Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China [Hardcover]

The drums beat, an old man in a grand robe mutters incantations and three brides on horseback led by their grooms on foot proceed to the Naxi Wedding Courtyard, accompanied, watched and photographed the whole way by tourists, who have bought tickets for the privilege. The traditional wedding ceremonies are performed for the ethnic tourism industry in Lijiang, a World Heritage town in southwest China. This book examines how heritage interacts with social-cultural changes and how individuals perform and negotiate their identities through daily practices that include tourism, on the one hand, and the performance of ethnicity on the other. The wedding performances in Lijiang not only serve as a heritage 'product' but show how the heritage and tourism industry helps to shape people's values, dreams and expectations. This book also explores the rise of 'romantic consumerism' in contemporary China. Chinese dissatisfaction with the urban mundane leads to romanticized interests in practices and people deemed to be natural, ethnic, spiritual and aesthetic, and a search for tradition and authenticity. But what, exactly, are tradition and authenticity, and what happens to them when they are turned into performance?This book examines how heritage interacts with social-cultural changes and how individuals perform and negotiate their identities through daily practices that include tourism, on the one hand, and the performance of ethnicity on the other.Prologue: Somewhere in Time, Introduction Lijiang Old Town and the Naxi Ethnic Tourism in China, Cultural Heritage in China Romantic Consumption Authenticity, Authentication, and Customization, Why the Naxi Wedding Courtyard? A Note on the Method Theatre of the Book Chapter 2 Stage Reconstructing a World Heritage Site The Development of Mass Tourism Becoming a Town of Romance Transforming into a Capital of Love Affairs (Yanyu) Creating a Cultural Theme Park Conclusion Chapter 3 Scripts Dongba as Religious Practitioners Transformationls&