CONSTRUCTING PLACE: PRESERVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF FOLK HERITAGE BUILDINGS IN YUNNAN PROVINCE, PRC. MARIA ULRIKA LOFBLAD Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Modern Languages and Cultures (East Asia) March,2012 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. o Abstract This thesis is about preservation of traditional architecture and historical village environments in Yunnan Province, PRC. It asks the question why there has been a surge of interest in preserving and reconstructing historical structures in the reform­ era, particularly since the late 1990s. Answering this question involves looking at national-level discourse on cultural heritage, including legislation and ideological reasons for interest in preservation. It argues that state interest in tourism is the main factor motivating preservation, but this interest is also linked to ideology, mainly state ideology on patriotism, cultural inclusion, and creating an image of the PRC as a cultural entity where ethnic, cultural, and religious differences are allowed, but only as long as these differences are played out within the parameters set up by the state, and align themselves with the aspirations of the reform-era state, mainly economic development. Hence heritage preservation in Yunnan, a poor province of ethnic multitude, needs to be placed within the context of state and provincial interest in tourism, as a way of re-asserting local identity in the reform-era. Heritage resources represent a way of taking part in the market economy for poor communities. How this is done shifts with location, and the actors involved, but the ultimate aim of preservation projects is linked to tourism, and outside recognition, and in this sense this interest is an outcome of state discourse on development, cultural, and local particularity as a way of attracting tourism. Hence the state has been the pivotal actor driving heritage concenrs, and how they are formulated, and interest in heritage is played out within state approved limits, as a response to contemporary discourse on development and capital accumulation. 11 Table of contents: i, Abstract ii, Contents ii iii, List of illustrations lV Introduction 1. Questions for research 1 2. Methodological issues and fieldwork 7 3. Yunnan Province: placing minju preservation in the provincial context 13 i, Introduction 13 ii, Ethnicity: the minzu issue in Yunnan 16 iii, Tourism and development in Yunnan 18 iv, The role ofLijiang and UNESCO 22 4. Chapter outline 29 Chapter 1: Literature review and theoretical approaches to cultural heritage studies i, Cultural heritage studies: an overview 30 ii~ Tourism and heritage: commodification and authenticity 40 iii, The role of UNESCO and World Heritage 49 iv, Heritage and memory 56 v, Sites ofmemory and sites ofhistory: social and historical memory. The case ofthe Yuanmingyuan. 59 vi, The heritage site as heterotopia 63 vii, Heritage, space and planning: state discourse and everyday practice 67 viii, Conclusion 72 Chapter 2: Cultural heritage in the PRC: the political context of contemporary heritage practice i, Introduction: State and local interest in cultural heritage in China 73 ii, The legislative framework: the institutional setting of heritage politics 79 III iii, Tourism and cultural heritage in the PRC 87 iv, Tourism and preservation in the PRC: issues ofauthenticity and reconstructions 91 v, Communal practices and state control 101 vi, Conclusion 106 Section 2: Case studies. Heritage site construction in local practice 1. Shad: International preservation and local response 107 2. Honghe: Jianshui and Tuanshan. Heritage and tourism marketing 143 i, lianshui 149 ii, Tuanshan village 169 3. Heijing & Nuodeng. Different approaches to locally driven preservation 186 i, Beijing 186 ii, Nuodeng 204 4. Shuhe: heritage as theme-park 225 5. Conclusion 251 Appendix 1: Interviews 256 Appendix 2: Chinese glossary 258 Bibliography 260 iv List of illustrations: Shaxi: p.I08 1, The opera stage, Shaxi village 2, Advertising the tea-and horse trail in Shaxi 3, The village gate, Shaxi p.ll3 1, Shaxi village from a distance 2, The Yang family in their courtyard home 3, Street scene, Jianchuan, the county seat p.127 1, Inside the Xingjiao Temple 2, The opera stage 3, Wood carvings Honghe: p.147 1, Yuanyang rice terraces 2, Hani woman, Yuanyang 3, Hani village Yuanyang Jianshui: p.150 1, Street scene 2, Smoking angel tobacco 3, Old, typical residential building p.157 1, The Chaoyang gate 2, Listing of local minju 3, Listed residential building v p.167 1, Making tofu, Jianshui old town 2, Provincial level listed building 3, Street scene, main street, old town Jianshui Tuanshan: p.171 1, Listed mansion, Tuanshan village 2, Mansion, Tuanshan village 