Divergences between community perspectives and authorized heritage discourses

Community involvement is increasingly recognized as an ethical approach to cultural heritage conservation, particularly for culturally rich and multifaceted cultural routes. In China, efforts to protect Maritime Silk Routes (MSRs) heritage, driven by World Heritage nomination, have reached Taishan County—a once critical node of the ancient MSRs in southeast coast Guangdong province, also known as the hometown of overseas Chinese migrants. Extensive discussions unfolded at state and local levels regarding what the MSRs entail and what should be included as its heritage components, forming Authorized Heritage Discourses (AHD). Through 100 questionnaires conducted among community members of two towns of Taishan in 2020 and 2021, namely Chuandao (an island town including Shangchuan, Xiachuan, and several other islands) and Guanghai, and data analysed using NVivo and SPSS, this study explores the authority-community divergence regarding understanding of the values of the MSRs and their heritage manifestation in Taishan. Findings reveal that community perceptions are richer than simply comprising AHD, with notable differences between the two towns due to World Heritage nomination-driven heritage campaigns. The study argues that community involvement is key to accurately presenting MSR’s heritage values and addressing ethical concerns like heritage education, contemporary relevance, and local distinctiveness.