Creating a Sustainable Narrative: The Interplay of Ecological Agriculture, Cultural Heritage, and Community Efficacy in Contemporary China

Abstract

Abstract Highlighting the situational, creative strategics implemented by local actors for encouraging dynamic interactions among culinary heritage, cultural tourism, and ecosystem, this study presents two case studies from southeast-central China: Dongjiao Center for Porcelain History and Cultural Exchange in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and Changsha Banquets, a restaurant chain in Changsha, Hunnan Province. Together, they embody the author’s ongoing research on heritage education, cultural tourism, and sustainable development in contemporary China. This article provides an overview and analysis of the developing forms of sustainable tourism and heritage education enacted by individual social actors since 1985, when China signed the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, against the backdrop of China’s economic growth, sustainable consumption, and most importantly, the rising public awareness of heritage protection. The author argues that these individual entities develop sustainable cultural tourism through social media and creative contents that are not a part of China’s mainstream state-funded food media.