The Changes Of Host's Understanding Of Chinese Culture Based On The Effects Of Sino-Thai Tourism In Chiang Mai

Tourism as a socio-cultural activity plays a very important role in the spread of human culture.With the rising of international tourism development and the conflicts in different cultures,communication and exchange needs more and more attention.Particularly,due to the trend of development tourism in Chiang Mai,Thailand,more Chinese tourists choose Chiang Mai as tourism destination and thus arouse some problems between hosts and Chinese tourists.From the view of domestic and international research status,studies on the tourism development are mostly from the tourists' perspectives and the viewpoints of the hosts are often overlooked.Therefore,this research is based on the hosts' perspectives so as to see the impact of tourism on the host's understanding of Chinese culture.The main objects of this paper are the hosts in Chiang Mai,Thailand,which focuses on their changes in the understanding of Chinese culture.From the perspective of the host's understanding of Chinese culture,through in-depth interviews and other anthropological approaches,there are differences between their impressions before and after tourism development.A field survey was conducted to investigate the host's understanding of Chinese culture and to analyze their causes of changes in the understanding of Chinese Culture.The study found that the development of tourism has an impact in the host's understanding of Chinese culture.As the former hosts did not have the opportunity to interact with Chinese people,local Chinese community and the media became the most important ways for them to understand Chinese people and their culture.Although the local Chinese belong to the Chinese people,but they immigrated to Thailand and by the influence of local culture in Thailand,their Chinese culture itself produced some changes,therefore,the Chinese local community culture and heritage has a huge influences to the host's understand of Chinese culture.The rapid development of tourism made the hosts to meet and interact with many Chinese tourists and also made them to change slowly their original understanding of Chinese culture.In the tourism development process between hosts and Chinese tourists,the new way of communication and interaction has further expanded the hosts' perspectives.The host's understanding changes was generally occurred through the influence of tourism.The vigorous development of tourism can make the relationship between hosts and Chinese tourists more and more close and friendly.