The Concept of ‘Heri-ligion’

To explore the intricacies, processes and forces at work in the resurrection of Yim Tin Tsai from an abandoned Hakka Catholic village to a ‘new heritage’ site encompassing both tangible and intangible religious and secular characteristics, we advance a concept that we have called ‘Heri-ligion’. It has multiple facets that combine, interact and are entangled in a variety of ways. These facets include inter alia attachment to place and ‘home’, religious affiliation and its accompanying value system, syncretism and symbiosis, politics and power, stakeholder analysis, co-creation, socio-anthropological entanglement theory and environmental impacts and sustainability.