Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in an ethnic theme park setting – the case of Binglanggu in Hainan Province, China

Massing, K ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0067-3139, 2018. Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in an ethnic theme park setting – the case of Binglanggu in Hainan Province, China. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 24 (1), pp. 66-82. ISSN 1352-7258

[thumbnail of 9380_Massing.pdf]
Preview
Text
9380_Massing.pdf - Post-print

Download (323kB) | Preview

Abstract

Since 2003, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage has become a priority of China’s cultural heritage safeguarding policies at all levels. Despite this, academic research has paid limited attention to the safeguarding of ICH in a theme park setting. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of safeguarding ICH in an ethnic theme park in China. It investigates how the Binglanggu theme park in Hainan aims to contribute to the safeguarding of Li minority heritage. The study is based on qualitative data consisting of interviews with Li minority members working at Binglanggu, the Vice-Manager of the theme park and interviews with heritage and tourism experts in Hainan, as well as observation at the theme park. The findings indicate that, when concentrating on certain ICH expressions that align with the state’s ethnic minority narrative, the theme park makes an important contribution to the research and documentation of Li minority heritage. However, the park struggles to transmit ICH expressions to the younger generations. The research concludes that essential criteria to contribute to the safeguarding of ICH are to include the ethnic minority group in the safeguarding process, for example by employing them in management positions, and to concentrate more strongly on education and transmission.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: International Journal of Heritage Studies
Creators: Massing, K.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 2018
Volume: 24
Number: 1
ISSN: 1352-7258
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1080/13527258.2017.1362571
DOI
Rights: © 2017 Katharina Massing
Divisions: Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 27 Oct 2017 12:11
Last Modified: 02 Nov 2017 12:06
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31903

Actions (login required)

Edit View Edit View

Statistics

Views

Views per month over past year

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year