Faiths on Display Religion, Tourism, and the Chinese State [Hardcover]

The editors and authors of this volume constitute a most impressive interdisciplinary cast of experts, collectively shedding light on the cultural, social, and political construction of the emerging 'tourist-pilgrim continuum' and showcasing a wide variety of useful analytical perspectives. Highly recommended for scholars and students in religion, anthropology, sociology, politics, tourism and heritage studies, and cultural studies.This rich and sophisticated collection sets the agenda for studies on faith and tourism. The range and depth of cases is truly impressive and the findings are of major significance for one of the fastest-growing tourist markets in the world. This groundbreaking volume marks a major step forward in studies of tourism in China.With studies from across a very diverse cultural landscape, Faiths on Display sheds entirely new light on China. For those interested in religion, it reveals one of the most important engines driving the current resurgence. For tourism, it challenges our assumptions that secular travel and religious pilgrimage are fundamentally different. And for anyone interested in China it shows how relations to the state go far beyond simple accommodation and resistance.The first thing I need to say is that I very much enjoyed reading this book, perhaps because for me and my research in China the testimony of the respective chapters corresponded with much of my own experience in that country. . . . While the word tourism rightly appears in the extended title of the book, many of the contributors may not be familiar to scholars in tourism, being for the most part researchers based in Chinese, Asian, and anthropological studies. One advantage of this is a freedom from the constraints of empirical quantitative techniques. Instead, the books authors adhere to the techniques of participative research and an immersion in the wider culture and literature of the observed phenomena. In short, for the most part these are not the findingslã-