Analysis on Characteristics of Hakka Settlement Landscape in Fengshun County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province Based on Topographic Differentiation

Meizhou City is the core area of Hakka culture in Guangdong Province where the traditional settlement landscape can well embody the critical characteristics of Hakka culture. Specifically, as the county with the maximum elevation discrepancy and the most abundant topographic patterns in Meizhou City, Fengshun County can fully reflect the characteristics of Hakka settlement landscape in mountainous and hilly areas. In combination with the topographic differentiation characteristics of mountainous and hilly areas, this research adopts an interdisciplinary research method involving such disciplines as geography, agriculture and landscape architecture, and the GIS technology for information overlaying and comparative analyses to analyze such aspects as location distribution, industry selection and development process of settlements with different topographies in mountainous and hilly areas, and to explore the spatial differentiation of production-living-ecological landscape. It is found out that the diversity of settlement landscape in mountainous and hilly areas is mainly influenced by the interaction between elevation and topographic conditions. Accordingly, this research has settlement landscape divided into the following four types: cultivation landscape integrating paddy field and orchard in plain areas, cultivation landscape integrating paddy field and economic forest in river valley areas, cultivation landscape integrating paddy field, tobacco garden and orchard in hilly areas, and cultivation landscape integrating paddy field and tea garden in mountainous areas. Based on these, the research summarizes the differences between and change laws of settlement patterns from such aspects as industry type selection, landscape element combination and dwelling adaptability in mountainous areas which can provide guidance for similar researches on traditional settlements and inspirations for the retention and inheritance of eco-wisdom during the modern translation of traditional settlements.