Regeneration Strategy of Folk Ritual Places in Sha Tau Kok's Sha Lan Ha Village

Situated within the Shenzhen Sha Tau Kok Border Special Management Zone, Sha Lan Ha Village is a Hakka village near the sea. It has a unique geographical location and historical background, and harbors unique folk cultural activities and places of correspondence in the intertwining of the two main ties of clan (Hakka) and folk beliefs (marine beliefs). Ritual behavior is a widespread phenomenon in the Chinese villages, fully reflecting the local folk culture, with a strong geopolitical character; ritual sites are the spaces where rituals take place, and rituals and sites are closely and inextricably linked. Due to the proximity of Chung Ying Street on the border of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, under the grand narrative of the national level of Chung Ying Street, the folk ritual sites in Sha Lan Ha Village have been squeezed and weakened, and the development of folk culture has been restricted. This paper takes the Sha Tau Kok area as the scope of research, and conducts an in-depth exploration of the folk ritual places in Sha Lan Ha Village. Through field research, field mapping and the collation of literature, we take the ritual behaviors and ritual places under the Sha Lan Ha Folklore Culture as the main research content, and gain a deeper understanding of the spatial implication of the rituals and the place spirit of Sha Lan Ha. The Chapter 1 of this paper introduces the relevant research results and current situation, the purpose and significance of the research, as well as the research methodology, and proposes the research framework. The Chapter 2 analyses the physical environment and cultural background of the rituals and spatial places in Sha Lan Ha Village, the specific research object. Chapter 3 discusses the rituals and corresponding places in the village in terms of spatial characteristics and the interactions between rituals and space: among them, there are no proper places for the rituals of the Tin Hau Birth Palace and the ancestral temple, the performance of the Fish Lantern Dance rituals, and the lack of corresponding places for the Tin Hau Birthday Parade and the Sea Worship Ceremony. Chapter 4 proposes a regeneration strategy for the ritual sites in relation to the cases. Finally, the design strategies are put into practice in the urban design of the regeneration of ritual sites in Sha Lan Ha Village. The research results of this thesis firstly summarize and sort out the history and current situation of the folk culture and spatial conditions in Sha Lan Ha Village, and clarify the existing problems. Secondly, it provides ideas for sorting out the stock and increment of ritual space in the village from the perspective of the interrelationship between ritual behaviors and ritual places. Then, the regeneration strategy of folk ritual spaces is proposed from two aspects, namely, the organization of parade routes and the design of nodal places, and in the specific design, the optimization and addition of ritual spaces in Sha Lan Ha Village are proposed respectively. These results provide certain reference and inspiration for research in related fields.