Traditional villages are important parts of architectural and material cultural heritage in China. This study focuses on 710 national-level traditional villages in the Lingnan Region, which are analyzed with ArcGIS 10.8 and spatial analysis methods on the basis of the proximity index, geographic concentration index, kernel density estimation, and Geodetector. The aim is to reveal the spatial distribution patterns of traditional villages in the Lingnan Region and explore the mechanisms through which natural and socioeconomic factors affect their distribution. The results show that the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Lingnan is heterogeneous, with a certain degree of cohesion, and forms one high-density cluster and four secondary high-density clusters. The distribution is influenced by natural factors, such as climate, terrain, and river systems, as well as socioeconomic factors, such as intangible cultural heritage, population, and gross domestic product. However, the direction and magnitude of these influences vary. Among all the factors, temperature and intangible cultural heritage have the strongest explanatory power for the spatial distribution of traditional Lingnan villages. The combined influence of each factor with the other factors is greater than that of each factor alone. This research provides a scientific basis for the protection and development of traditional Lingnan villages.

Traditional villages in the Hakka region of Guangdong Province have attracted significant attention for their unique cultural heritage and traditional lifestyles. Their favourable audio-visual environments offer immersive and realistic experiences for both residents and visitors. Thus, we selected four representative villages and used semantic segmentation to extract the core visual elements (sky, vegetation, construction, and dynamic) from visual landscape images. Audio-visual interaction experiments and subjective surveys were conducted to investigate the participants’ evaluations of the visual landscape and soundscape to explore the mechanisms of audio-visual interaction. The results revealed that different audio-visual combinations significantly influenced the participants’ visual landscape satisfaction, acoustic comfort, and audio-visual harmony evaluations. Specifically, visual images of natural spaces with a high proportion of sky (24.54%) and vegetation (72.56%), matched with natural sounds (with a sound pressure level of approximately 55 dB) such as birdsong, wind, and flowing water, received excellent ratings for both visual landscape satisfaction and acoustic comfort evaluations. Moreover, the findings further revealed that coordination between visual and audio materials was crucial for enhancing the participants’ perceptions and assessments, highlighting the importance of audio-visual coordination in creating harmonious environments. These findings provide recommendations for spatial planning, landscape design, and soundscape optimisation in traditional villages.