Skip to main content

Cultural Contestation in China: Ethnicity, Identity, and the State

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Cultural Contestation

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict ((PSCHC))

  • 860 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter explores how the political-administrative design of the Chinese state, characterized as “multi-level governance”, might be the cause of more subtle forms of resistance. By looking at the formulation of heritage policies of Lancang County, Christina Maags illustrates how the administrative fragmentation resulted in both administrative contestation and cultural contestation, with a threatened local identity at its core.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bache, I., & Flinders, M. (2004). Introduction. In I. Bache & M. Flinders (Eds.), Multi-level Governance (pp. 1–14). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barmé, G. (1999). In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, A. (2008). Conceptualising Uyghur Separatism in Chinese Nationalism. Strategic Analysis, 27(3), 357–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, J. (2018). Economic Development in China’s Northwest: Entrepreneurship and Identity Along China’s Multi-ethnic Borders. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenfield, T. (2018). Recognition and Misrecognition: The Politics of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Southwest China. In C. Maags & M. Svensson (Eds.), Chinese Cultural Heritage in the Making. Experiences, Negotiations and Contestations. Amsterdam: IIAS/Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenfield, T., & Silverman, H. (2013). Cultural Heritage Politics in China: An Introduction. In T. Blumenfield & H. Silverman (Eds.), Cultural Heritage Politics in China (pp. 51–71). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bodolec, C. (2012). The Chinese Paper-Cut: From Local Inventories to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In R. F. Bendix, A. Eggert, & A. Peselmann (Eds.), Heritage Regimes and the State. Göttingen Studies in Cultural Property (Vol. 6, pp. 249–464). Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, A.-M. (2012). Ethnicity and the State in Contemporary China. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 41(4), 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Britannica. (2016). Yunnan. https://www.britannica.com/place/Yunnan.

  • Chau, A. Y. (2005). The Politics of Legitimation and the Revival of Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China. Modern China, 31(2), 236–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z. (2015). For Who to Conserve Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Dislocated Agency of Folk Belief Practitioners and the Reproduction of Local Culture. Asian Ethnology, 74(2), 307–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, K. C.-K. (2012). Away from Socialism, Towards Chinese Characteristics: Confucianism and the Futures of Chinese Nationalism. China Information, 26(2), 205–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • China.com. (2007a). Mapamipa. http://www.china.com.cn/culture/zhuanti/whycml/200706/13/content_8384459.htm.

  • China.com. (2007b). Yi Ethnic Minority Hulusheng Dance. http://www.china.com.cn/culture/zhuanti/whycml/200706/13/content_8384294.htm.

  • Duara, P. (2010). The Historical Roots and Character of Secularism in China. In W. Gungwu (Ed.), China and International Relations: The Chinese View. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ethnic China. (2016). Puer (Simao) Prefecture. http://www.ethnicchina.com/Geo/Yunnan/puerintro.htm.

  • Evans, H., & Rowlands, M. (2015). Reconceptualising Heritage in China: Museums, Development and the Shifting Dynamics of Power. In P. Basu & W. Modest (Eds.), Museums, Heritage and International Development (pp. 272–295). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finance Sina. (2016). Provincial GDPs of 2016 According to Rank. http://finance.sina.com.cn/china/gncj/2017-02-07/doc-ifyaexzn9124761.shtml.

  • Gladney, D. C. (1996). Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People’s Republic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard East Asian Monographs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hafstein, V. (2009). Intangible Heritage as a List: From Masterpieces to Representation. In L. Smith & N. Akagawa (Eds.), Intangible Heritage (pp. 93–111). London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, R. (Ed.). (2010). Understanding the Politics of Heritage. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heilmann, S. (2008). Policy Experimentation in China’s Economic Rise. Studies on Contemporary International Development, 43, 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holbig, H., & B. Gilley. (2010). In Search of Legitimacy in Post-revolutionary China: Bringing Ideology and Governance Back (GIGA Working Papers, 127/2010).

