Honggang Xu

Effective environmental interpretation at Chinese natural attractions: the need for an aesthetic approach

In western society since the 1970s, interpretation has played an important role in improving tourists’ appreciation of the natural environment, developing their environmental attitudes and facilitating the adoption of environmentally sensitive behaviour. In China, interpretation of natural attractions is a more recent phenomenon and a largely cognitive approach has been taken, focusing on the presentation of scientific information. This paper questions whether the “scientific” approach used in the development of environmental interpretation in Chinese natural areas meets the needs of Chinese tourists. It explores this theoretically through an examination of the relationship between Chinese tourists and the natural landscape, noting that landscape memories and intangible cultural heritage are important mediators of Chinese landscape appreciation. Practically, research in the Danxia Shan National Natural Reserve and Geo-Park demonstrates that self-guided interpretation using the “western” scientific approach with signage, an information centre and a geological museum, is ineffective, and ignored by the majority of visitors. Guided tours, employing an “aesthetic” approach to interpretation, using stories, art and poetry to emotionally engage visitors with the landscape, appear more appropriate, culturally relevant and effective in China. Key techniques used by guides include numerous adjectival words, figurative or metaphorical landscape descriptions and exaggeration of the landscapes beauty.

Tourism Research in China: Understanding the Unique Cultural Contexts and Complexities

China provides many interesting opportunities for tourism research owing to its unique historic, economic and cultural background. This paper provides an overview of tourism research in China and provides an insight into the unique cultural contexts and complexities that have influenced tourism development and tourist behaviour. The perspectives, traditions and contexts of Chinese tourism research are explored by focussing on two important research areas: tourism development and tourism cultural studies. As a result of Chinas increasing openness to the international academic world, Western tourism research has begun to have a significant impact on research in China. However, the uncritical adoption of Western theories and research paradigms is not always appropriate. Key issues for facilitating the future development of tourism research in China are discussed.

Attaining harmony: understanding the relationship between ecotourism and protected areas in China

This paper explores the power of both traditional culture and modernity, their interaction, and ecotourism as defined and developed in China, and suggests a new framework for ecotourism policies. It argues that issues in ecotourism should reflect scientific and empirical evidence, but also integrate traditional Chinese cultural beliefs, and political and social factors, to achieve sustainability. The protected area system, central to ecotourism in China, was introduced by government to bring modernity and globalization. The management model follows western values, tending to separate humans from nature for conservation purposes, using institutionalized western zoning systems. This approach is inconsistent with millennia-old Chinese cultural values about relationships between nature and humans, centred around tian ren he yi – humans and nature as a unified entity. Instead of managing conflicts, attaining harmony (in a subjective experiential way) is the fundamental Chinese approach. The paper explores conflicts between the two value systems, and how Confucian “middle ways” are being crafted to balance the fast-growing special needs of Chinese eco-tourists with the top-down regulation of protected areas. It notes new developments in protected area tourism management in the West, and opportunities to blend Chinese traditional values about harmony with evolving western practice.

A system dynamics approach for water resources policy analysis in arid land: a model for Manas River Basin

The Manas River Basin in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, similar to other arid regions, is facing water constraints which challenge decision-makers as to how to rationally allocate the available water resources to meet the demands from industries and natural ecosystems. Policies which integrate the supply and demand are needed to address the water stress issues. An object-oriented system dynamics model was developed to capture the interrelationships between water availability and increasing water demands from the growth of industries, agricultural production and the population through modeling the decision-making process of the water exploration explicitly, in which water stress is used as a major indicator. The model is composed of four sectors: 1) natural surface and groundwater resources; 2) water demand; 3) the water exploitation process, including the decision to build reservoirs, canals and pumps; 4) water stress to which political and social systems respond through increasing the supply, limiting the growth or improving the water use efficiency. The model was calibrated using data from 1949 to 2009 for population growth, irrigated land area, industry output, perceived water stress, groundwater resources availability and the drying-out process of Manas River; and simulations were carried out from 2010 to 2050 on an annual time step. The comparison of results from calibration and observation showed that the model corresponds to observed behavior, and the simulated values fit the observed data and trends accurately. Sensitivity analysis showed that the model is robust to changes in model parameters related to population growth, land reclamation, pumping capacity and capital contribution to industry development capacity. Six scenarios were designed to investigate the effectiveness of policy options in the area of reservoir relocation, urban water recycling, water demand control and groundwater pumping control. The simulation runs demonstrated that the technical solutions for improving water availability and water use efficiency are not sustainable. Acknowledging the carrying capacity of water resources and eliminating a growth-orientated value system are crucial for the sustainability of the Manas River Basin.

Tourism real estate development as a policy tool for urban tourism: a case study of Dali and Lijiang, China.

