Phoenix Out of the Ashes: Convergence of Disaster and Heritage Tourism in Jina Qiang Village, Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

In China, development of ethnic heritage tourism in previously remote areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities has brought visibility, profit, and potential conflict to often culturally and economically marginalized communities (Cable 2008. Tan et al. 2001). This article offers an ethnographic account of the transition from the once disappearing to the newly thriving status of the Qiang, a Chinese ethnic minority, as portrayed through the state-sponsored disaster and heritage tourism in Jina Qiang Village. Highlighting the drastic transformation of this previously unknown village, disaster tourism has brought Qiang culture and people to public attention for the first time after a devastating earthquake. Most strikingly, not only was the impoverished village restored with material modernity, but Qiang cultural traditions are apparently rejuvenated with the emerging heritage tourism. Ironically, in the process. Jina Qiang Village, a Han-Qiang hybrid village, has been re-interpreted and re-invent...