    Google Scholar 

  • LCCC (Lancang Culture Center). (2015a). Lancang County’s ICH Protection Work Circumstances. Obtained from the Lancang Culture Center during Field Research in Summer 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • LCCC (Lancang Culture Center). (2015b). Situation of Lancang County’s Culture Center. http://www.lcwhg.net/portal.php?mod=view&aid=19.

  • LCCC (Lancang Culture Center). (2016). Deepening and Advancing the Strategy of Prominent County of Lahu Culture’ Actively Establishes National Cultural Advanced County. http://www.pelcxxw.cn/kllh/02544195003592422520.

  • LCTA (Lancang Tourism Administration). (2016). Project for Establishing Tea Origin Historic Cultural Tourism in Three Adjoining Counties in Pu’er Municipality. http://news.jkyscsmc.com/zcnsgddyy/2819.html.

  • Liang, Y. (2013). Turning Gwer Sa La Festival into Intangible Cultural Heritage: State Superscription of Popular Religion in Southwest China. China: An International Journal, 11(2), 58–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberthal, K., & Oksenberg, M. (1988). Policy-making in China. Leaders, Structures and Processes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, J. (2009). Local Knowledge Constructed by the State. Reinterpreting Myths and Imagining the Migration History of the Lahu in Yunnan Province, China. Asian Ethnology, 68, 111–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, J. (2013). The Lahu Minority in Southwest China: A Response to Ethnic Marginalization on the Frontier. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maags, C. (2018). Creating a Race to the Top: Hierarchies and Competition within the Chinese ICH Transmitters System. In C. Maags & M. Svensson (Eds.), Chinese Cultural Heritage in the Making: Experiences, Negotiations and Contestations. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maags, C., & Holbig, H. (2016). Replicating Elite Dominance in Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding: The Role of Local Government-Scholar Networks in China. International Journal of Cultural Property, 23, 71–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mertha, A. (2009). Fragmented Authoritarianism 2.0. The China Quarterly, 200, 995–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MOC (PRC Ministry of Culture). (2006). National ICH Safeguarding and Provisional Administration Methods. http://59.252.212.6/auto255/200612/t20061215_13005.html?keywords=%E9%9D%9E%E7%89%A9%E8%B4%A8%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E9%81%97%E4%BA%A7.

  • MOC (PRC Ministry of Culture). (2008). Methods on the Recognition and Management of ICH Representative ICH Inheritors (Draft), http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2008/content_1157918.htm, (accessed 20 May 2018).

  • NPC (National People’s Congress). (2004). Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Constitution/node_2825.htm.

  • PECB (Pu’er Culture Bureau). (2012). Pu’er Municipality People’s Government’s Implementation Opinion on Strengthening the Establishment of a System on Public Culture Services that Benefit the People. http://xxgk.yn.gov.cn/Z_M_004/Info_Detail.aspx?DocumentKeyID=DB6B9A2EE748417C8618D55A87441B75.

  • People’s Daily. (2016). Summary of the Great Achievements of Lancang County’s Deepening and Progressing “Lahu Culture Famous County” Strategy. http://yn.people.com.cn/news/yunnan/n2/2016/0706/c376835-28623182.html.

  • PETA (Pu’er Tourism Administration). (2016). Pu’er Tourism News—Number 11. http://www.puerta.gov.cn/content.aspx?id=479378914048.

  • Pu’er gov. (Pu’er Municipal Government). (2015). Pu’er Situation. http://www.puershi.gov.cn/pegk/07643077707004600223.

  • Ross, M. H. (2007). Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, M. H. (Ed.). (2009). Culture and Belonging in Divided Societies: Contestation and Symbolic Landscapes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • SC (State Council) (2005). State Council’s Opinion on Strengthening Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Work. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005-08/15/content_21681.htm.

