我的名字是文森·佩杜瓦隆。我接受過建筑師專業(yè)教育,目前在溫州肯恩大學教授建筑學課程。
雖說在溫州已生活7年,城里城外都住過,卻依然感覺還沒看全、看夠溫州的旖旎風光和鄉(xiāng)村景色。曹村鎮(zhèn)就是這么一個地方。
曹村鎮(zhèn)是同事向我推薦的。曹村鎮(zhèn)是由14個村莊和一個有田園風光的山谷組成。在當?shù)貛孜绘?zhèn)干部陪同下,我造訪了曹村鎮(zhèn)下屬的村莊。這幾個村莊是當?shù)貥O力想對外推介的。之后我又多次去曹村,試圖了解當?shù)仫L景何以如此迷人。
法國地理學家奧古斯丁·伯克將風景定義為連接人類與周邊環(huán)境的紐帶。他認為風景文明有五大標準:風景有一個或幾個名字,有關于風景的文獻,有風景畫,有建筑物可欣賞,有花園。他因此認為風景起源于中國六朝,尤其在現(xiàn)在的江浙一帶有特別發(fā)展。奧古斯丁·伯克特別指出,六朝時期的畫家宗炳首次將風景的形與神相關聯(lián),而歐洲則在一千年后的文藝復興時期才形成風景文明。
在我看來,風景保護在中國尤其在浙江具有特別的意義。
位于溫州南部的瑞安市曹村鎮(zhèn)被列為浙南地區(qū)首個鄉(xiāng)村保護項目之一。這一地區(qū)的風景,歷經(jīng)本地居民500多年的打造,山谷與周圍的村莊形成了別具一格的風光。
尊敬與保護
這一保護項目令人贊嘆之處在于,歷史建筑雖然大多已杳無蹤跡,但當?shù)卣畢s保存了這一風景文化的精華,即田園風味濃郁的風景、周圍的村莊以及村莊與地形完美的關聯(lián)。
許岙村是曹村鎮(zhèn)14個鄉(xiāng)村中的一個。村中的許岙亭,是曹村僅存的若干建于20世紀之前的古建筑之一,與許岙亭相對的永勝橋也是清朝建筑。許岙亭至今依然能遮風擋雨,同時也是村民們集體觀看電視的場所(這是村民所喜歡的一種交流形式,雖然他們家里都有電視)。
許岙亭與永勝橋仿佛解說詞,令人贊嘆地講述華東地區(qū)公共空間與水的密切關聯(lián)。梅龍溪沿許岙村蜿蜒,村民沿溪而居,梅龍溪仿佛是主街:是交通和公眾活動的場地(在許岙亭),也有洗滌、垂釣等與水相關的各種活動。
沙帽橋完美地體現(xiàn)了人與自然那種若即若離的關系。它的巨大的橋墩,顯然是一塊溪中的巨石,本地人在巨石之上添加了一些體積較小的石頭,構成橋體,橫跨溪流。
當?shù)剞r民在橋邊不遠處建造了一個巧奪天工的裝置,抽取溪水灌溉農田。農民在風景改造中體現(xiàn)的簡潔和經(jīng)濟的方式甚是美妙,完全有必要作為寶貴的文化遺跡予以保留。
老臺門是曹村的老古董之一,建于晚清,西方古典建筑的風韻依稀可見。老臺門還是絕佳的取景鏡框,古建筑成為觀看者與風景之間的標尺。房屋坐落在山腳,從前與田野毗連。屋舍與農田之間,過去有院子,現(xiàn)在老墻殘存,但保存幾近完好,足以讓人暢想當時從內向外可以看到怎樣的風景:風景并非現(xiàn)代全景式的,而是半遮半掩的。當時的墻,遮住了近在眼前的日常鄉(xiāng)村景色,卻能顯示出天邊秀美的山巒。
新動態(tài)
曹村鎮(zhèn)是國家級美麗鄉(xiāng)村建設示范點。除保護外,當?shù)卣O計了一系列景點,這些景點完美地闡釋了曹村鎮(zhèn)風景和文化的主要特點。
梅龍書院是舊址重建。在這里,我覺得可以將文化風景定義為學者風景:學術世界(學者與書院)與中國文化氛圍中的自然環(huán)境之間,存在著由來已久的關聯(lián)。這讓我想起諸如屏山書院那樣的韓國新儒學書院。屏山書院體現(xiàn)的不僅是儒教文化對周遭環(huán)境的深厚敬意,還有對學院周圍山地風景的深刻了解。梅龍書院還讓我觸景生情地想到了浙江、江西、江蘇一帶文人寫作的風景詩。我覺得,這種學者與自然環(huán)境的密切關聯(lián)是中國特有的,歐洲直到15世紀才將文化內涵賦予風景。
第一次造訪曹村時,從塔上遠望,看見趙山渡引水渠從山谷的一邊橫貫到另一邊。從規(guī)模上講,水渠也算是能與風景相提并論的唯一建筑物(此處將基本建設項目視為建筑)。這讓我想起瑞士建筑師蓋凡提1970年在瑞士提契諾設計的一個美麗項目:高達5米的橋邊上有眾多公共游泳池首尾相連,泳者可一邊游泳一邊觀賞瑞士美麗風景。從曹村這個水渠,我們觀賞山谷美景,不必看古老建筑,也不必聽各種逸聞趣事,而是要沉思幾百年以來人們如何在這里居住并造就風景,沉思這里的鄉(xiāng)村文化歷史。
垟心島公園位于山谷中央兩大河流交匯之處。為吸引游客,當?shù)卣O計了這個公園。公園是一個親水平臺,游客可漫步,可垂釣,亦可在草地上悠閑地躺著消磨時光。
這里我們要理解的,并不僅僅是討論小組標注的不同要點,而是幾百年來當?shù)剞r人既要與洪水抗爭又要灌溉農田這一事實。
在曹村,雖說大多數(shù)磚木建筑均已被現(xiàn)代水泥結構取代,但最重要的卻得以保留,那便是它的風景。這里的風景不能與旅游雜志上照片中的美輪美奐的風景相提并論,但卻彰顯多少個世紀以來人與自然和諧相處的真實關系。
曹村對文化風景的保護是一項實驗,我希望這一實驗會給中國其他地區(qū)帶來啟發(fā),讓風景承載文化。
風景保護遠不止于肉眼可見的遺產(chǎn)或者地區(qū)旅游名牌,風景保護是讓我們向祖先學習如何與環(huán)境和諧相處,如何將環(huán)境改造得既成為能讓人豐衣足食又能持續(xù)發(fā)展并具有活力。風景保護涉及到美學(我們如何審視環(huán)境)、倫理(工作者建造的環(huán)境)和環(huán)境方面的諸多內容。
Discovering Caocun Cultural Landscape: Landscape Preservation in Wenzhou Region
By Vincent Peu Duvallon (France)
