When Du Xiaofan from Fudan University first visited Loushang, an ancient village in Guizhou province, in 2015, he was captivated by its scenic beauty and relatively intact architecture preserved over centuries.

Framed by mountains and a river, the village is a textbook example of feng shui, shorthand for traditional principles of settlement geography.

Loushang, home to roughly 1,600 residents who mainly grow corn and rapeseed, sits in Guorong township, Tongren city, and retains an architectural ensemble dating from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Temples, ancestral halls, an opera stage, and a traditional academy remain among its historic structures, which were listed as the national key cultural relics protection unit in 2013.

Du, a professor in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, together with a team of more than a dozen Fudan University researchers from various fields, including cultural heritage, architecture, planning, and landscape, spent two months in 2016 conducting surveys and fieldwork to draft a conservation plan.

Du believes that protecting rural heritage should focus on preserving a unique lifestyle and set of values to prevent the erosion of cultural diversity.