Adaptive Transition of Traditional Handicraft Villages Under the Rule of Consanguinity Community:A Case Study of Xizhuang Village in Xinjiang County,Shanxi Province

血缘共同体规定下的传统手工业村落适应性变迁——山西省新绛县西庄石匠村个案研究

As an important witness to the rural industry in the agricultural era,traditional handicraft villages have attracted renewed attention in the contemporary context of intangible cultural heritage protection.The dual characteristics of their traditional cultural heritage and modern economic benefits make these villages an important carrier of the dynamic inheritance and development of the heritages under the background of rural revitalization.This paper takes a stonemason village of Xizhuang in Xinjiang County,Shanxi Province,as an example,and reveals the evolutionary characteristics of traditional handicraft villages in the process of transition from agricultural to industrial society from the“social-spatial”perspective.In the agricultural era,the kinship,production organization,and religious beliefs of traditional handicraft villages were closely linked under the blood relationship in a clan-based structure,forming a“social-spatial”trinity composed of“residence,production,and spirit.”In the industrial era,the development of handicraft economy results in the transformation of the“social-spatial”form of the settlement,the social structure shrank from clan control to nuclear family domination,the production space began to be stripped away from villages,the living space changed from gathered clan living to separated-family homes,and the spiritual place was transformed into public space.However,due to the inter-generational transmission of handicrafts based on blood relationship,the consanguinity community has always been the main carrier for the continuity of skills,and has become the stable foundation for maintaining the“social-spatial”form of the village.Therefore,the adaptive transition of traditional handicraft villages in the context of socio-economic transformation continues the interconnection among society,economy,and space,and presents a unique vitality and comparative stability.