My name is Vincent Peu Duvallon. I am trained as an architect in France, and I am currently teaching architecture in Wenzhou-Kean University.
Although I have lived in and out Wenzhou for more than seven years, I still have to discover new amazing places and landscapes. Caocun town, actually a network of 14 villages around an agricultural valley, is one of these. Recommended by my colleagues, I have been guided by the local public servants through the several sites that they decided to promote. But amazed by this amazing landscape, I have been there again several times since my first visit to try to understand what makes Caocun so particular.
French geographer Augustin Berque defines landscape as the mediation between human kind and its environment. What defines a landscape civilization for him is the combination of five criteria: one or several names to name landscape, a literature about landscape, landscape painting, an architecture to enjoy landscape, and ornamental gardens. Therefore he situates the birth of landscape during the period of the Six Dynasties (317-589) in China, particularly the region around Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He particularly insists on the work of Zong Bing (宗炳) who related the physical characteristics of landscape to its spiritual value. Europe would only become a landscape civilization during the renaissance, one thousand years later. Therefore for me, landscape defines Chinese civilization and landscape preservation takes a particular dimension in China and particularly in the region of Zhejiang.
The Town of Caocun, in Ruian, south of metropolitan Wenzhou is one of the first large scale preservation operations done in the south of Zhejiang. Its landscape had been forged by its inhabitants for more than 500 years giving the valley its particular form.
Respect &Preservation
What is amazing in this preservation operation is that although most of its historical architecture has disappeared, local authorities have been able to preserve the essence of its culture: the agriculture landscape, the settlements around and their relation to the topography.
Xu‘a(chǎn)o village is one of the 14 villages in Caocun. In the middle of the village,there is a Xuao Pavilion, which is one of the last architecture heritage built before the 20th century in Caocun, and the Yongsheng Bridge facing it is an amazing infrastructural heritage also dating from the Qing Dynasty. And the pavilion is still in use, providing shelter and space for the villagers to watch TV.
