The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)

As intercity competition increases, cities search for distinctive meanings and create identifiable symbols for places to increase their attractiveness. These symbols change the urban landscape and shift the characteristics of ordinary neighborhoods. This paper is a case study of a neighborhood calle...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shuyue Chen
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Association Via@ 2023-07-01
Series:Via@
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/9786
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832578248674902016
author Shuyue Chen
author_facet Shuyue Chen
author_sort Shuyue Chen
collection DOAJ
description As intercity competition increases, cities search for distinctive meanings and create identifiable symbols for places to increase their attractiveness. These symbols change the urban landscape and shift the characteristics of ordinary neighborhoods. This paper is a case study of a neighborhood called Yulin in Chengdu in southwest China. Developed in the 1980s, Yulin was an ordinary neighborhood representing Chengdu’s work unit housing in the 1980s and 90s. Although its name is well known by locals, Yulin was suddenly exposed to the wider public of the country due to a folk song. In 2017, a folk musician, Zhao Lei, performed his song, Chengdu, on Hunan TV. Using guitar, piano, and children’s voices, the song depicts a romantic story on the street of Yulin and reinforces the imaginaries of Chengdu as a leisure city. Names and addresses in the lyrics became well-known overnight. From then on, tourism-induced investments have driven significant changes in Yulin. This study focuses on the built environment of Yulin and shows the power of folk music to shift people, buildings, and money. It discusses how a contemporary folk song resonates with the imaginaries of Chengdu as “the city of leisure” and how Yulin has been changed due to musical imaginaries. In addition, it aims to enrich the discourse of city branding and placemaking to raise awareness of tourism-induced changes in ordinary neighborhoods, in China and beyond.
format Article
id doaj-art-21b6ea87ae1d42178551b66cc5b1a013
institution Kabale University
issn 2259-924X
language deu
publishDate 2023-07-01
publisher Association Via@
record_format Article
series Via@
spelling doaj-art-21b6ea87ae1d42178551b66cc5b1a0132025-01-30T14:05:23ZdeuAssociation Via@Via@2259-924X2023-07-012310.4000/viatourism.9786The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)Shuyue ChenAs intercity competition increases, cities search for distinctive meanings and create identifiable symbols for places to increase their attractiveness. These symbols change the urban landscape and shift the characteristics of ordinary neighborhoods. This paper is a case study of a neighborhood called Yulin in Chengdu in southwest China. Developed in the 1980s, Yulin was an ordinary neighborhood representing Chengdu’s work unit housing in the 1980s and 90s. Although its name is well known by locals, Yulin was suddenly exposed to the wider public of the country due to a folk song. In 2017, a folk musician, Zhao Lei, performed his song, Chengdu, on Hunan TV. Using guitar, piano, and children’s voices, the song depicts a romantic story on the street of Yulin and reinforces the imaginaries of Chengdu as a leisure city. Names and addresses in the lyrics became well-known overnight. From then on, tourism-induced investments have driven significant changes in Yulin. This study focuses on the built environment of Yulin and shows the power of folk music to shift people, buildings, and money. It discusses how a contemporary folk song resonates with the imaginaries of Chengdu as “the city of leisure” and how Yulin has been changed due to musical imaginaries. In addition, it aims to enrich the discourse of city branding and placemaking to raise awareness of tourism-induced changes in ordinary neighborhoods, in China and beyond.https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/9786Chengdufolk musicleisure citycity brandingtourism-induced placemaking
spellingShingle Shuyue Chen
The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
Via@
Chengdu
folk music
leisure city
city branding
tourism-induced placemaking
title The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
title_full The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
title_fullStr The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
title_full_unstemmed The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
title_short The Power of Folk Music: City Branding, Musical Imaginaries, and Tourism-induced Placemaking in Yulin, Chengdu (China)
title_sort power of folk music city branding musical imaginaries and tourism induced placemaking in yulin chengdu china
topic Chengdu
folk music
leisure city
city branding
tourism-induced placemaking
url https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/9786
work_keys_str_mv AT shuyuechen thepoweroffolkmusiccitybrandingmusicalimaginariesandtourisminducedplacemakinginyulinchengduchina
AT shuyuechen poweroffolkmusiccitybrandingmusicalimaginariesandtourisminducedplacemakinginyulinchengduchina