XJTLU Historic Districts and Conservation Essay

In the previous coursework, you have examined extensively real-world examples focusing on a chosen issue of heritage conservation from an international and cross-cultural perspective. This should have provided you with exposure to real-world issues and established norms in conservation practice and broadened your knowledge about theories, concepts, and discourses that underpin the current practice. For this coursework, you are expected to write an essay (approximately 3,000 words) and further your understanding of your previously chosen topic by conducting an in-depth comparative study on differences in heritage conceptualisation and/or management between China and a foreign country/region. You need to choose a case from Mainland China and the other case from beyond or abroad. For the latter, cases in Asian countries and the special administrative regions of China (e.g. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) can be considered as they potentially bear a higher level of relevance to the practice in China. You should invest time and effort to search the literature to gain sufficient information about your potential case studies. Discuss with your tutor to evaluate the comparability of your selected cases during the tutorial. You are expected to continue researching the same topic and address the issue you have raised in CW1. However, you can choose any cases even though they are not cited in your CW1. You should articulate why the two chosen cases bear relevance for comparison and why the comparison affords new insights into your chosen issue. You may elaborate on their differences in, for instance, the ideas about what heritage is and who has, or should have, a say in determining which aspects of heritage to conserve and how. You may examine the role of governments, amenity groups, local communities and/or civil societies in heritage protection and management. Be aware that, to draw a meaningful conclusion from comparative research, you must focus on a specific topic, state the question you intend to explore, and select cases with some common attributes and bear comparison. The extent of similarity between the two cases will determine how subtle the difference is that you will be able to compare, contrast and discuss the conservation practice in the two countries.