Rural tourism and rediscovering rural heritage

One of the features of China’s rapid economic development post-1980 has been the emergence of a sizeable urban middle class with rising disposable income and increasing amounts of leisure time. This has resulted in the emergence of a strong domestic tourist sector to accompany a small but also growing international inflow of tourists. While the latter may not stray far from urban tourist hot-spots, the domestic sector has embraced rural tourism in substantial numbers: over three billion domestic tourists in 2019, contributing substantially to the rural economy. It has led to the development of major resorts and smaller attractions, pumping money into villages across the country. One of the features of rural tourism has been the rediscovery of cultural heritage in the countryside. This reflects a complete transformation of attitudes to heritage since 1966 when the Cultural Revolution launched widespread destruction of cultural artefacts, and sites of religious and historical significance. In many places this vandalism has hindered attempts to celebrate heritage and it has also helped define what is regarded as heritage today. An additional factor in this ‘rediscovery’ is the way in which heritage, and often this means ethnic heritage in non-Han Chinese areas, has been converted into an economically viable resource. Hence culture and heritage are being actively re-created for tourists, often echoing the commodification process seen in the West. However, China also has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country bar Italy and Spain, and these attract large numbers of domestic tourists. The example of Charlotte Bruckermann’s studies of the village of Sweeping Cliff, Shanxi Province, is used to illustrate how the advent of tourism can affect a small rural community. Her study captured the tensions occurring as the authorities attempted to develop tourism in the village, which has distinctive ancient dwellings carved into cliffsides and other interesting architecture, but there is also industrial heritage in the form of coal mining. Using this detailed study, the chapter presents wider analysis of the growing importance of cultural heritage in rural tourism, with a resurgence of interest in local museums. One of the features of rural tourism in the hinterlands of the major cities has been the participation of farming households in the development of tourist enterprises. One common example is the so-called ‘farmhouse joy’, in which individual farms offer food and/or bed-and-breakfast accommodation as part of diversifying their income sources. The additional income can be vital to maintaining the farm household if the farm is small and cannot support a family solely from income deriving from sales of farm produce. Hence, accommodation and food outlets may be accompanied by other farm-based activities where possible, e.g., pick-your-own schemes. The latter may also tap into growing interest in the consumption of local and traditional foods, linked to growing nostalgia for traditional rural life. At the other end of the enterprise spectrum are purpose-built rural resorts, which often seek to package and re-present the past in a form that can be consumed by visitors; sometimes termed ‘inauthentic’ heritage, but proving extremely popular, especially among younger visitors.