Zhang 1 Sarah Zhang CO 150.

400 Kristen Foster November 17, 2013 Tourism Development----A Curse to Historical Villages Over the long history of China, there are numerous historical villages preserved as the culture witness of changing times. I have been to some ancient villages. While enjoying the attractive scenery and experiencing the local custom and culture, I also found some problems that worry me a lot. With the booming tourism development, the natural environment was suffering from pollution; the historical sites were damaged by tourists; the traditional culture was corroded by the modern commercial atmosphere. I was so sad about these destructions and I wondered what effects the tourism development had brought to historical villages. As the significant branch of the tertiary industry, tourism development has become an irresistible trend in historical villages nowadays. Some people believe that tourism brings about development opportunities to historical villages. However, the disadvantages of tourism development are usually ignored while gaining the direct economic benefits. Historical villages are one of the most precious cultural heritages in China, more and more scholars pay attention to their sustainable conservation. Most of their researches focus on the impacts of tourism development on historical conservation from the perspective of ecological environment, social and culture. According to these researches, we can come to the conclusion that tourism development is detrimental to the conservation of historical villages in China. Tourism development causes ecological environmental destruction to historical villages, which is an obvious disadvantage to its conservation noticed by scholars for a long time.

Zhang 2 Ecological environment is classified as natural environment and man-made heritage environment. As material tourism resources, they suffer from the most probability of being destroyed (Wang 41). Researchers find two main factors contributing to the ecological environmental destruction. One is the tourists activities. A deluge of tourists immoral behaviors cause the destruction of vegetation and soil, the pollution of water and air, the damage to historical buildings, and unbalance of ecosystem (Wall & Mathieson). For example, the crystal clear water in Tuo River has always been residents pride in Fenghuang historical village. However, with the tourism development, plenty of domestic waste from restaurant and hotel are poured out into the river. Also, many tourists readily litter into the river. The water quality has been sharply dropping. Tuo River is no longer limpid anymore. From this example, we can see that tourism development seems to become devastation to the ecological environment in Fenghuang village (Xiong 22). Besides tourists inappropriate behaviors, the other factor leading to ecological environmental destruction is landscape renovation. Ming Zhao and his project group support this point by claiming that new materials and styles are used to build restaurants, hotels, other modern architectures and places in the process of exploitation, which results in the disharmony with the original landscape (556). This claim is supported by another example. There was a paddy field beside the entrance to Wuyuan, a historical village in Jiangxi China. This is a typical layout of Chinese ancient villages named living nearby the field. However, for the convenience of tourism, the paddy field was remolded into a parking lot. The beautiful conception of living nearby the field now changes into living nearby the car, resulting in severe damage to Wuyuans ecological environment (Ye 96). This kind of situation happens in many historical villages in China, which is a serious threat to the villages ecological environment.

Zhang 3 The booming of tourism development not only has negative effects on the ecology environment but also gives rise to the social conflicts among the tourists, the locals, the government, and the tourism companies (Hwang at el. 328). This claim is proved more specific by Jingjing Yang, who conducted a 12 month fieldwork to explore this issue. She stated that the fundamental causes of social conflict come from the different roles that different groups play in the community. She said governments focus on the conservation of authentic tradition and culture in historical villages. Meanwhile, tourism companies have more interests in economic benefits than other groups. And tourists hope to enjoy the beautiful scenery and diverse culture. Conversely, the local people who seem to be the main part of the community actually dont have a voice. They enjoy the least benefit but undertake the most disadvantages economically and politically (Yang at el. 88). Therefore, the locals are usually the concentration of conflicts. This claim is echoed by my own experience. I once made some research through interviewing and questionnaire survey in Hongcun, a historical village in Huizhou China. The results of the survey showed that most of the locals do not support for the tourism development. Some people showed their dissatisfaction about the economic benefit distribution. They said that incomes of tickets are mostly gained by the tourism companies and governments. Others complain that their lands were occupied to build restaurants and hotels and their peaceful lives were disturbed by tourists coming in great numbers. These situations of social conflicts researched by me among the locals, the governments, the tourists and the tourism companies are supported by a research project Negative Soci-cultural Impacts from Tourism that was conducted by the United Nations. The researchers state the land, water, and other resources competition between tourists and local residents as well as the culture deterioration cause stress on social communitys stability (UNEP).

Zhang 4 Also, the negative influences of tourism development on culture maintenance in historical villages are also notable. Researchers claim the traditional culture maintenance in historical villages is threatened by tourism development inevitably on two aspects. One pervasive concern of scholars is that unwanted changes in culture happen while plentiful nonresidents swarming into a historical village (Hwang at el. 328). Professors named this kind of situation as culture slash, which happens when tourists with various cultures, ethnic and religious groups, values and lifestyles, languages, values and prosperity come into a particular culture space (UNEP). For example, tourists often carelessly neglect to respect for the local customs and moral values. Their inappropriate behaviors have negative influences on local traditional culture (UNEP). The claim is also echoed by a scientific theory cultural carrying capacity which means limits of acceptable change in the culture of the host population (UNEP). While this capacity reaches a peak value with the increasing tourism irritation, the locals sense of community will die down and the cultural identity and authenticity will die out (Wang and Qian 38).Another tourism developments negative effect on culture maintenance is proposed by Jicai Feng, the associate president of the China Federation of Literary and Art. He pointed that the current tourism in historical villages in China had stepped into a stereotypical development pattern. In this pattern, the heritages are only regarded as scenic spots and selling points, which leads to the collapse of original local culture (News). Some scholars argue that tourism is beneficial for the conservation of historical villages because the tourism industry can promote local economy. Local economic prosperity provides material insurance for sustainable preservation. Jackson believes that tourism development is an effective measure to facilitate economy and eliminate urban-rural gap. (695). In addition, tourism industry stimulates local business cluster, fostering other correlated industry, which leads to the

