Author: Rongling Ge
E-mail:
Department: Department of Anthropology
Institution: Xiamen University
Title: Design a Tunpu for Tourism: A Case Study in Southwest China
Abstract:
Tunpu is a specific name for a Han (i.e. ethnic non-minority) sub-group in Guizhou Province, southwestern China. Tunpu communities or villages were originally fortresses, the earliest of which were established during the Ming Dynasty more than 600 years ago. Starting about ten years ago, tourism has been promoted in the Tunpu region, featuring the ancient Han culture, old Han traditions, military “folk characters” and performing arts. Slate buildings are one of the most prominent features shown in tourist brochures and films. Tunpu architectural styles, both the structures and the materials from which they were made, represent not only ecological adaptation and lifestyle choices, but also their traditional “ethnic” identity. Traditional residential houses therefore constitute unique items of local heritage both for the tourists and the Tunpu people themselves.
This paper stems from research in Tianlong Tunpu, a typical village in the area. It focuses on the redesign and repair of Tunpu houses that are the imagined future planned by local governments and a tourism development company. This “imaginary” is claimed to be a project for the protection of Tunpu cultural heritage, and it has successfully secured loans from the World Bank. However, research shows that the execution of these plans may cause changes not only to the architectural forms, but also to Tunpu social relationships. In this paper we learn how tourism designs turn ancestral pasts into tourism landscapes and how the tourist industry changes social relationships. We will examine the “professional imaginary” in the form of blueprints and plans drawn up by qualified design institutes, the efforts of the local government to cooperate in the implementation of the plans, and the resistance and rebellions of the local residents.
Author Bio:
Rongling Ge is a PhD candidate in Department of Anthropology at Xiamen University, China. She is now working on her doctoral dissertation based on her field research in a tourism village in Southwest China. It focuses on the forms and production of spatial practices in local community's transforming process of ethnic identity and social relationships in the context of heritage tourism.