Tourist towns are a new and extraordinary form of urbanization in the peripheral regions of China, especially for regions where distinctive tourist attractions are located. Tourism urbanization is occurring in China due to high pressure for urbanization and because real estate has become a major development force. This article investigates the interconnected consequences of tourism development, tourism-related leisure property development, and the process of urbanization. The role of real estate in tourism development in China is illustrated. Policies for tourism real estate are assessed by examining the social, economic, and landscape consequences. Dali and Lijiang, the two tourist cities, are the case study areas of this article.

A system dynamics approach to explore sustainable policies for Xidi, the world heritage village

The relationships between heritage, tourism and community are complex and inter-related. Although the heritage system was initially proposed and set up for conservation, the enthusiasm for heritage conservation derives from its potential as a resource providing economic benefits, such as through the tourism industry. Although tourism development brings incentives to the heritage owners and other stakeholders to preserve the heritage, it also changes the nature and universal value of the heritage. In addition, neither the conservation of heritage nor heritage tourism necessarily brings benefits to the community. Yet, the policies are often formulated from one particular approach and lack a systematic and dynamic view and often lead to counter-intuitive results in the long run. This study attempts to develop a holistic system dynamics model of the Xidi world heritage village and analyse the interaction of the social, economic and heritage sectors to examine policies to achieve the goals of development and conservation. The study shows that conservation alone is not enough, policies which attempt to target the needs of the local community, including providing economic opportunities, can be a better choice if the development is carefully planned and effectively controlled to avoid the over-consumption of resources.

Distortions in Tourism Development in the Dali Autonomous Region, China

This paper presents a tourism destination development sequence for Dali, Yunnan Province, China. The development of Dali highlights limits in the power of the local government as the lead stakeholder, which took a top-down approach to economic development. The government sought to address increasing control of the tourism sector by external tour operators through increasing its own control of local tourism attractions. This approach has been only partially successful in reducing distortions in the tourism channel. The origins of these distortions are described and analysed. A number of additional responses are suggested to improve the local benefits obtained from the inflow of tourists to this new destination area including development of a more market oriented competitive strategy that seeks to co-opt stakeholders into collaborative activities.

Tourism branding and nation building in China

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for nation branding based on the concepts of co‐branding and perceived fit, and to apply these concepts to discuss the type of nation brand that China may develop and how this brand relates to individual destinations through brand architecture.Design/methodology/approach – Branding is a deliberate process applied to the shaping of a nations image and reputation on the global stage, in the heightened global competition for ascendancy. The paper reviews selected literature of national identity and nation branding to identify models, techniques and prior research that informs nation branding. This paper examines national branding and nation building from the perspective of international tourism promotion and development.Findings – The formation of the Chinese national identity is the result of a complicated historical progression, as well as current national aspirations, and the process of globalization and the introduction of the market s...

Lifestyle mobility in China: context, perspective and prospects

Abstract A transition in theoretical orientation from migration to mobility in the study of geographical and social movement in contemporary China highlights and resonates with significant political, social and cultural transformations in the past 40 years. Changes in mobility patterns also reveal a shift from production-led peasant worker migration, which has dominated international academic studies on China in the past few decades with a focus on working individuals driven by market forces, to a more individualized and diverse consumption-led mobility. Although the mobilities paradigm has not been an important lens for theoretical investigations of China to date, it provides insights into contemporary social changes that may otherwise be missed. In this paper, we use a focus on lifestyle mobility to investigate changes in mobility systems and new inequalities and dynamics. The analysis shows that the emergence of a new middle class, the arrival of a consumerist society, and traditional Confucian culture have substantially influenced a ‘mobility shift’ in China. However, misalignment still exists between the rapidly growing numbers of lifestyle migrants and the immobile social infrastructures that are not designed to accommodate such lifestyle mobility. A static social and political infrastructure continues to challenge traditional relationships between being at home and away, between individuals, families and communities, and between individuals’ aspirations for life elsewhere and obligations to be fulfilled in their home areas. The examination of middle-class lifestyles can also help in understanding those traditional relationships at a time when consumption-led mobility is becoming increasingly prominent in Chinese society.

Sustainability and nature-based mass tourism: lessons from China's approach to the Huangshan Scenic Park

With the rapid growth of tourism worldwide, the path towards sustainable mass tourism has become a critical issue for many destinations. Unlike most developed countries, China has its particular context and is testing a process of sustainable tourism development implemented through top-down institutional arrangements, using strict control systems to pursue both natural resource conservation and economic growth. Through a systematic analysis of the path towards sustainable development of a typical nature-based mass tourism destination, Huangshan Scenic Park, this research explores its successes and challenges. It finds that the Chinese government-dominated mass tourism nature-based development model has brought a dual structure with modern efficient management patterns at the core site and municipal scales, and a backward unsustainable situation at the community scale. It also reveals that this model risks running into a potential path-dependency trap, which creates barriers for an integrated resource- and community-based development. The study argues that while the government-dominated and learning-by-doing approaches toward sustainability are practical, the lack of integrated and systematic planning leading to transformation of the destination society as a whole may lead to a suboptimal situation, with problems exported out to surrounding inadequately managed villages and buffer zones. Parallels with other countries are discussed.