A Critical Review of the Controversy over the Historical Origins of Agricultural Heritage: A Case Study of Linpan (Forest-encircled settlement)

<p>This study has reviewed the broader development and research of agricultural heritage, with a particular focus on the Linpan system. As a particular type of human settlement, Linpan is listed as a national agricultural heritage in China, yet the meaning of Linpan remains a subject of controversy in academia. This research aims to respond to the question of whether the term “Linpan” can represent the agricultural settlements that have existed in the Sichuan Plain since ancient Shu Kingdom peroid (4500-3700 years ago) and revisit the process of their historical formation to fill in the gaps in the analyses of the historical rupture of Linpan and immigration factors in the current study. </p><p></p><p>Through combing local records, government archives, historical images and ancient books, as well as field surveys of typical Linpan areas in the suburbs of Chengdu, it is found that “Linpan” is not a fixed form since ancient times, but an agricultural settlement gradually formed under the influence of multiple factors, such as the central policy from Qing Court of “immigrant and reclamation”, the land distribution system, and the selection of ecological resources in the Qing Dynasty. Its decentralized, independent and self-sufficient spatial structure reflects the survival strategy and institutional adaptation of the immigrant society. </p><p></p><p>It concludes that the length of the recorded history of Linpan as an agricultural heritage has been amplified and reconstructed in academic research and the identification of heritagization. This thesis takes a historical-critical approach, emphasizing the historical contributions of social change and multiple stakeholders to provide a clearer understanding of the authenticity and diversity of agricultural heritage.</p>