Zhang, Rouran,

Chinese heritage and their audiences : the power of the past / Rouran Zhang. - 1 online resource. - Routledge research on museums and heritage in Asia .

"Chinese Heritage Sites and their Audiences provides a Chinese perspective on tourists' relationship to heritage. Contributing to ongoing debates within heritage and tourism studies, the book offers insights into how and why visitors engage with such sites. Drawing on interviews with domestic tourists, local residents and heritage officials at the World Heritage sites of West Lake, Xidi and Hongcun, Zhang argues that tourists have agency: when they visit heritage sites, they are doing cultural, social and emotional work, whilst also negotiating cultural meanings. Providing an examination of the complex interactions between locals and tourists, the author then considers how tourists navigate and interpret heritage sites. Finally, Zhang examines whether government or locally controlled tourism enterprise is more effective in facilitating meaningful cultural interaction between tourists and locals. Overall, the book demonstrates the interrelation between tourism and heritage, and the tensions that are created when the ways in which sites are used differs to the expectations of UNESCO and national or regional site managers. Chinese Heritage Sites and their Audiences pays particular attention to ongoing debates about heritage performances, the importance of emotions and the agency of tourists and will thus appeal to academics and students engaged in the study of heritage, tourism, landscape architecture and anthropology"--

9780429460333 0429460333 9780429863387 0429863381 9780429863400 0429863403 9780429863394 042986339X


World Heritage areas--China.
Historic sites--China.
Tourism--Social aspects--China.
HISTORY / Asia / China

DS706.3

951
Technical University of Mombasa
Tom Mboya Street, Tudor 90420-80100 , Mombasa Kenya
Tel: (254)41-2492222/3 Fax: 2490571