Abstract
This paper investigates the series of works that Brian Linden, an American citizen and the founding president of the cultural tourism brand the Linden Centre (LC), has undertaken in Xizhou, a rural township in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Drawing on the counterurbanisation scholarship, this study recognises the place-based and endogenous qualities and assets of rural place that motivate the migration of Linden and the LC staff to Xizhou. However, we concurrently argue that the counterurbanisation thesis needs to be enriched through a conversation with the ascendancy of relational rurality and the global countryside, as counterurbanisation inevitably entail rich circularities of discourses, meanings, materials, and cultural knowledge. This has resulted in new ways that rural places are valued and appropriated by different actors on the move. Probing into a miscellany of cultural practices and educational programmes masterminded by the LC, this paper analyses how they deviate from the “authentic” meanings and uses of the heritage buildings but respond to broader visions and aspirations for a more fulfilling life vis-à-vis modernity. This study contributes to the counterurbanisation debate by revealing how counterurban movements can be mobilised to provide cultural, discursive, and material resources that address cultural sensibilities, aspirations, and projects articulated at broader scales.
Published Version
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