Ethnography Longji Ecological Museum

The author has conducted four times long-term participatory field research on Longji Zhuangzu Ecomuseum in Longji guzhuang zhai (a village living with Zhuang pepole with more than400years of history) in Longsheng gezu autonomous county(龙胜各族自治县)Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as a whole, to study the proccess of construction, daily running and management of this ecomuseum. Specifically, this paper examines the location, infrastructure, environment, and cultural heritage of this village, and the complex interaction between the ecomuseum and local villagers, government, and tourism company.Through in-depth interviews and participatory observation, this paper reveals:First, tourism planning and development and the construction of the ecomuseum in Longji guzhuang zhai occurred at the same time. At this time of simultaneous development, the tourism and cultural government sectors, village, and tourism company constitute a complex interactive network.Second, the details of the ecomuseum exhibition center construction at the early stages of ecomuseum development in2009-2010and later stage identification of Longji Zhuangzu Ecomuseum as an "ecomuseum model project" in2011, including ecomuseum operation work demonstrate several contradictions indicated by discrepancies between local government, villagers, tourists and the tourism company perceptions of the ecomuseum concept.Third, the knowledge, ideas and methods of the ecomuseum have been integrated into people’s everyday life of this village. From the ecomuseum development, villagers have started to have raised a self-consciousness and awareness on their traditional cultural heritage, and have appropriated processes of modernity into their traditional way of life and environment. The ceremony of "San Zhao Jiu"(the ritual ceremony held for a new born baby held after three days of birth) and the use of traditional crausnnian techniques to build new wooden houses, and conduct agriculture to serve tourism purposes illustrate this clearly.Fourth, tany problems of operation and management exist in Longji Zhuangzu Ecomuseum. Lack of professional workers for the ecomuseum is a key factor which restricts the healthy development of the ecomuseum.Mastering key information of different "nodes" contributes to a better understanding of this ecomuseum. This village requires villagers, the government and the tourism company to work together to explore specific suitable methods and models for village development. Achieving this Longji Zhuangzu Ecomuseum can potentially play an important role as an ecomuseum development model at the political, economic and cultural levels.