Description
Book SynopsisIn Tourism and Prosperity in Miao Land, Xianghong Feng focuses on the intersection of tourism, power, and inequality in the southern interior of China. In this region, capital-intensive and elite-directed tourism has reshaped the social and cultural patterns of the ethnic Miao and other local residents. Using ethnographic fieldwork conducted over the course of a decade, Feng examines the cultural reconstructions of space, ethnicity, gender, and morality within changing power structures. This book is recommended for scholars of anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, Asian studies, and tourism studies.
Trade ReviewAs a case study of tourism and power in rural ethnic China, this book is a helpful contribution to the growing literature in the anthropology of tourism and contemporary China studies through its ethnographic attention to social relations, gender, and rural economies. . . . the book will be of use to scholars already working on these issues, and individual chapters could be effectively integrated into relevant university courses and seminars on minority China, tourism anthropology and rural development. * China Quarterly *
In tourism...culture is rarely independent of the economy. Feng Xianghong’s refreshing study of ethnic tourism development engages this point but assesses the tourist economy less as the condition for cultural preservation and more for urgently needed poverty alleviation.... Feng’s ethnography offers a finely textured study of how uneven distribution and opportunity drives so much of what takes place in the tourist industry. * The China Journal *
Xianghong Feng provides an engaging examination of China’s promotion of tourism to bring prosperity to rural areas. Making sense of complex political and economic dynamics in relation to the shifting fortunes of individuals, families, and villages, Feng moves deftly between fine-grained detail and broad strokes. The study is attentive to the potential conflict of interest between large-scale tourism operators and individual entrepreneurs and workers, and makes important contributions to the anthropology of tourism. Tourism and Prosperity in Miao Land captures the precariousness of peasant livelihood, even in the casual description of a bowl of noodle soup. Feng illuminates contemporary dynamics of tourism and urban-rural dynamics in relation to labor, space, gender, ethnicity, competition, and resistance in Miao villages. -- Hjorleifur Jonsson, Arizona State University
Xianghong Feng’s book illustrates the role of tourism developers in shaping China’s underdeveloped regions. Using power in tourism as a conceptual framework, she analyzes the intricacies of host communities responding to tourism development and cultural commodification. Her book adds a rich and meaningful voice to contemporary debates on social and spatial transformation in tourist destinations in China and elsewhere. -- Xiaobo Su, University of Oregon
China is where tourism is really growing, in both international and domestic tourism! Xianghong Feng’s new book is the most intriguing ethnography published to date that explains what is happening at the local level in tourism. It is a wonderful ride into the cracks and corners of a world rarely seen outside of China. Her book is theoretically interesting, important, and approachable for both the scholar and the new student. -- Tim Wallace, North Carolina State University
Table of ContentsPart I: Tourism's "Great Leap Forward" Chapter 1 The Place: The Mountain, The River, The People Chapter 2 "Scaling Up": The McDonaldizing Village Tours Part II: Living with Tourism Chapter 3 Spatial Transformations: Constructing Tourism Sites Chapter 4 From Tourism Marketplace to Village Homes: Gendered Work among the Local Miao Chapter 5 Prosperity for Whom?: Tourism and the Poverty of Resources Part III: One Village Chapter 6 Before and After the Merger: Everyday Resistance in Village Life Chapter 7 Competition and (In)equality: The Rise and Fall of Village Family Restaurants Conclusion "Small" as a Solution
