Conferência “Strategies of Ethnic Tourism Development in China”, por Nelson Graburn (University of California, Berkeley)

Presentation

China’s population of 1.3 billion includes fifty-six official nationalities or minzu of which 110 million, nearly 10%, are “minority” (i.e. non-Han) ‘small nationalities, or ‘ethnic groups’, found mostly in Southern and Western provinces. Most of the rural people are poor and so have been subject to development efforts. Under Mao Zedong development was promoted through education and technical advancements, and “backward customs” such as polygamy, foot-binding, superstition and religion were banned. After the opening up of 1978, narrowing the gap between minzu and the majority Han has focused on poverty alleviation through education and wage labor. Prime has been the promotion of domestic tourism to rural areas where ethnic “difference” is maintained through traditional performances and products, ironically often reviving formerly banned cultural forms.
1. One path, stressed by NGOs and foreign advisors, emphasizes the preservation of “authentic” material and performative culture while developing the lives of those still in ‘traditional’ villages. This often allows the villagers to choose their development paths and to redistribute the income according to local participation, as commonly found in Guizhou. However external capital and the Party often corrupt the process by creating monopolies and banning the informal sector.

2. A second development is the introduction of holiday hotels and businesses to be run by the ethnic minzu, but without cultural performances These businesses are often called ‘nong jia le’ ???, ‘peasant family happiness,’ This prize-winning strategy was first started in Guangxi but has been successfully copied elsewhere. Again, forces of commoditization or takeover by external capital may create inauthentic ‘MacDonaldization.’

3. A third direction is the ‘hyperdevelopment’ of ethnic performances by creative outside producers, in Theme Parks and tourist venues. My examples are mainly from Yunnan, Guanxi and Guangdong.

But, as we shall see, not all rural ethnic villages can develop through tourism.