Download and Free to Use
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Development of an Ongoing Research Agenda: Contemporary Soft Power Representations of China In Tourism Dr. Sisi Wang This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONGOING RESEARCH AGENDA: CONTEMPORARY SOFT POWER REPRESENTATIONS OF CHINA IN TOURISM SISI WANG PhD 2018 UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONGOING RESEARCH AGENDA: CONTEMPORARY SOFT POWER REPRESENTATIONS OF CHINA IN TOURISM By Sisi Wang A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2018 Academic Thesis: Declaration of Authorship I, Sisi Wang, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONGOING RESEARCH AGENDA: CONTEMPORARY SOFT POWER REPRESENTATIONS OF CHINA IN TOURISM I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University. 2. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated. 3. Where I have cited the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed. 4. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work. 5. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. 6. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. 7. Either none of this work has been published before submission, or parts of this work have been published as indicated on [insert page number or heading]: Name of candidate: Sisi Wang Signature: Date: 2nd December 2018 ABSTRACT Since the late 1980s, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has taken dedicated steps to open itself to the wider world. It has not only adopted practices which encourage many foreigners to visit China, but it has also adopted practices which encourage Chinese citizens to travel overseas, following the guarded decades of the earlier twentieth century. Over the last two decades, the concept of soft power, coined by U.S. political analyst Joseph Nye, has won currency in China as a major means by which the PRC has revealed preferred versions of itself to not only those from afar but also to its indigenous population. This study inspects the role of soft power in tourism and positions 'tourism' as a paramount mechanism by which authorities in China use the value of tourism to communication selected visions of Chinese life, events and places. It seeks to examine what becomes represented from Chinese inheritances and what becomes adopted as a soft power resource to constitute dominant regimes of representation. In an effort to probe the manner by which the nation of China denotates this or that about 'China' in comparison to the manner by which the city of Xi'an --- the former capital of China --- denotates this or that about 'Xi'an'. Attention is thereby frequently turned to Confucian/Neo- Confucian understandings, since many observers of representational paradigms see significant parallels in what political-strategists propose about soft power today and what the ancient philosopher (Kongfuzi = Confucius) advises about state ideology, imperial ritual and exemplary rule. To these ends, this study is focuses on the production of meaning through language, discourse and image. Constituting an interpretive rather than empirical study, it constitutes an exploratory investigation of acts of significnce at national and old-ancient-city levels. The study does not seek to make immediate and full conclusions on these projective practices, it isbased upon a single year's inspection, based distantly in England and examines the representational ground in order to set up an ongoing and more substantive study of these national/local acts of representational denotation from 2018 onwards, once this preliminary investigation has been completed at its European base. Thus, this study is accorded with an auxiliary study objectives i which directs the researcher towards a richer and more informed in situ examination of institutional agency in harnessing the culture-historic inheritances and the contemporary- lifeways at the national level in China vis-a-vis the old (but still vibrant) capital city level. Many readers might thus quibble that in such an exploratory investigation, the said 'auxiliary study objectives' should indeed be labelled as 'the main study aim'. This inquiry does not consequently seek to generate heaps of unbaked findings, it seeks to clear the path for a 5 year research agenda conducted on the ground in China (and Xi'an) itself (themselves), viz., a 2019- 2024 study that can harness the five year national plan activities due to be released in October 2018 by President Xi Jinping in some form of Chinese Dream fashion. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, a massive thanks go to my director of studies, Professor Keith Hollinshead who has been supporting and helping me since 2011 when I was doing my Masters. He became a pillar of encouragement when I was in my difficult times. Words are not enough to express my thanks. Secondly, my gratitude also to my second supervisor Dr Milka Ivanova, although she left the university before my Progression Point 2, her inspiration has been a source of strength. Without her great support, I couldn’t have won that 3 Minute Thesis Competition. Thirdly, I would also like to give credit to Professor Peter Burns, who became my second supervisor, for his continuous support and the sharing of wonderful ideas to improve my thesis. I would like to show my appreciation to those friends that have been helping and supporting me in Luton. Especially, I would like to give my sincere thanks and appreciation to Sue Crane and Laura, who are like my sisters, constantly encouraging and helping me in times of difficulties, and to Dr Fidelia for her moral support. Her patience and kind hearts, I will always remember. I also would like to give my appreciation to my dearest colleague in London Churchill College, Mr Mehfuzul Haque, Dr Rhyddhi Chakraborty and Dr Abu Munsur for their encouragement and support. My immense gratitude and love go to thank my dad (Jiangli Wang) and my mum (Xiaoli Huang), for supporting me both financially and spiritually. Without their continuing aid and support, it would have been impossible for me to study abroad. Their encouragement and unconditional love made me what I am today. Finally, but not the least, I would love to give my sincere thanks to the love of my life, Dr Hua Luo, for giving me such a great reinforcement both in faith and love during these three years of my PhD. I am very grateful that we are so blessed to meet each other at the very beginning of our PhD journeys. “you are my rock, and you made my PhD”!. Life is so much more colourful because I met you! Thanks for being such a great backbone and tower of strength for me. Above all, to my amazing God for giving me the grace to know you Jesus as you are the way, the truth and life. you have been faithful since then as I have come through a long journey. iii PUBLICATIONS PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES: Sun, Y.H.. Wang, S., & Zhao, Y.L., (2017). Bond Retention & Resource Allocation: The importance of Urban-Rural Development and Cultural Activities. China Convention and Exhibition Society. China. Wang, S., Munsur, H. A., Chakraborty, R., and Haque, M. (Forthcoming): The Impact of Collaborative Learning on HND Students. Journal of Contemporary Development & Management Studies. London Churchill College. England. Hollinshead, K. Suleman R., and Wang, S. (Forthcoming) Tourism and the Hidden Truths of Our Time: Deleuze and ‘Dogmatic Images’ In the Paradoxes of Tourism. Ed: H. Tucker, E.Cakmark, R. Isaac and K. Hollinshead. Bristol: England. Channel View Press. ABSTRACTS FOR CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Wang, S., Hollinshead, H., (2016). Tourism Paradoxes: Challenges to Scholarship and Practice, RC 50 In-Between Conference 2016, April 5-8, 2016, ChiangMai, Thailand. Wang, S., (2016). Confucian China today: An analysis of the projection of ‘Chinese’ through tourism and related inscriptive fields, Poster Presentation, Summer Research Conference 2016, July 2016, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, United Kingdom Wang, S., Hollinshead, H., (2017). 7th Critical Tourism Studies Conference, 25-29 June 2017., Palma de Mallorca, Spain. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................................. iii PUBLICATIONS .............................................................................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................................. x LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................xi