Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers a comprehensive understanding of China’s tourism development from 1992 onwards, focusing on the social-cultural change that accompanied the rise of tourism. It examines both the economic benefits and sociocultural impacts of tourism and argues that tourism sustainability depends on a delicate balance between economic and social-cultural interests which could manifest differently among the stakeholders of various interests. It also explores, through both theoretical and empirical analysis, how travel connects people and places through the processes of tourist imagination and consumption. The volume portrays how contemporary discourses fuse with individual histories to formulate the ways in which tourists understand China. It will be a useful resource for students and scholars in human geography, tourism management, leisure and recreation, and social sciences.
Trade ReviewIn this seminal treatise Dr Li enlists his in-depth studies of mainland China, Hong Kong and Canada, and applies ethnographical methods to interpret the results from a humanistic perspective. He successfully steers the scholarly inquiry from the traditional deterministic towards the existential-phenomenological approach. The book skilfully lifts the value of qualitative case studies to the high-order theoretical plane and makes an original contribution to tourism knowledge. * C.Y. Jim, Education University of Hong Kong and University of Hong Kong *
This book responds to the need to critically review what tourism has brought to China, a vast country with enchanting social and cultural diversity. Covering different forms of tourism and discussing key issues shaping the distinct path of tourism development in China, it provides a timely and comprehensive reflection on the rise of tourism in China.
* Ming Ming Su, Renmin University of China *
This significant book, through application of a welcome humanistic approach and pertinent case studies, extends understanding of the socioeconomic dimensions of tourism in China. It is of global relevance because it probes behind the impressive numbers that attest to this country’s status as a contemporary powerhouse in both domestic and international tourism.
* Geoffrey Wall, University of Waterloo, Canada *
The author theoretically and empirically analyzes how travel connects people and places through the interaction between tourist imagination and consumption of the actual process of travel, a central theme being how the tourism experience contributes to an understanding of modern China [...] The sheer number of references (over 7,000) and the extensive bibliography (26 pages) are remarkable in such a small book.
* B. Osborne, Emeritus, Queen's University at Kingston, Canada, CHOICE connect, January 2024 Vol. 61 No. 5 *
...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 [...] an excellent resource for scholars and students interested in the social and cultural aspects of tourism in China.
* Chen Yang, University of Innsbruck, Austria, Tourism and Hospitality Research 2023 *
Table of ContentsFigures and Tables
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction: Making or Remaking People and Places through Tourism
Chapter 1. The Appeal of Distant Places: China’s Inbound Tourism in the 1990s
Chapter 2. Orientalism Revisited: Ethnic Tourism of China versus Canada
Chapter 3. Tourism Impacts in China after Two Decades of Development
Chapter 4. Community Tourism and China’s Dilemma of Modernisation
Chapter 5. Red Tourism and China’s Communist Identity
Chapter 6. The Impacts of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Chapter 7. Leisure Shopping and the Hong Kong–China Relationship
Chapter 8. Island Festivals and Sense of Place: The Hong Kong Experience
Chapter 9. Linguistic Landscape, Tourism and an Island Place Making
Chapter 10. Tourism and Social-Cultural Change in China
Conclusion: Applying Ethnography to China Tourism Research
References
Index
