ABSTRACT
This chapter explores deep mapping, a particular way of narrating the cultural meanings of heritage sites in “deep cities” in the Chinese context. It explains the discussion of “deep cities” by employing a deep mapping approach to reveal layers of meanings of cultural heritage, which are often neglected by the dominant approach to heritage practice. The chapter also explores two related questions: how to bring alternative understandings of heritage from another cultural perspective to the fore; and shows how to portray the inheritance, changes, and the deep historic continuity of heritage sites in “deep cities”. It discusses different ways of understanding and using cultural heritage in the context. The chapter deals with the presentation of alternative understandings emerging from local community and the Chinese tradition and our way of narrating them. Chinese people mainly engaged with the past by employing historiography rather than conserving material things.
