Abstract
The present study examines the three perceptual factors (cultural, economic, and social) that affect residents’ attitude towards transformation in the search for sustainability. Macao’s Drunken Dragon Festival, China’s intangible cultural heritage, was used as the case. Self-administered surveys were conducted on 378 resident festival participants in 2015 and 692 residents (both participants and non-participants) in 2017. The results show that regardless of previous experiences of participating in the festival, those who perceive more strongly about its cultural values tend to have positive attitudes towards its transformation, which may involve a loss of objective authenticity. Those who perceive more strongly that the festival is exclusive and does not embrace diverse participants are more likely to support its transformation. However, such a perception does not lead to their belief that diverse groups of people should be incorporated into the festival. Only among the non-participants from the sample collected in 2017, the perception that this festival provides economic benefit is associated with positive attitudes towards transforming and incorporating diverse groups of participants. This study provides insight into understanding the residents’ common and differentiated attitudes with regards to how much transformation is necessary to ensure sustainability of a local traditional cultural festival.
Highlights
In recent years, the value of a local traditional cultural festival as a representable visualized form of intangible heritage has gained interest [1,2,3]
The purpose of the present study was to identify which aspects of the perception towards a local traditional cultural festival predict those who are likely to have positive attitudes towards enhanced publicity, which may harm cultural sustainability yet would assist the sustainability of the festival and the tourism industry of Macao
The results indicate that among the festival participants, those who valued the cultural role of the Drunken Dragon Festival had more positive attitudes towards flexible programming and scheduling of the performances and the rituals and towards involving diversified participants
Summary
The value of a local traditional cultural festival as a representable visualized form of intangible heritage has gained interest [1,2,3]. Light has been shed on the multi-faceted roles of various local traditional cultural festivals and their dynamics, which may affect the sustained value of the festival to the stakeholders involved. Complications both in conflict and cooperation have occurred involving the sustainability of traditional cultural festivals as a manifestation of intangible heritage, especially those which have been historically embedded into a community [4]. Among the core issues that stakeholders face to sustain traditional cultural festivals and safeguard the intangible heritage elements associated with them have been commercialization, touristification, or festivalization [5]. It has been widely acknowledged that investigating the stakeholder groups involved with events and festivals in general [9,10] and traditional cultural festivals in particular [11] provides valuable insight into how they put meanings to each element of a cultural festival and how they desire to associate them with the festival [12]
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