A Tale of Two Villages: The Story of Changing Village Life in the New Territories by Lee Ho Yin and Lynne D. DiStefano

Shui Tau Tsuen ('Water Head Village') and Shui Mei Tsuen ('Water Tail Village) are believed to be the oldest villages in Hong Kong. Founded some 900 years ago by Tang Fu, the villages are the birthplace of Hong Kong's clan-based society and are a fascinating microcosm of a traditional Cantonese way of life.

Lee Ho Yin and Lynne D. DiStefano have the first time in the villages' history studied all the extant written sources about them, documented their architecture remains, and interviewed many inhabitants. They have produced a rich, unique, and highly readable account of the social, cultural, historical, and political aspects of village life as it has existed in Hong Kong for a millennium.

But traditional villages in the New Territories are at a crossroads in the early 21st century, and the authors examine the threat of recent development plans, addressing contemporary issues through the eyes of the villagers and revealing the challenge to their survival on every level. Including over sixty stunning original colour and black and white photographs, A Tale of Two Villages is at one a valuable document about Hong Kong's cultural heritage and a testimony to the ways in which sensitive and intelligent approaches to conservation can help safeguard the cultural heritage of Asia.

Asia's Old Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change by Ronald G. Knapp

Many traditional dwellings can still be seen throughout Asia’s nations, but sadly the pace of destruction has accelerated over the past century. In Asia, as in other parts of the world, there are varying degrees of commitment to historic preservation, especially to the unheralded dwellings and village landscapes. Seen as too ordinary, outdated, and dysfunctional, all too many old dwellings have been destroyed without being appreciated or even documented for posterity.

Asia's Old Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change examines the environmental, historical, and social factors that influence the housing forms of more than half the world’s population, presenting in-depth information concerning the distinctive character of dwelling structures themselves.

Asia is a heterogeneous assemblage of diverse cultures inhabiting strikingly complex physical environments. Although there are a few generalizations that embrace the continent as a whole, geographers and others confidently view of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and inner Asia as regions of first order. It is these regions that form the structure of the book. The following are among the themes that will be discussed:

• Environment and climate: environmental adaptation
• Asia’s dwellings: architectural tradition and change
• Common vernacular dwelling types: obvious regional patterns
• Characteristic spatial layouts: common and distinctive spatial components
• Building materials: conventional structural components and building materials
• Building technologies using common materials such as wood, earth, and stone
• House-building rituals
• Social/cultural elements of dwellings: domestic routines and social organization
• Ornamentation and symbolism: auspicious and protective patterns
• Ritual space: identification of sacred spaces in dwellings and symbolic associations
• Issues of historic preservation: rethinking and reinventing the past

The Disappearing 'Asian' City: Protecting Asia's Urban Heritage in a Globalizing World by William S. Logan

Globalization - is it, as many believe it to be, a wholly modern phenomenon? And is it an entirely Western force, one that inevitably turns cities into high-rise replicas of Los Angeles or New York in its march across the globe? The Disappearing 'Asian' City, a collection of thirteen case studies by authors expert in the heritage issues affecting Asia, both challenges and questions the assumption that globalization is anything new. Writing from historical and contemporary perspectives, the authors examine the responses of national and local administrations to the legacies of the many globalizing wavers-religious, trade, hegemonic-that have, in part, determined the built fabric of many Asian cities today.

How are decisions made about what to preserve and what to discard? Examining the complex political, religious, aesthetic, or economic reasons underlying the preservation, destruction, or adaptive re-use of a city's built heritage, the authors find the solutions as varied as the cultures themselves:

• In Nagasaki, Japan, the meaning of 'Japanese' heritage has been redefined to include Western buildings interpreted and constructed by Japanese architects and craftsmen.
• In Seoul, Korea, tangible reminders of the Japanese occupation years are relentlessly removed as the authorities seek to re-establish the geomantic harmony of the old city.
• In Yangon, Myanmar, the military junta, harnessing the power of religious belief to bolster the legitimacy of its regime, preserves traditional temples and pagodas while wiping out place and street names that bear witness to a British colonial past.

Which solutions offer the best approach for a modern globalizing world? What lessons can the West take from the Asian experience of preserving-or discarding-a multi-cultural past? The Disappearing 'Asian' City tackles these questions forcefully, comparing attitudes towards built heritage conservation throughout Asia, examining the policies formulated to address the impact of a global culture on its cities, and evaluating the strategies with which the various administrations arm themselves to face the possible 'Coca-colonization' of the world.