Cultural Performance And Ethnic Group Under Touristic Context

Lijiang, in the northwest of Yunan, is the major region where Naxi Ethnic Group reside. The emergence of cultural tourism in the middle of 1990s, has made this historical small ethnic group becoming outstanding in the arena of tourism. Thus, the ideology of "Ah-Gen Naxi"acquires a new way of discourse. Underlying this, the concern with the relationship between the culture of tourism and the ethnic identity is definitely one of the important issues to perpetuate the development of cultural tourism in ethnic societies.Based on retrospection of the past and the specific nature of Naxi ethnic group, this thesis begins with the analysis of how the historical experiences influence the cultural adaptive strategy(Chapter 2). And according to this effect, we briefly introduce "The Great Culture", which is Naxi people's pride, and the phenomenon of commoditization of culture in Lijiang's tourism environment(Chapter 3). In order to draw on Naxi people's perspectives in Lijiang tourism and their sense of ethnic identification in the context of tourism, I focus my study on the current tourism conditions of Bai-Sha Town in Lijiang, on the one hand, my attempt is to have a "thick description" in the imagery of local cultural tourism under the influences of Lijiang tourism sphere(chaper 4), on the other hand , through a close observations on festivals, music, and religious process in the context of tourism to gain a thorough understanding on both internal and external forms of cultural performance. Simultaneously, I examined, under the dichotomy of "host-and-guest"interaction, the creation of 'the touree' and the way they appeal to the tourists, and further on this basis, I have reached a conclusive idea about the internal relationship between the cultural diversity, "stage authenticity"and the ethnic identification(chater 6). And lastly, drawing on the rational and sensible perception in the field study as well as the anthropological theories and their case studies, I have the following considerations:â… The recalling discourse and practice regard to the history and culture of the ethnic group manifest the anxiety for their historical glory, and obviously this anxiety intensively affects the present and the future of them.â…¡Any minority group wearing "The Red Shoes"of cultural tourism, will definitely manipulate the cultural diversity from their tourism resources. And a successful appealing of this cultural diversity in the tourism environment will then impact the boundary maintenance of the ethnic group. This boundary is indeed, the charming part of the tourism of the minority region in China.â…¢If cultural diversity is the "implication"or consequence of ethnic identity and ethnic boundary maintenance, then the"stage authenticity" within the touristic context, can be considered as a way of articulation of their ethinic " self. It is not important about what the content of "stage authenticity", the existence of the boundary line between host and guest matters.â…£The contradiction to develop cultural tourism in minority region is: the goal for "the touree" to link to the world vis-a-vis the purpose of the tourists to "escape" from the world will eventually go to opposite directions.