This pavilion and the bridge are an amazing narrative of this strong relationship that links water in public space in Easter China. The Meilong Creek structures the entire Xuao village settlements, with its construction on both sides forming the main street, but also organizes the public life: communication, public activities (in the pavilion) as well as all activities related to the water: washing, fishing and so on.
Shamao Bridge is a beautiful example of this ambiguity between what belongs to the realm of nature and what belongs to the manmade. Its huge column is obviously a massive stone that was there and local people just added some small stones for the lintels that link the both edges of the river.
In addition, around this bridge, local farmers have developed a very ingenious apparatus to take the water from the stream and redirect it for agriculture irrigation. The amazing economy of means in the farmers landscape crafting is beautiful, and need to be preserved as cultural treasures.
Laomentai (Old Gate) is one of the few pieces of heritage in Caocun. We can date this architectural fragment easily to the late Qing dynasty with its subtle influences from western classical architecture. More than the gate itself, what has been preserved is the way it frames the landscape, and how this historical architecture provides an intermediary scale between the viewer and the landscape. The house is located at the edge of the fields, at the bottom of a mountain. The wall that surrounded the courtyard between the house and the fields is almost intact and gives us an idea of the way landscape was perceived: not all revealed like a modern panorama but partly hidden. The wall hid the daily agricultural life but didnt hide the beautiful mountains on the horizon.
New Developments
Caocun is part of a national landscape preservation program and is one of its experimental sites. Besides preservation, local authorities have designed a series of sites that narrate the key landscape and cultural features of the area.
Meilong Academy is a reconstitution of an old house. Here I think we could define cultural landscape as a scholarly landscape: this long tradition of relationship between the academic world (scholars and academy) and the natural environment in the Chinese cultural sphere. It reminds me of the Neo-Confucian academies in South Korea, such as the Byeongsan Seowon, which embodies the profound respects that Confucian culture has for natural environment but also the high knowledge of the mountainous landscape they develop in the way that settles their academy in its settings. It also reminds me of all the landscape poetry that have been done by scholars, in this same region, in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Jiangsu, and that structured our ways of perceiving landscape. I think this relation between scholars and the natural environment is very specific to China and I cant see in European tradition such a cultural construction of the landscape until the 15th century.
During my first visit to the site, and looking at the valley landscape from the tower we saw previously, I was amazed by a long construction—Zhaoshandu Aqueduct, which is the only piece of architecture (we consider here infrastructure as architecture) that has the scale of the landscape, and crosses the valley from one side to the other. It immediately made me think of a beautiful project that the Swiss architect Aurelio Galfetti did in Ticino in the 1970s: a series of public swimming pool arranged along a 5-meter-high bridge that gives the users an amazing perspective on the Swiss landscape. From this aqueduct in Caocun we can grasp the treasure of this valley, not some old buildings or some specific anecdotes, but the centuries old history of man inhabiting landscape, the cultural history of this countryside.
Yangxindao Park is located at the heart of the valley, at the confluence between two of its main rivers. In order to attract tourists, the local authorities have designed this interesting park that provides a more recreational access to the water, for fishing, for laying or for strolling.
What we have to understand here is not necessarily the different points that are marked on the panel, but its how this landscape has been built over centuries by farmers fighting with (the) flood, fighting with irrigation for their fields.
In an area where most historical wood-and-brick architecture has been replaced by concrete structure, Caocun has preserved what is the most important: its landscape. Not an ideal picture you see in the travel magazines, but an authentic relationship to the natural environment, transformed by mankind over centuries of settlements. Its agriculture landscape but also the villages, that even doesnt count much of historical building, preserved its original footprint, between the fields and the mountain, along the water, on the edge of landscape. Caocun heritage is not only its natural or manmade features. It is the way we understand our relation to the environment, and how we inhabit the world. This is what had been preserved and what constitute a universal treasure.
The preservation of Caocun cultural landscape is an experiment that I hope will inspire other regions in China, where landscape is so profoundly anchor it its culture.
Landscape preservation goes beyond tangible heritage, and touristic regional branding. It gives us a lesson from past generations of how to relate to the environment, and transform it into a productive, sustainable and resilient landscape. Landscape preservation addresses aesthetic (our perception of the environment), ethics (the environment as the built by the working class) and environment issues.