Situating the Yao's heritage within chinese cultural preservation: Bapai Yao history, heritage, and tourism in Liannan, China
| Author(s) | Xu, Ying | |
| Date Accessioned | 2025-03-13T16:08:46Z | |
| Date Available | 2025-03-13T16:08:46Z | |
| Publication Date | 2025 | |
| SWORD Update | 2025-02-09T23:02:15Z | |
| Abstract | Since the early 2000s, China has shifted its heritage preservation approach, expanding beyond a focus on architecture to include cultural practices and the lives of local people, particularly among ethnic minorities. This approach aims to bridge the urban-rural divide and leverages tourism as a means of economic growth, reshaping minority identities to align with a diverse, modern national image. Central and local governments play a significant role in this process, using cultural heritage as a tool for economic and political control, which profoundly impacts local communities. However, this centralized model often overlooks the tensions it creates with local communities, especially among ethnic minorities. ☐ This dissertation addresses these issues through a case study of the Bapai Yao, examining the preservation of cultural heritage, ethnic identity, and the power dynamics between the Yao community and the Chinese government. It first contextualizes Yao’s historical interactions with the Han majority, emphasizing the evolution of policies and perceptions that shape Yao’s identity. It then explores the architecture and social structures of Nangang Pai, a Bapai Yao settlement, illustrating the resilience of Yao culture amid external pressures, with a critical examination of government policies since 1949 and the balance between development and cultural preservation. ☐ Key chapters discuss tensions between government policies and local practices, the complexities of tourism, and the state’s role in recasting Yao’s culture within a socialist vision. Key findings include the paradoxical nature of cultural preservation in the context of tourism-driven development, where the celebration of ethnic diversity coexists with the commodification and exoticization of minority cultures. ☐ By exploring how the state’s portrayal of the Yao perpetuates stereotypes, reflects elite narratives, and marginalizes Yao perspectives, and by highlighting the government’s dual objectives—utilizing tourism as an economic catalyst while shaping ethnic identities to align with a modern, diverse, and progressive national narrative—this dissertation argues that the new approach to heritage preservation in China serves to “Other” minority cultures, strategically framing them within a national narrative that promotes a highly uniform set of values. This operation of official discourse shapes how the Bapai Yao’s cultural heritage and identity are represented. Identifying this discursive construction may reveal conflicting power/knowledge relations between authorities and minority communities. This identification presents an opportunity to resolve conflicts in pursuit of equitable dialogues and social inclusion, contributing to ongoing discussions on the complexities of cultural heritage preservation, economic sustainability, and identity politics in contemporary China. | |
| Advisor | Rujivacharakul, Vimalin | |
| Degree | Ph.D. | |
| Department | University of Delaware, Department of Art Conservation | |
| Unique Identifier | 1510368939 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/35934 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | |
| URI | https://www.proquest.com/pqdtlocal1006271/dissertations-theses/situating-yao-s-heritage-within-chinese-cultural/docview/3164877696/sem-2?accountid=10457 | |
| Keywords | Chinese heritage and modernization | |
| Keywords | Chinese villages | |
| Keywords | Cultural commodification | |
| Keywords | Cultural exoticization | |
| Keywords | Cultural heritage preservation | |
| Keywords | Tourism development | |
| Title | Situating the Yao's heritage within chinese cultural preservation: Bapai Yao history, heritage, and tourism in Liannan, China | |
| Type | Thesis |