Objective  The concept of rural cultural landscape heritage integrates all such areas as protection of natural ecological environment, biodiversity, historical space and local knowledge, covering all material and non-material heritage resources related to traditional rural production and life, including natural and artificial landscape, buildings and structures, as well as rural social customs and cultural skills. The rural cultural landscape heritage belongs to the evolutionary landscape that constitutes an integral part of the world heritage. As a kind of public cemetery in rural areas of China, "Louzeyuan" is a kind of landscape closely related to traditional rural life, which is formed using rural resources in combination with specific culture to meet the needs of burial. "Louzeyuan" is an important type of rural cultural landscape heritage, and also a part of world heritage. Although mass burial had early appeared in ancient China, the government-run public cemetery planned and designed to a certain extent did not take shape until the appearance of "Louzeyuan", one of the three major social welfare in Song Dynasty which is handed down to later generations. At present, the research on "Louzeyuan" mainly focuses on the historical origin, organization and social significance thereof in the field of social science, as well as the unearthed inscription bricks, the buried burial utensils and the identity of the buried in the field of archaeology. The landscape characteristics of "Louzeyuan" are rarely discussed, making it impossible to get a glimpse of the overall picture thereof. From the perspective of rural cultural landscape heritage, this research explores the cultural landscape characteristics of "Louzeyuan", in hope of filling in the gap of research in this field.

Methods  Through literature research and archaeological excavation, the research explores the cultural landscape characteristics of "Louzeyuan".

Results  "Louzeyuan" is a rural cultural landscape produced under the combined influence of traditional burial culture and the Buddhist' "Beitian" culture. Initially emerging in Northern Song Dynasty, "Louzeyuan" lasted for nearly a thousand years. As to site selection, "Louzeyuan" is mostly adjacent to temples, with the site thereof being dominated by barren land with an area of less than 30 hm² or several hectares. The internal tombs of "Louzeyuan" are typically neatly arranged and basically in rows along both the east-west and south-north directions. Drainage ditches are set up every few rows into streams to drain water out of the site. A certain spacing is left between the tombs as earth road for mourners. "Louzeyuan" is typically surrounded by a fence wall together with relevant plants, and a stone tablet is typically set up in a marginal area to record the origin thereof. Inside "Louzeyuan", there is usually a place for commemoration, with a temple located nearby or not far away for monks to live and conduct daily management of "Louzeyuan". Since the formation of "Louzeyuan" in the Northern Song Dynasty, despite some local changes in its landscape characteristics mentioned above, it is proved of certain cross-dynasty continuity and cross-regional connectivity as a whole.

Conclusion  Although there are records about the government's allocation or squires' purchase of lands for dispersed or concentrated burial of the dead without relatives in ancient China, these behaviors are more morally motivated, far from constituting a fixed system. However, great progress was made in Northern Song Dynasty. At this time, such aspects as burial time, object and measures were clearly defined, and a system was basically formed. On February 3 of the 3rd year of Chongning during the period of Emperor Huizong (AD 1104), Cai Jing proposed a proposal for mass burial of the dead without relatives, and was approved by Emperor Huizong to set up a government-run public cemetery-"Louzeyuan", the name of which was also recorded for the first time then. Prevailing in Song Dynasty, the aforesaid system of mass burial was handed down to subsequent dynasties as a whole despite the changes in specific policies and implementation thereof. After Song Dynasty, "Louzeyuan" coexisted with "Yizhong" and "Yiqian", making public cemetery more diversified. However, as the earliest institutionalized public cemetery, "Louzeyuan" existed and occupied an important position from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. Until modern times, there are still many living people who have the experience of holding memorial ceremonies in "Louzeyuan". In archaeological excavation, many relics of "Louzeyuan" have also been found in various parts of China. As a kind of rural cultural landscape heritage that is different from surrounding natural landscape, "Louzeyuan" is explored in detail in this research, which is helpful to clarify the non-material cultural characteristics and material landscape characteristics of "Louzeyuan", and accordingly promote the research on relevant heritage protection strategies. At the same time, compared with the western public cemeteries, there are less researches on the landscape characteristics of traditional cemeteries in China. Clarifying the landscape characteristics of "Louzeyuan" will help promote the research on traditional cemeteries in China and the reflection on the modernity translation thereof.