on the excavation of brilliant cultural traditions. Ecotourism is the central force to promote culture heritage, compensating for the loss of indigenous culture during the urbanization process. Indigenous culture has unique regional characteristics and cultural value, both of which have strong appeal for tourists. Ecotourism activities based on indigenous cultural characteristics have attracted visitors from all over the world. Traditional Linpan landscape and agricultural culture features have become the ticket that gives Chengdu a place on the world stage External mechanism Landscapes are shaped by the people who live in and use them, as well as by political processes and the institutions that govern their use (Alberti et al., 2003). In China, the 2016 No.1 Document from the central government emphasized once again the need to increase farm income levels, promote rural reform and development, and improve rural industry convergence (Xinhua, 2016). This is further evidence of the great importance the Chinese government attaches to rural ecotourism and urban-rural integration. The guidance of the Chengdu City government has been an extremely important external mechanism in the case of FGF. The government makes policies and plans for urban development and rural ecotourism. Based on the core ideas of Howard s Garden City vision, the Chengdu government s city master plan stipulates the establishment of two city-level ecotourism zones. The Garden City vision virtually spells out advanced goals for urban-rural development that provides sophisticated infrastructure, a prosperous economy, reasonable planning, balanced public services and beautiful scenery for both city and rural areas. On this basis, ecotourism has developed swiftly, and indigenous characteristics have been effectively preserved in both Chengdu and FGF. 4.3 Limitations It must be noted that China s urbanization is proceeding incredibly rapidly in many areas, such as rural urbanization, mega-city sprawl, growth of villages and towns, and the prosperity of medium-sized cities, small cities, and key small towns. Numerous discrepancies caused by different locations, history, culture, and levels of government support exist among cities and villages. Therefore, it is not possible for the design methods described in this paper and the Garden City vision to be emulated by all the cities and villages in the nation. They might be replicated in regions or villages that possess outstanding cultural heritage, typical rural landscapes, and geographical proximity to a city center. Policy-makers, urban planners, and landscape designers should learn from the positive and negative aspects of this case, as well as from other classic Western visions and domestic success stories. Moreover, it must be emphasized that different countries and regions must adapt planning concepts to their distinct cultural conditions (Sanyal, 2005). For example, Chengdu s vision is actually not a carbon copy of Howard s vision. Instead, several adjustments have been made according to the city s current situation. First, the Chengdu vision is a comprehensive promotion of urbanization that differs in some respects from Howard s anti-urban mindset. It advocates that urban spaces and rural space exists in reasonable proportions and develop together harmoniously. Second, it regards the inheritance of history, context and spirit as vitally important and values the protection of the vernacular landscape and city memory. City individuality has been highlighted and an inclusive society has been established. Third, Chengdu embraces the aesthetic trends of post-industrialization that encourage natural, simple, and harmonious beauty. It regards ordinary but productive farmlands, vernacular houses, and indigenous plants as aesthetic objects. This evolution of aesthetic trends from an agricultural to a post-industrial age shows a shift from urban-rural separation to integration. 4.4 Future research Further work could include the following: 1) Choose as many typical cases as possible nationwide. Study and classify the characteristics and urbanization processes of the cities and their surrounding villages. 2) Conduct in-depth research and analysis of classic Western theories or visions, such as Frank Lloyd Wright s Broadacre City, Le Corbusier s Radiant City, and Clarence Perry s neighborhood unit, and then explore their core values. Correct interpretation and application of these theories and visions would be required. 3) Good city or village models should be constructed for different locations, scales, cultures, and economic trajectories, as doing so is critical for a better understanding of the rapid urbanization process in China. 4) More research attention needs to be focused on the ecotourism

8 492 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol. 8 No. 5, 2017 industry to determine what other effects it has on the conservation of indigenous characteristics. 5 Conclusions It is essential to recognize the significance of indigenous characteristics conservation in the ongoing rapid urbanization process. It must be noted that the kind of conservation discussed in this paper is neither a blind copying of rural landscapes nor a leaving of original landscapes wholly intact. Two conclusions can be drawn from the research in this paper. First, ecotourism has proven helpful to function localization of villages. Accurate function localization in urbanization is critical especially for villages in suburbs to act as integral parts of a city center and develop in tandem with the city center. This is considered to be a precondition for rural landscapes to avoid being eliminated by rapid urban development and for them to retain their indigenous character. This research demonstrates that the underlying values implicit in the Howard s Garden City have continuing relevance to Chengdu s rural ecotourism development as well as its landscape transformation. Second, the research suggests that conservation of indigenous character can be realized through inheritance of traditional landscape patterns and details, as well as renovation and adjustment in order to meet the demands of modern life. It would unfortunate if the needs of city development are taken into consideration unilaterally without any thought given to the role rural and traditional landscape plays in the urbanization process. References Alberti M, Marzluff J M, Shulenberger E et al Integrating humans into ecology: Opportunities and challenges for studying urban ecosystems. BioScience, 53(12): Beeton S Ecotourism: impacts, potentials and possibilities. Tourism Management, 22(5): Boorman H L Biographical Dictionary of Republican China II. New York: Columbia University Press. 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