  • Schein, Louisa. (2000). Minority Rules: The Miao and the Feminine in China’s Cultural Politics. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, R. (2009). Cultural Heritage, UNESCO, and the Chinese State Whose Heritage and for Whom? Heritage Management, 2(1), 55–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, R., & Yu, L. (2012). Heritage Management, Tourism, and Governance in China: Managing the Past to Serve the Present. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stepan, A., Linz, J. J., & Yadav, Y. (2010). Crafting State-Nations. India and Other Multinational Democracies. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson, M. (2006). In the Ancestors’ Shadow: Cultural Heritage Contestations in Chinese Villages. Lund: Center for East and South-East Asian Studies. http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1466881.files/Svensson%20ancestors_shadow.doc.

  • UNESCO. (2002). Guidelines for the Establishment of Living Human Treasures Systems. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001295/129520eo.pdf.

  • UNESCO. (2003). Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.phpURL_ID=17716&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.

  • UNESCO. (2013). Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terracesi. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1111.

  • UNESCO. (2016). Ancient Tea Plantations of Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er. http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5810/.

  • UNESCO. (2017a). China. http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/cn.

  • UNESCO. (2017b). China and the 2003 Convention. https://ich.unesco.org/en/state/china-CN.

  • UNESCO. (2017c). China and the 2003 Convention. https://ich.unesco.org/en/state/china-CN.

  • Wang, L. (2015). Identification of Ethnic Minorities in China. Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, 16(2), 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waterton, E. (2010). Politics, Policy and the Discourses of Heritage in Britain. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Xinhua. (2014). Charm of “Cultural Lancang”. http://www.yn.xinhuanet.com/puer/2014-03/27/c_133217966.htm.

  • Xinhua. (2017). Yunnan Publishes Fourth Provincial Level ICH Representatives Items Projects. http://news.xinhuanet.com/gongyi/2017-06/09/c_129629426.htm.

  • Yang, L., Wall, G., & Smith, S. L. J. (2008). Ethnic Tourism Development: Chinese Government Perspectives. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(3), 751–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • YBC. (2014). The Situation of Yunnan Province’s Ethnic Traditional Cultural Environmental Protection. http://www.ynich.cn/book-view-51.html.

  • YNCD (Yunnan Province Culture Department). (2005). Notice on Implementing the Opinion of the Yunnan Province People’s Government Office on Distributing and Carrying out the State Council Document on Strengthening National ICH Protection Work. http://www.cnnsr.com.cn/csfg/html/20051206000000105299.html.

  • You, Z. (2015). Shifting Actors and Power Relations: Contentious Local Responses to the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Contemporary China. In M. D. Foster & L. Gilman (Eds.), UNESCO on the Ground. Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage (pp. 113–130). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, H. (2015). A Vernacular Way of “Safeguarding” Intangible Heritage: The Fall and Rise of Rituals in Gouliang Miao Village. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 21(10), 1016–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, G. (1987). Born Red. A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yunnan gov. (Yunnan Provincial Government). (2005). Yunnan People’s Government’s Opinion on Advancing the Development of the Tea Industry. http://law1.law-star.com/law?fn=lar444s769.txt.

  • Yunnan gov. (Yunnan Provincial Government). (2015). Pu’er Tea Origin Cultural Park. http://pelc.yninvest.gov.cn/InvestDetail.aspx?id=3374.

  • Zhang, J. (2014). Puer Tea. Ancient Canvas and Urban Chic. Seattle and London: Washington University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhong, Y. (2003). Local Government and Politics in China. Challenges from Below (M.E. Sharpe Paperback). London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Y. (2016). Heritage Making of Lijiang: Governance, Reconstruction and Local Naxi Life. In C. Brumann & D. Berliner (Eds.), World Heritage on the Ground. Ethnographic Perspectives (pp. 78–96). Oxford: Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Y., & Li, N. (2013). Groping for Stones to Cross the River: Governing Heritage in Emei. In T. Blumenfield & H. Silverman (Eds.), Cultural Heritage Politics in China (pp. 51–71). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Maags, C. (2018). Cultural Contestation in China: Ethnicity, Identity, and the State. In: Rodenberg, J., Wagenaar, P. (eds) Cultural Contestation. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91914-0_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics