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lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
Applying ZMET on Interpreting the Environmental Perception, Attitudes lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 TITLE PAGE:
Applying ZMET on Interpreting the Environmental Perception, Attitudes
and Values towards Cultural Element Fusion in Historic Towns
Xinyao Yuan 1 , Ruoyu Yang 2 , Chenlin Zhu 3
1 USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
No. 800. Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China yuanxinyao@sjtu.edu.cn
2 USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
No. 800. Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China yry9795@sjtu.edu.cn
3 USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
No. 800. Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China zcl990307@sjtu.edu.cn Corresponding Author: Chenlin Zhu
USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
No. 800. Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China Email: zcl990307@sjtu.edu.cn lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
Applying ZMET on Interpreting the Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values
towards Cultural Element Fusion in Historic Towns
Xinyao Yuan, Ruoyu Yang, Chenlin Zhu
USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Abstract: This research applies the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to study the fusion
of cultural elements in historic towns. Based on the analytical framework of topophilia, we followed the
logic of "perception-attitude-values" and drew 41 consensus constructs from the interviews, taking Wuzhen
as an example. We also summarize the differentiated characteristics of interviewees from different regions
and their definitions of the ideal historic town. We found that interviewees' perceived cultural elements of
Wuzhen mainly include Chinese Jiangnan culture, literature and art, and modern technology; the
perceptions of tourists differentiate due to the natural and humanistic background of their hometowns,
while local residents' perceptions of cultural elements of Wuzhen are more lifelike; the ideal historic town
imagination mainly focuses on the perception of the township life elements. Therefore, we believe the
starting point of emotional connection to cultural elements is tourists’ own perceptions shaped by their
past experiences; the path is based on the belongingness, identity, dependence, and rootedness; the
commercialization and the integration of modern technology in historic towns are subconsciously
impacting and transforming the value proposition of tourists to the historic town tourism.
Keywords: Historic town, Topophilia, Cultural element, Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique, Wuzhen
1 . Introduction
Historic town is moving from being an ‘add-on’ economic benefit to playing a significant and
sometimes powerful role in conservation and economic regeneration (Orbasli,2000). Historic towns should
have been unique and educational for its rich cultural heritage, but the rapid developing of historic towns
in China leads to the issues of excessive commercialization, homogenization (Wu & Xiong, 2020; Zhang,2022)
and even “McDonaldization” (Ritzer, 2011). Tourists would feel tedious when seeing similar scenery, cultural lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
products and stores in different towns. Therefore, digging into the unique elements and get them perceived
by tourists are the essential way for further development in historic towns.
The perception of humanistic elements mainly affects tourists' satisfaction and loyalty through the
dimension of emotional attachment (Liu et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2022). Duan (1974) has defined this kind
of people-place relationship as “topophilia” and gives an analytical framework of “perception- attitudevalue”.
Based on the theory of topophilia, this research analyses the environmental perception, attitudes and
values towards cultural fusion in historic towns. Wuzhen historic town is investigated as a case study, and
the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) is adopted. First, we extracte the perceptions of tourists
and residents about cultural elements, summarizing sensory images and a consensus map, which are the
basis for interviewees to establish an emotional connection with the historic town; next, we specifically
analyzed different perceptions and attitudes of interviewees from different knowledge and geographical
backgrounds; finally, we discussed the picture of the ideal historic town. We choose Wuzhen as the case
because it presents a distinct and personalized cultural identity among the homogenized historic towns in
China, where multiple culture elements form a mutually dependent and integrated relationship with
tourism through Wuzhen Theatre Festival and World Internet conference (Su,2021), which is enlightening
for the construction of historic towns. Through the case study of Wuzhen, we find the starting point of
multiple perceptions and the way to establish emotional connection and cultural ties between individuals
and historic towns, so as to discuss the values on ideal historic town for providing more insights into cultural and tourism integration. 2. Literature review
2.1. Culture, tourism and historic towns
Historic towns have become one of the core issues of the heritage tourism and regional cultural
construction, leading to the discussions of heritage conservation, cultural inheritance and tourism economy.
Since the beginning of the 21 century, related researches emerged. To balance the triangular relationship
between the culture reserve, local place management and tourism economy, Ashworth (2000) represents
a new symbiosis through sustainable development, which means managing heritage for tourists, managing
tourism for heritage, and managing tourism for local government. Timothy and Boyd (2006) point out, - 2 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
heritage tourism has become one of the most researched subjects in the field of tourism studies owing to
its weighty position in the global phenomenon of tourism and in its spatial ubiquity.
Several new trends in the heritage tourism research field imply that tourist perspective is increasingly
important for the construction of historic towns. Timothy (2014) identifies several new trends in the field,
including heritage tourism market, heritagization of the everyday past, the value of authenticity, branding
heritage places, the spread of cultural routes, intersections between heritage and other forms of tourism,
and the heritagization of non-traditional heritage spaces. Bhowmik (2021) reveals three most popular
topics, including authenticity, heritage management, and tourists’ perception. It can be seen that, tourists’
perception and “authenticity” in tourists’ experiences are the focused topics in the research field, and we
could try to apply the branding methodology to help historic towns developing its cultural influence and connection to tourists.
2.2. Theoretical bases: topophilia
“Topophilia” is the affective bond between people and place or setting (Duan, 1974, p. 4). The theory
was proposed by Chinese-American geographer Yifu Duan in the 1970s, and it has established the basic
theoretical framework, concepts and methodology for humanistic geography. He gives an analytical
framework of “perception-attitude-value”. By definition, perception is both the response of the senses to
external stimuli and purposeful activity in which certain phenomena are clearly registered while others
recede in the shade or are blocked out. Attitude is primarily a cultural stance, a position one takes vis-à-vis
the world. Attitudes imply experience and a certain firmness of interest and value. World view is
conceptualized experience. In other words, the affective bond between people and place begins with the
perception of places, including vision, hands and tactile sense, hearing and smell; perception influences and
forms attitude, which implies the value.
The theory of topophilia could be applied in the tourism field. Gordon (2013) posited the theory as
useful supplements to IR theory that can enable sport tourism scholars to develop a more nuanced
conceptualization of those elements inherent within nostalgically oriented sport sites. Bolderman (2020)
represent the concept of “musical topophilia”, offering a thorough analysis of the affective attachment to
place and music. Huang et al. (2020) use the theory to evaluate how the tourist’s place attachment is
influenced. It proves that the theory of topophilia is effective when analyzing the connection between
individuals and tourist attractions. lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
Although the theory of topophilia has seldomly been applied in the research of historic towns, it is an
insightful analytical tool when illustrating the connection between tourists and historic towns. Based on the
topophilia theory, we follow the logic of “perception, attitude, and value”, interviewing the tourists and
residents about their experience in Wuzhen, personal emotional tendency and ideal historic towns.
2.3. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique
ZMET is short for Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, proposed by Gerald Zaltman. “ZMET is a
hybrid methodology grounded in a broad body of literature. (Coulter & Zaltman, 1994)” ZMET can be
applied to many fields. Zaltman invented ZMET to help researchers better understand brand image
management(Coulter et al., 1994). Some scholars apply ZMET to certain products, such as mountain bikes
(Christensen and Olson, 2002), mobile internet(Sugai, 2005) and Chinese technology brands (Fang and Li.,
2019). Other scholars use ZMET as a tool to interpret a concept, such as advertising(Coulter et al., 2013),
present effect(Yang, 2018) and sustainability(Mauri, 2020).
ZMET can be applied to historical town tourism, either. As we reviewed before, historical town tourism
is now moving towards tourists’ perceptions, which matches the ZMET original research goal. In this way,
ZMET is a valid way to analyze historical town tourism. However, the amount of tourism research which
uses ZMET as a methodology is still less than other disciplines’ research. There is a gap between the current
developmental situation and academic research. As a result, using ZMET to analyze historical town tourism is necessary.
ZMET has been applied to some academic research already. Lattimore and Prideaux(2013) explored
the reason why tourists disliked sustainable transport modes; Jung(2022) used ZMET to interpret travel
behavior changes brought by Covid-19; Lin and Yeh(2022) studied tourists’ attitudes towards VR tourism.
There are also some scholars applying ZMET to research tourists’ perceptions of specific places. Kong et
al.(2018) mapped the consensus map of a Chinese ancient town, Fenghuang; Truong(2019) tried to
understand college students’ minds about Danang, a Vietnam city; Tan(2016) constructed a map of
residents’ perception of tourism development in Nanluoguxiang, an old street in China. The research above
used ZMET to analyze tourists’ perceptions or attitudes towards specific problems, which practically
demonstrated the validity of ZMET.
In summary, it’s necessary and effective to apply ZMET to historical town tourism. - 4 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 3 Methodology
We applied ZMET to conduct our research.
Firstly, nonverbal communication is imperative when people communicate. Even though most people
don’t realize it, 80% of human communication is nonverbal. Nonverbal cues are also determined when we
communicate with verbal language (Coulter et al., 1994). Hence we need a tool to dig out more nonverbal
information, such as deep thought and attitude, which verbal interviews can’t reveal.
Secondly, the metaphor will benefit interviewees to express their thoughts and attitudes better.
Understanding and interpreting one kind of thing in terms of another is the key element of a
metaphor(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). Interviewees can use visual, verbal, musical and other forms to
interpret a metaphor. Since many metaphors are mental images(Kosslyn et al., 1990), visual is the best way
and entry points for understanding interviewees’ thinking structures and deep thoughts.
Based on these two points, instead of a verbal interview, we can elicit richer and deeper information
from interviewees by letting them choose pictures and express their metaphors towards the subject of
study. By using ZMET, interviewees may even find out some thoughts that they may never realize before.
4 Research Progress
4.1 . Selection of the study sample
Since ZMET is a qualitative research method using in-depth, personal interviews (Coulter & Zaltman,
2001) and does not emphasize external validity, this paper uses convenience sampling and snowball
sampling, which are more common sampling techniques in ZMET-related studies, to recruit interviewees
with a high level of involvement in the topic of the study through the Internet. It has been demonstrated
that ZMET can effectively represent about 90% of the interviewees' thoughts by interviewing only 4-5
respondents, making the idea extraction effective and saturated (Coulter, Gerald & Keith, 2001).
To ensure the reliability of the study, the RPII Inventory (Revised Personal Involvement Inventory)
proposed and refined by Professor Zaichkowsky from Simon Fraser University was used to test the
involvement of each interviewee who left their contact information in the questionnaire and volunteered
to be interviewed to ensure that the interviewees were qualified samples for the study. The RPII scale uses
10 questions on a 7-point scale to test interviewees' involvement, with a maximum score of 70 and a lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 - 6 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 20 Female 18-24 North China (Hebei) 21 Male 25-30 East China (Jiangsu) 22 Female 18-24 East China (Jiangsu) 4 . In
.2 terview Preparation
According to the ZMET preparation process, after the interviewees confirmed their participation in the
interview, we sent an invitation letter to the interviewees via the Internet. The invitation letter elaborated
on the main purpose of the interview and the arrangement of the preparation: the interviewees were
required to collect 7-11 pictures that could express their views on the research topic through various
sources (newspapers, the Internet, their photographs or drawings, etc.) within 7-10 days. They were asked
to be able to clearly describe the sources of the pictures, the messages in the pictures, and their thoughts
on the selection of the images. After 7-10 days, we confirmed the preparation of the pictures with the
interviewees and agreed on an interview schedule.
4.3 . Semi-structured interview
The ZMET uses semi-structured interviews, which are one-on-one in-depth interviews with each
selected sample, approximately 1-2 hours in length, conducted through online meetings, and recorded with
the consent of the interviewees. We followed the ZMET standard interview procedure (Coulter & Zaltman, 1994) to ask and guide.
Step 1: Storytelling about each picture
We first asked the interviewees to elaborate on their thoughts and associations derived from each
picture through storytelling. To guide the interviewees, the following questions were prepared: (1) Please
give a brief description of this picture. (2) Why did you choose this picture and in what ways is it closely
related to Wuzhen tourism? (3) What specific memories and feelings about Wuzhen do you wish to express
by choosing this picture? The contents of the stories told by some of the interviewees are shown in Table 2. Step 2: Missed images
We asked interviewees if they had any ideas of cultural elements in mind based on their experience of
visiting Wuzhen, but for which they had not yet found images, or if there were elements that they did not
recall when collecting but recalled during Step 1. What kind of images could compensate for these ideas? lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 Step 3: Categorization
The interviewees were asked to categorize the pictures according to their own criteria and to explain
the basis of their categorization, giving new descriptions or labels to the different categories. This step is
responsible for establishing the theme and structure of the perception of local cultural elements by people
who have had the experience of visiting Wuzhen. This step is complementary to step 1. Step 4: Construct elicitation
Zalman named this step Kelly's Square or Ladder Climbing method in the early literature, aiming to use
these two interview methods to guide interviewees to extract ideas from the image metaphors. In this
study, the ladder method was used to ask interviewees a series of probing questions, such as (1) What is
the relevance of this image to your perception of cultural elements in Wuzhen? Where does the correlation
come from? (2) Why is this perception or feeling important or impressive to you? We analyzed the
interviewees' responses, extracted new constructs, and merged new constructs with the same meanings,
such as combining "quiet" and "stillness" into "tranquil". On this basis, the questions are gradually advanced
until the new ideas are no longer produced, so that the hidden associated constructs are extracted.
Step 5: The most represented picture
Interviewees were asked to select the most representative one from all the images, which should be
closely linked to the perception of cultural elements in Wuzhen. In addition, this step also included the
elaboration of metaphors, depicting the content of the images, reinforcing their meaning, and further
extending the interviewees' thoughts. Step 6: The opposite image
Interviewees were asked to describe the picture with the opposite meaning to the cultural elements
of Wuzhen and to elaborate on the reasons for choosing that picture. On one hand, this step can make the
negative case a criterion for evaluating the credibility of the study; on the other hand, the interviewee can
also establish the relationship between the constructs by thinking backwards.
Step 7: Nonvisual sensory image
The research team asked interviewees to use other non-visual senses (e.g., sound, smell, taste, touch,
color, etc.) to express their tourism perceptions or to recall the experiences of visiting Wuzhen, thus eliciting
metaphors other than visual ones.
Step 8: Review the constructs and create self-map
The research team extracted each of the interviewees' perceptions of tourism development according - 8 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
to the above steps and linked the constructs. We drew a mind map based on these constructs. During the
process of mind mapping, the interviewees were asked to review and confirm whether these summarized
concepts accurately described what they had expressed. Step 9: Summary image
We asked the interviewees to reorder the images they brought in and to create a complete narrative
that expressed their perceptions of the cultural elements of Wuzhen in a coherent manner. Interviewees
were asked to reflect on the reasons for their new narrative. Step 10: Topic interview
What’s more, to gain a deeper understanding of the interviewees' perceptions of people and places,
they were also asked targeted questions such as (1) Did you grow up mainly in the city or a town? (2) Do
you prefer to live in a city or a town like Wuzhen? (3) Please describe the most ideal appearance and lifestyle
of the historic towns in your mind and other questions. We asked interviewees to think about the
perceptions and value propositions of life in historic towns different from the city and to dig deeper into
the perception, attitude and values of tourists towards the elements of tourism in historic towns.
4.4. Coding of metaphorical extraction method
After completion of the interviewing, the research team proceeded to the coding step of ZMET: the
interviewees were guided to mention some keywords, which became the "ideas" for constructing the final
ZMET research methodological outcome. Consisting of 22 interviews, “a consensus map is developed which
represents (a) most of the thinking of (b) most people (c) most of the time” (Coulter & Zaltman, 2001).
Firstly, extract the constructs. We integrated the interview information through audio recordings,
applied Nvivo to collect, filter, sort, and synonymously merge high-frequency words, and then returned to
the original text for matching, to obtain the constructs proposed by each interview, which was used as the
raw data for coding. In this study, a total of 252 constructs were derived by merging the same or similar keywords.
Secondly, sort out the logical relationships of the constructs. The metaphor extraction technique not
only requires the extraction of constructs but also emphasizes the discovery of the origins of the ideas and
the cause-and-effect logical relationships between them. These ideas can be divided into originators,
transmitters and receivers. The originator is located at the first level of the relational chain and is the most
intuitive and superficial memory of the interviewees’ experience in Wuzhen. The transmitter is the linking lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
layer, which describes the feeling created by the originators, and is the interviewee's perception of the
experience in Wuzhen. The receiver is at the end of the relational chain and is the final result of the
transmitter. It is also the deep perception of the experience in Wuzhen provided by the originator. In this
study, the focus is particularly on the perception of cultural elements. The relationships between the
constructs in the narratives of six representative interviewees are presented in Table 2. Table 2
Examples of construct extraction Image Storytelling Construct Extraction
This picture is a grid, reflecting the Originator: grid
intertwining and interlocking characteristics. Transmitter: communicat
The grid has the function of connection, and Receiver: inclusion
Wuzhen can connect many visitors from
different cities and regions, on the one hand,
allowing them to communicate and
interoperate with each other; on the other
hand, connecting cultural activities in
different fields, such as exhibitions, theatre
festivals, and Internet conferences, both
cultural and technological, intermingling with
each other and finally taking the shape of a grid.
This picture is Ning Caishen, a character Originator: scholar
played by Leslie Cheung in "Sinister". I chose Transmitter: not seeking
this picture because Muxin is my deepest fame and fortune,
impression of Wuzhen. He was a literary spirituality
scholar and painter, born in the local prestige Receiver: Jiangnan culture
family of Wuzhen. He gave me such a feeling
of a scholar from the south of the Yangtze
River, coming from a literary family, not
seeking fame and fortune, but only seeking
to cultivate his body and gain spiritual nourishment.
I think this very spirituality has something to
do with the whole southern water town environment as well. - 10 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
There are people of different skin colors in this picture, I am trying to express Originator:
the diverse feeling that Wuzhen gives me. It will accommodate a lot of cultural skin colour
content not only the ancient buildings of the old city but also some other new Transmitter:
things, such as the theatre festival. characteristics
The tourists and the stores are also more diverse. I think Wuzhen has its own Receiver:
characteristics, and there are even more bourgeoisie things, such as coffee, diversity
sandwiches and other Western-style simple food. I went to a cafe and had two
glasses of beer, which I think is also a relatively rare kind. lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 Originator: neatly arranged Transmitter: high order and restraint Receiver: coordinated
These are some neatly arranged paper
boxes. What I want to express is that the
whole Wuzhen gives me the feeling of high
order and restraint. In historic towns like
Lijiang and Xitang, there are some noisy
areas. There will be a lot of bar streets, and
tourists there may also favour a more lively
life. But you won't see this in Wuzhen, even
if there is music playing there, it is also some
relatively tasteful music, and the volume is
not too loud, so it will not cause some
disturbance to people. I think the tourism
development there maintained a high degree of restraint.
On the point of a high order, since Wuzhen is
operated by one company, it is in pursuit of a
new era of design, while maintaining a
certain original flavour in it, and the style is very coordinated. - 12 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
This picture is mainly about a high speed train, because I think Wuzhen is able to Originator:
keep up with the changing trends of the times. I have the impression that high speed
Wuzhen is a very historic place as stated in the advertisement at early stage. But train
now you can see that the scenery is in line with modern aesthetics, there is no Transmitter:
shabby feeling, there is some new design in. There will also be something to changing
meet people's recreational needs, such as Receiver: keep up with the changing trends lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 - 14 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 13 Men of letters 27 Authentic 41 Hustle and bustle 14 Beautiful 28 Link up
4.5 . Discussion of credibility
One of the key points to ensure the inherent reliability of the semi-structured interviews for the ZMET
research method is to select study samples with a high level of involvement with the research topic to
ensure representativeness. The second is to ensure that the original statements of the study samples are
fully retained (Liu, 2007). In this study, all samples were firstly tested for involvement in the sample selection
session, and the entire process was recorded during the interview. The consistency of the recorded content
with the meaning of their expressions was reconfirmed with the interviewees at the end of the interview
so that the internal reliability of this study could be ensured.
As for validity, the metaphor extraction method itself contains validity justification in the steps of
deep interviewing, which is proved by many previous studies. The climbing ladder methods used in the
interview and the encoding of consensual constructs have also been validated as techniques for establishing good validity.
