Abstract: In the past 40 a of reform and opening up, rural tourism has contributed greatly to the preservation of rural settlements in various forms of industrial structure in China. During the development model of grand tourism in the new era, the scope of tourists’activities is no longer limited to the scenic area, but to the peripheral environment and regional environment of tourist attraction. Hence, the full use of the peripheral environment is crucial to the development of tourism. Taking the peripheral environment of the Royal Prime Minister’s Palace in the village courtyard at Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province, China as an example, this paper makes an in- depth analysis of its evolution mechanism by means of statistical analysis, ENVI interpretation, and GIS. Combining the three stages of the spatial evolution process of the peripheral environment and the factors from the three impact layers of the congenital conditions, management and demand, the paper finds that the fundamental reason of the evolution mechanism of the peripheral environment is the management factors. These include both the collective system with strong autonomy, loose environment, and the managers with clear objectives and steadfast efforts which make the result. This evolutionary mechanism has a promotion significance for tourism development of ancient villages and rural dwellings, as well as rural revitalization. The collective ownership makes the management subject unique within the scenic area and the peripheral environment, which is convenient for coordinated management and has a strong demonstration role for the development of tourism in other rural courtyard villages in Shanxi. This study also provides a micro perspective for national and global governance.

Key words: the Royal Prime Minister’Palace, village local-style courtyard houses；tourist attractions’peripheral environment, deep evolution mechanism