From ancestral property to heritage: the construction of collective identity on the border between China and Taiwan

There is no real Chinese equivalent to the English term "heritage" or the French term "patrimoine." On the island of Kinmen, on the border between China and Taiwan, two particular terms are used: zuchan, designates material ancestral property; and wenzi, which qualifies the resources of the civilization. This paper will refer these two definitions and understandings in order to examine the notion of heritage on this "border island." Starting with an ethnographic inquiry of heritage practices, the author will establish that it has been possible to conserve architectural heritage, once menaced by war, and has led to the evolution of concepts of traditional architecture. This paper will allow for an in-depth examination of the concept of heritage in this marginal place, situated between two antagonistic economic and political powers