4.6 . Construction of consensus map
According to the requirements of the ZMET process, a mental consensus map of the cultural elements
of a historic town can be constructed. 41 consensual constructs, including 13 originators, namely “night
scene, black-awning boats, blue calico, handcraft, white wall and dark tile, architecture, rivers and houses,
Theatre Festival, gourmet, green slab stone, World Internet conference, men of letters, rain”, are the initial
descriptive conceptions of the cultural elements of historic town; 20 transmitters, such as " warm, leisure,
unified management, authentic, tranquil, quaint, beautiful, romantic, long history, planning and
development, decay, the gene of literature and art, modern art, combination of old and new, link up, sense
of fragmentation, technology, slow life, alive, hustle and bustle” are the interviewees' causal descriptions
of the cultural elements of historic town and their perception of them; the receivers of 8, namely
“immersion, Chinese Jiangnan culture, Xanadu, commercialization, future trend, active, inclusiveness,
modernization”, which are summary concepts of the interviewees’' perception of the cultural elements of
historic town after rational consideration. lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632 5 . Results
5.1 . Extraction of Attachment Cultural Elements Perceptual Dictionary and Consensus Map
Using ZMET technology, we extracted the perceived cultural elements of Wuzhen. We constructed
sensory images (Table 4) and a consensus map (Fig. 1.) of interviewees' “perception-attitudes-values” of
cultural elements in Wuzhen by combining topophilia and metaphor technology. Based on all the listed
words, we can summarize the cultural elements perceived by the interviewees into three types: Chinese
Jiangnan culture, literature and art, and modern technology. Table 4
Interviewees’ sensory images Taste Fresh and sweet Smell
The smell of dye; the faint scent of plants Touch Damp; rough grain Sound
A hubbub of voices; bug buzz; rain sound Color Basically green Emotional feeling Relaxing; cozy; leisure - 16 - lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
Fig. 1 Interviewees’ consensus map of “Wuzhen” 5.1.1 . Cultural elements
Traditional Chinese Jiangnan culture is the most prominent and impressive label of Wuzhen. It’s also
determined by the natural environment. Almost every interviewee provided the first picture with keywords
associated with Jiangnan culture, such as Jiangnan architecture (ancestral halls and pagodas),
bridges/rivers/houses, white wall and dark tile, black-awning boats, blue calico, handcraft, green slabstone,
rain, gourmet (Ding Sheng cake and Guihua cake), night scene, etc. Meanwhile, we can see from the sensory
images that the interviewees' sensory impression of Wuzhen is also related to the natural landscape and
culture of Jiangnan. In terms of taste, interviewees use fresh and sweet to describe Wuzhen. They also use
these two words to describe the food in Wuzhen. In terms of smell, interviewees think the representative
smell of Wuzhen is the dye smell of blue calico and the fragrance of plants in Jiangnan. In terms of touch, lOMoAR cPSD| 48474632
interviewees think Wuzhen has a damp touch because of the rain in Jiangnan. Meanwhile, interviewees
also think Wuzhen feels like rough wood because of the long history of architecture in Jiangnan. In terms of
sound, since Wuzhen is a famous tourist destination in China, most interviewees state that Wuzhen sounds
mainly like the sound of bustling people. In addition, some people think that Wuzhen sounds closer to the
natural environment of Jiangnan, such as the sound of insects and rain. Most interviewees think the
representative color of Wuzhen is green because of the flourishing plants.
Literature and art are the second cultural element of Wuzhen in interviewees' perceptions. It can be
divided into traditional and modern literature and art. The consensus keywords for traditional literature and
art are mainly men of letter, such as Mao Dun (a famous Chinese writer), MuXin (a famous Chinese painter),
Ning Caishen (a character in the Chinese classic novel Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio), and Zhaoming
Academy (where Xiao Tong, a prince of the Southern Dynasty, studied and learned). The keyword of
consensus for modern literature and art is mainly the Wuzhen Theatre Festival. Every year, in addition to
theatrical performances, the Wuzhen Theatre Festival invites artists to exhibit their works, not least of which
is modern art. Meanwhile, the north scenic zone of Wuzhen is an art town. Before the outbreak of the
Covid-19 epidemic, Wuzhen's contemporary art exhibition was held every year. They invited artists from all
over the world to come with their works for display and link up with each other.
Since the World Internet Conference was held in Wuzhen, modern technology has also become one of
the cultural elements perceived by the interviewees. Most of the interviewees mentioned the element of
"Internet conference", and some of them mentioned communication technology, Internet management
technology, mobile payment technology, etc. within the Wuzhen scenic area. 5.1.2. Emotional Tendency
Interviewees' emotional tendency toward the above three cultural elements varies. They have positive
sentiments toward Jiangnan culture and literature and art. They have few negative attitudes toward
commercialization and slightly divergent sentiment toward modern technology.
Most interviewees think that the Jiangnan cultural elements in Wuzhen are "beautiful", "tranquil",
"slow life", "hustle and bustle", "long history", "quaint" and "authentic". These characteristics make the
interviewees feel "leisure". Some of the interviewees felt that the "quaint" scenery of Wuzhen gave them a
sense of immersion, which made them feel they were in the process of travelling back to ancient China. - 18 -