3, Drying com, Tuanshan village p.179 1, The Zhang mansion, Tuanshan village 2, Old building, Tuanshan village 3, The entrance to Tuanshan v~lIage Heijing: p.190 1, Restored opera stage in mansion building, Beijing 2, Beijing street scene 3, Old town Beijing p.199 1, Lanterns advertising Beijing as "salt capital of 1000 years" 2, The mountains surrounding Beijing 3, Street in old town Heijing Nuodeng: p.206 1, Wood carvings, old building Nuodeng 2, Nuodeng village 3, Nuodcng village p.210 1, Salt making, Nuodeng 2, Old mansion Nuodeng vi 3, Listing of building at county level, stating the type ("sanfangyi zhao bi", or a house with three mills/workshops and one screening wall,fang meaning mill). p.213 1, The village from a distance 2, The Dragon King temple listing 3, Old mansion building with typical Bai-style entrance p.222 1, Listing of a "siheyuan", or a four-walled courtyard building 2, Bai-style entrance 3, Listing of a "yi ke yin" or a building with old seals, or engravings. 4, Inside courtyard building, Nuodeng Shuhe: p.230 1, Street, Lijiang 2, The Tibetan culture centre, Shuhe 3, Canal, Lijiang p.234 1, Prayer wheels, Shuhe 2, Tourist souvenirs, Shuhe 3, The fields surrounding Shuhe/Longquan p.240 1, Cafe in Longquan with opened up front 2, Rape blossoms in spring, Longquan 3, Tourist street, Shuhe 4, The entrance gate, Shuhe 1 Introduction 1. Questions for research The interest in preserving and reconstructing heritage buildings in both urban and rural environments in the PRC today is striking. Almost all major cities have a reconstructed "historical" section, that conjures up an image of an imagined historical past, a China of tradition and antiquity that serves as background to contemporary leisure pursuits such as tourism, expensive dining and shopping. The same trend can be discerned in how villages and small towns are targeted as preservation objects and marketed as "ancient" for purposes of tourism. Old buildings have increasingly come to be used as stage settings in order to create a notion of history that is far removed from the realities of both everyday urban as well as rural life. This new national value placed on reconstructing the past in the present mirrors international discourse, and places Chinese heritage concerns in a global context according to which cultural heritage resources have come to emerge as immensely useful for attempts to construct tourism based around culture and history. Tourism has come to emerge as a major industry globally, and cultural tourism has come to pose a serious challenge to more traditional pursuits such as going to the beach. Chinese policy-makers in tandem with the tourist industry have come to realise the potentiality inherent to the nation's historical resources in constructing sites for tourism, and hence generating wealth. This is true both at national level, but even more so at the local level, where tourism is a strategically important tool for local development, especially in poor regions. This emphasis placed on tourism as a means of economic development has been successful, and tourism how a plays a major role in national as well as provincial politics and policy-making. As a result, tourism has already had an impact on many communities and locations. It will undoubtedly continue to playa part in Chinese development, and play an increasingly important part in how Chinese political and economic policy is formulated at all levels of the bureaucracy. Hence we need to pay greater attention to how different aspects of the tourist industry function in practice, both at different levels of the bureaucracy, as well as to the impact it has on local communites, and how they negotiate and make use of tourism. 2 Cultural heritage is an important aspect of this, as heritage resources have come to be linked to an ever-growing demand for historical and exotic experiences based around culture and tradition. Other than being part of a wealth generating industry, heritage resources also present the nation with a path towards international legitimacy and acclaim. Cultural heritage is useful for projecting an image of the nation at an international level, but even more so to domestic audiences. Constructing and presenting an image of "China" as a unified nation of diverse cultures with a long history, is a main concern of the PRC state. Tourism provides a perfect arena for projecting an image that aligns itself with state ideology on how to consider cultural diversity, and how the past should be interpreted in the present. Heritage sites present the state with useful material for installing notions of patriotism which means that many historical sites in the PRC are state approved monuments that have been ascribed with official notions of how to regard the nation's past.