Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends

This contribution questions the build-up of touristic imaginaries, through the tourismification of a Shui village located in the mountainous Province of Guizhou (China). The growth of the tourism industry in the rural areas driven by the State in the early 1980s, has been going on according to a hig...

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Main Author: Evelyne Gauché
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Géographie Alpine 2018-01-01
Series:Revue de Géographie Alpine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rga/3855
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author Evelyne Gauché
author_facet Evelyne Gauché
author_sort Evelyne Gauché
collection DOAJ
description This contribution questions the build-up of touristic imaginaries, through the tourismification of a Shui village located in the mountainous Province of Guizhou (China). The growth of the tourism industry in the rural areas driven by the State in the early 1980s, has been going on according to a highly standardised official model. Not only did it aim at fostering economic development, but also at making up national identity. It is founded on a stereotyped vision of the landscape, seen through the prism of the Mandarin ideal based on poetry, gardening and pictorial arts or Shanshui, literally ‘mounts and waters’, as well as on the folklorisation of ethnic minorities and the modernisation of the countryside. As such, it uses both landscape and populations as tools, through a national narrative of the greatness of the Chinese nation and the Han people with, in the background, the praise of the socialist ideal. Correlatively to the projection of Han imaginaries onto the daily landscape of the Shui, the social representations of this landscape are also transformed by tourism, thereby revealing how the Shui population is adhering to the State model.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0035-1121
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language English
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publisher Institut de Géographie Alpine
record_format Article
series Revue de Géographie Alpine
spelling doaj-art-c44b6cb92a274f54955265d49453520b2025-01-10T15:55:35ZengInstitut de Géographie AlpineRevue de Géographie Alpine0035-11211760-74262018-01-01105310.4000/rga.3855Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political EndsEvelyne GauchéThis contribution questions the build-up of touristic imaginaries, through the tourismification of a Shui village located in the mountainous Province of Guizhou (China). The growth of the tourism industry in the rural areas driven by the State in the early 1980s, has been going on according to a highly standardised official model. Not only did it aim at fostering economic development, but also at making up national identity. It is founded on a stereotyped vision of the landscape, seen through the prism of the Mandarin ideal based on poetry, gardening and pictorial arts or Shanshui, literally ‘mounts and waters’, as well as on the folklorisation of ethnic minorities and the modernisation of the countryside. As such, it uses both landscape and populations as tools, through a national narrative of the greatness of the Chinese nation and the Han people with, in the background, the praise of the socialist ideal. Correlatively to the projection of Han imaginaries onto the daily landscape of the Shui, the social representations of this landscape are also transformed by tourism, thereby revealing how the Shui population is adhering to the State model.https://journals.openedition.org/rga/3855representationslandscapetourismChinarural spacesShui ethnic minority
spellingShingle Evelyne Gauché
Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
Revue de Géographie Alpine
representations
landscape
tourism
China
rural spaces
Shui ethnic minority
title Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
title_full Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
title_fullStr Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
title_full_unstemmed Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
title_short Tourismification of a Shui Village in the Mountainous Province of Guizhou (South China): Imaginaries and the Use of Landscape for Political Ends
title_sort tourismification of a shui village in the mountainous province of guizhou south china imaginaries and the use of landscape for political ends
topic representations
landscape
tourism
China
rural spaces
Shui ethnic minority
url https://journals.openedition.org/rga/3855
work_keys_str_mv AT evelynegauche tourismificationofashuivillageinthemountainousprovinceofguizhousouthchinaimaginariesandtheuseoflandscapeforpoliticalends