Abstract
“The Rise of Tourism in China - Social and Cultural Change” written by Yiping Li, provides readers with a comprehensive assessment of China’s tourism with empirical evidence during the last three decades and concomitant social and cultural alterations. The book delves into various aspects of tourism, presenting a collection of ten chapters that chronologically review the evolution of tourism in China from the early economic reforms to the present day, offering a departure from the prevalent positivist research paradigm in favor of a more humanistic and existential approach to studying the subject.
The idea of this book originated from the author’s yearning for remote places and varied cultures, later guiding them to become a traveler and dedicated tourism researcher. This book examines the potential of existential and phenomenological methodologies to challenge the mainstream positivist spatial science in tourism research. The chapters in the book are the result of the author's 30-years study and thoughts on tourism in China, and they cover a wide range of issues and case studies that shed light on the intricacies of China’s tourism development.
I was surprised and intrigued that it is one of the few books revolving around how tourism has been employed as an ideological tool to achieve a country’s economic objectives and create a national identity, especially when it comes to China, one of the fastest-growing inbound and outbound tourism markets in the world. The book commences with a fascinating introduction that sets the stage for understanding how tourism has played an essential part in China’s social and cultural aspects since the country's economic reform and opening up in 1978. From there, each chapter explores diverse topics of China’s tourism development, such as inbound tourism, ethnic tourism, mega-events impacts, community tourism, red tourism, and the tourist-resident relationship, among others.
The book is organized into ten chapters, each focusing on a distinct component of China’s tourism industry. The first chapter provides context, covering the appeal of distant destinations and how China’s inbound tourism boomed in the 1990s. Chapter 2 and 3 dig into ethnic tourism and the impacts of tourism on Chinese communities. Chapter 4 discusses the problems of modernization in community tourism, while Chapter 5 provides an in-depth look at “red tourism” and its connection to China’s communist identity. Chapter 6 and 7, respectively, look at the transformative effects of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the complexity of the Mainland China-Hong Kong relationship. In Chapters 8 and 9, the book switches its focus to individual case studies, exploring island celebrations and the linguistic landscape. Finally, Chapter 10 examines the relationship between tourism and social-cultural transformation in China through ethnographic approaches. While acknowledging each chapter indeed provides great insights, the book lacks a cohesive narrative that ties the chapters seamlessly and a robust overarching premise that binds the disparate chapters together. The disconnection between the topics may leave readers searching for a guiding topic or argument throughout the work.
One of this book’s salient features is its reliance on qualitative methodology. Unlike many other pieces of work either arriving with a very descriptive account or following the academic fashion of depending entirely on quantitative data, this book, fortunately, doesn’t fall into this category, instead illuminates a series of dynamic mechanisms or practice in each chapter and provides readers with a deep and nuanced understanding of China’s tourism industry’s social and cultural implications through in-depth case studies and interpretive studies of tourism experiences, therefore makes a valuable contribution to the area. However, some regret remains in the complete absence of quantitative data and insights. Admittedly, qualitative research does provide valuable in-depth insights. Combining both would have enhanced the book's empirical foundation and allowed a better grasp of generalized knowledge.
Furthermore, this book is noteworthy for its attention to the Mainland-Hong Kong relationship, which is examined in depth in Chapter 7. It reflects the complex and delicate relationship between Mainland China and Hong Kong residents at the very moment. Studying how mainland Chinese tourists interact with Hong Kong residents illuminates the intricacies of host-guest relationships and mobility politics. Furthermore, Chapter 8’s examination of festival meanings in Hong Kong and their role in developing a sense of place is a stimulating addition to studying tourism representations and cultural values. Nevertheless, the context of this book has put a seemingly plausible but uneven spotlight on Cantonese-speaking areas, i.e., Hong Kong and Guangdong (as in Chapter 3, 7, 8, and 9), which could potentially paint an incomplete picture of the overall rise of tourism in China as a nationwide phenomenon.
This book arguably supplements a timely and valuable account of China’s tourism development and its societal consequences over the last three decades. The qualitative methodology of the book offers significant insights into the various aspects of Chinese tourism, and its concentration on the Mainland-Hong Kong relationship is a notable highlight. Despite the merits, lacking a unified narrative, the unevenness in context, and a mere mono-research methodology at the expense of quantitative data are potential shortages. This book is nevertheless an excellent resource for scholars and students interested in the social and cultural aspects of tourism in China.