Zhang 5 virtuous circle of economic growth. This point is supported by a statistical data. Zeng and Jin have found out in Xidi, a historical village in Huizhou China, peoples per-capita-income had increased from 120 RMB in 1978 to 4600 RMB in 1999 because of tourism development. Besides, a recent statistical data also shows the tourism developments contribution to historical villages local economy. In 2010, GDP of Fenghuang village reached up to 250 million, half of which comes from tourism industry (Xiong 21). It makes sense that tourism development accelerates the local economy and increases peoples income. However, the economic benefits usually wont be distributed impartially between local residents and tourism companies (Yang at el. 88). Usually, local people are marginalized or disadvantaged economically (88). Most profits are acquired by private tourism company and may not be used for villages construction and protection. Besides, tourism development not only brings economic growth, the negative environmental externalities emerge at the same time. The cost of environmental destruction is far more than the economic benefits (Zeng and Jin 1). Qian Wang also supports this point by claiming the intangible economic costs of tourism development cannot be weighted by the tangible economic benefits (400). Besides the economic growth, professors propose another positive effect of tourism on historical villages protection. They believe tourism is beneficial for culture communication and transmission. Besculides said that tourism is the incentive for people from different geological locations getting together (304). This claim is echoed by Qian Wangs opinion. He thinks this gather provides an opportunity of communication among diverse culture backgrounds and makes people get a better understanding of the local culture in historical villages (37). Although communication and transmission are significant ways for culture conservation in historical villages, I dont think tourism development is an effective way to bring local culture

Zhang 6 to people. Researchers from the United Nations claim that local culture is changed into commodities by tourism development. The religious ritual, traditional custom, and social convention are adjusted and reconstructed to meet the tourists expectation. So that the quintessence of local culture cannot be transmitted to tourists (UNEP). This claim is supported by a research at Wuyuan, which is well-known as the most beautiful historical village. There are 35 percent of tourists stating that they cannot feel the cultural ambience in Wuyuan because of the strong sense of commerce there (Ye 95). This kind of commercial sense is generally reflected in a large amount of indistinctive souvenir and advertisements posted everywhere (98), which make tourists fail to experience the original local custom and culture. We cannot deny that tourism development promotes local economy and help with culture propagation in historical villages to some degree. However, the ecological environment destruction, the social conflicts and the culture loss deserve more attention. The number of historical villages existing is limited, some of which have been damaged by tourism development. When we measure the pros and cons of tourism development in historical villages, we can conclude tourism development have much more negative effects than positive effects on the sustainable conservation in historical villages.

Zhang 7 Work Cited Besculides, A.,Lee, M. E., & McCormick, P. J. Residents' perceptions of thecultural benefits of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 29.2 (2002): 303-319. Google Scholar. Web. 19 Nov. 2013 Hwang, Doohyun, William P. Stewart, and Dong-wan Ko. "Community behavior and sustainable rural tourism development." Journal of Travel Research 51.3 (2012): 328-341. Google Scholar. Web. 12 Oct. 2013 Jicai Feng: Overdevelopment Has Threatened the Culture Conservation in Historical Villages. News. News. n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013 Kang, S. K., C. K. Lee, Y. S. Yoon, and P. T. Long. Resident Perception of the Impact of Limited-Stakes Community-Based Casino Gaming in Mature Gaming Communities. Tourism Management 29.4 (2008): 681-694. Google Scholar. Web. 12 Oct. 2013 Negative Socio-Cultural Impacts from Tourism United Nations Environment Programme. United Nation Environment Programme, n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2013 Wang, Qian. The Tourism Impacts in a Chinese Taoist Village. Mt. Qiyun. Diss. University of Waikato, 2011. Google Scholar. Web. 15 Oct. 2013 William, D. R, McDonald, C. D., Riden, C. M., & Uysal, M. Community Attachment, Regional Identity and Resident Attitudes towards Tourism. Google Scholar. Web. 15 Oct. 2013 Jackson, Julie. "Developing Regional Tourism in China: The Potential for Activating Business Clusters in A Socialist Market Economy." Tourism Management 27.4 (2006): 695-706. Google Scholar. Web. 12 Nov. 2013 Xiong, Yan. The Research of Tourism Development and Conservation on Fenghuang Historical Village. Journal of huaihua University 30.4 (2011): 21-24. Baidu Scholar. Web. 12 Nov.

Zhang 8 2013 Yang, Jingjing, et al. Social Conflict in Communities Impacted by Tourism. Tourism Management 35 (2013): 82-93. Google Scholar. Web. 17 Oct. 2013 Ye, Yangpeng. The Core Controdiction in Tourism Development on Historical Villages in China Journal of Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University 5 (2010): 95-98. Baidu Scholar. Web. 17 Nov. 2013 Zeng, Yingying, and Zining Jin. A Study into Solutions to Negative Environmental Externalities of Rural Tourism. International Conference on Applied Social Science Research. Atlantis Press, 2013. 126-130. Web. 5 Oct. 2013 Zhao, Ming, et al. Promoting Living Space Protection While Ensuring Sustainable Tourism in Yuhu Village, Lijiang City. Internatioanl journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 18.6 (2011): 553-558. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2013