Abstract: Through the identification, mining and extraction of the cultural landscape gene of Chaoyang Village, a traditional village of Tujia nationality in Guizhou, by deep interview and image map analysis, we find that the cultural landscape of Chaoyang Village incorporates the cultural elements of the Tujia and Han nationalities. Its typical characteristics are reflected in the aspects of environmental characteristics, layout characteristics, architectural characteristics, and cultural characteristics. Among them environmental characteristics are village landscape gene with cross axis of “mountain-water-field-stockade” and “upper stockade-middle stockade-lower stockade”, Layout characteristics of the gene are represented by the lane and lane texture and the dendritic road network structure intertwined with “house-alley-house” and “house-dyke-alley”, architectural gene is embodied in forms of “crossing bracket type and stilt style” and architectural decorative elements from Tujia –Xizi Tower, Wangzi Tower, window grille of tiger totem and arranging the direction of gate according to the date of birth and the eight characters of a horoscope. The cultural gene of the village is composed of words-loving culture, exorcising opera, waving hand dance and Tujia etiquette. In general, the context of the environment, layout, and architectural genes relies on the cultural characteristics of the genes to exist, while the cultural genes use the environment, layout, and architectural characteristics of genes as the carrying objects of inheritance. At the same time, there are also a series of problems in Chaoyang Village. The study found that due to the excessive tourism development and disorderly quarrying, the soil and water of the village had been polluted and the terraced fields had become abandoned, the “mountain-water-field” pattern of traditional villages, the street texture of “house-dyke-alley” and the traditional architectural decorative elements in Chaoyang Village, had been severely damaged. In order to break through the dilemma, the leaders of Chaoyang Village took advantage of the concept of “public participation” and organized a “government-village committee-social group” system to organize multiple parties to participate in the protection of cultural landscapes in Chaoyang Village and better inherit and sustain the cultural landscape. Now we have obtained a series of lessons for us to learn from integrated elements of architectural symbols, unifying the traditional style of streets and lanes, and renovating village natural environments. The future research would focus on two aspects. First, study the protection and development of traditional villages in different regions and different ethnic groups. Second, introduce quantitative techniques and methods into the design of traditional village planning programs. At the same time, adhering to the “people-oriented” concept, we should seriously take the villagers’ behavioral activity into consideration.

Key words: cultural gene, Tujia Nationality, traditional villages, Chaoyang Village