Fourth International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies

Abstract

Our paper focuses on how modern Chinese tourism promotes ethnic Miao people as a model “happy minority,” whose identity is inseparable from the ability to entertain urban Chinese through “authentic” cultural performances of song and dance. A major ethical concern for us is how tourism supports campaigns to maintain a national narrative of ethnic harmony. As a counter-narrative, we describe our personal encounters with Miao people (particularly the Hmong subgroup) and the challenges they face in modern society. The tourism boom within China includes trips from prosperous cities such as Shanghai to rural areas such as Guizhou, advertised as a “timeless” realm of mountains and lamp-lit villages, where travelers can experience Miao hospitality. Popular television documentaries also promote tourism by showing the Miao as existing in their “original” state, far removed from the complications of modern society. However, as our research shows, Miao people actually are confronting high rates of poverty and low rates of education. Moreover, while they are being praised for “authentic” performances, they are losing the very culture which they are assumed to embody: Han Chinese are deciding what Miao will perform; villages are being turned into tourism showcases; and families are breaking up as youth leave the countryside for jobs in big cities (with tourism profits going to outside contractors). Finally, along with our audience, we would like to consider how tourism could be a positive rather than negative influence in shaping a more promising future for Miao people and other ethnic groups in China.