Abstract
This chapter explores the multiple uses of cultural heritage as related to the “ancient tea horse road” (ATHR) of Southwest China, a network of trading routes linking tea producing regions of Yunnan and Sichuan with consumption markets in Tibet, Guangdong, Beijing and beyond. Cultural tourism, nostalgia and romance, ethnic unity and regional identity connect the “tea road,” identified by Yunnanese scholars as a concept in the early 1990s, to explicit and implicit governmental agendas. Preserving and revitalizing the road reaffirms the importance of Southwest China’s culture and history to the Chinese center and to regions and nations on China’s southern periphery.
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Notes
- 1.
There were two different caravans, one in 2005 travelling under the banner of “The Ancient Tea Horse Road Bearing Precious Tribute for the Capital” (chama gudao ruigong jingcheng 茶马古道瑞贡京城), and one in 2006 that styled itself as “Caravan Tribute Tea Traversing the Endless Miles [to the capital]” (mabang gongcha wanlixing 马帮贡茶万里行). The money raised from the sale of the pu’er from the first caravan was donated to the well-known Communist Youth League charity “Project Hope” (xiwang gongcheng 希望工程). There were numerous reports in the Chinese media at the time. See: http://www.cnr.cn/minzu/mzdt1/200510/t20051017_504116722.html accessed March 22, 2012; http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2005-08-18/03516717469s.shtml accessed March 22, 2012. The commercial value of these public relations and media events associated with the tea road and pu’er tea (even in the case of raising money for charity) was clearly revealed when the organizer of the first caravan attempted to sue the organizer of the second caravan for one million yuan for infringement of intellectual property. A Kunming court ultimately squashed the case declaring that no infringement had occurred. See: http://www.yndaily.com/html/20070612/news_93_184539.html accessed March 22, 2012.
- 2.
At the time of writing this was approximately equivalent to US$ 32,000.
- 3.
The rise and fall of pu’er was also well reported in the Chinese media. See, http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2007-06/26/content_6291109.htm accessed March 22, 2012; http://news.sznews.com/content/2008-07/24/content_3131527.htm accessed March 22, 2012. It was at this time (2007) that Simao, long known as one of the key tea trading markets in the pu’er cultivation and production zone, was renamed as “Pu’er” in order to capitalize on the growing fortunes of pu’er tea even as those fortunes were on the brink of collapse.
- 4.
The term “tea road” is also used in Mary Avery’s (2003) excellent work to describe the caravan tea trade between northern China and Russia. Within China, however, the term “Ancient Tea Horse Road” (chama gudao 茶马古道) almost exclusively refers to the network of trading routes described here, with the addition of Sichuan and Qinghai. It is also worth noting that while in some contexts the term “tea” and “horse” refers to the exchange of Chinese tea for Tibetan horses (and those of other peoples of the steppe specializing in horse breeding), in Yunnan this form of dynastic controlled exchange was much less significant. For work on the system of exchange of tea for horses in Sichuan see Paul Smith (1991).
- 5.
For a contemporary travel account of the tea road from Yunnan to Tibet see Fuchs (2008).
- 6.
Note that the place names listed here refer to current preferences. Place names for some staging posts, towns, and regions have changed over time.
- 7.
The rich and unique flora was particularly attractive to Western “flower hunters” in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For an overview of the “flower hunters” and other Western explorers in the region see Glover et al. (2011).
- 8.
Along the ATHR a variety of “beasts of burden” were used including boxen, horses, donkeys, mules, yaks and, at times, people. For a detailed overview of “caravan culture” see Wang and Zhou (2008).
- 9.
A cultural route is defined as, “a land, water, mixed or other type of route, which is physically determined and characterized by having its own specific and historic dynamics and functionality; showing interactive movements of people as well as multidimensional, continuous, and reciprocal exchanges of goods, ideas, knowledge, and values within or between countries and regions over significant periods of time; and thereby generating a cross-fertilization of the cultures in space and time, which is reflected both in its tangible and intangible heritage.” http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5335/, accessed March 22, 2012.
- 10.
For descriptions of the Silk Road and the Grand Canal as they appear on the tentative list see http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5335/, accessed March 22, 2012, and http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5318/, accessed March 22, 2012, respectively. The author attended the first ever national meeting on the cultural heritage of the ATHR at which the proposal to lodge an application for World Heritage status was first made public. See, http://www.chinawatch2050.com/puer-ancient-tea-horse-road-cultural-heritage-forum-june-2010, accessed March 22, 2012.
- 11.
The link between cultural tourism development and the “World Heritage craze” (shijie yichan re, 世界遗产热) is discussed in Sigley (2010).
- 12.
Public sculptures on this theme can be found in Menghai, Pu’er, Lijiang, and Shangrila.
- 13.
See: http://expo.people.com.cn/GB/58536/11072325.html, accessed March 22, 2012.
- 14.
The important role of culture in terms of domestic development and governance, and as a form of soft power, was most recently reaffirmed in the October 18, 2011 “Central Committee Resolution Question Concerning the Deepening Reform of the Cultural System and Developing a Flourishing Socialist Culture” (中共中央关于深化文化体制改革推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣若干重大问题的决定) which states that “Culture is increasingly becoming an important source of creativity and unity among the nation, is increasingly a crucial element of overall national strength, and increasingly becoming a vital support for economic and social development.” (http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2011-10/25/content_1978202.htm, accessed March 22, 2012).
- 15.
For an interview with Mu Jihong, visit http://www.chinawatch2050.com/interview-with-professor-mu-jihong, accessed March 22, 2012.
- 16.
For a more recent historical revisionist account see Yang Bin (2008).
- 17.
The sources for this section are taken from the authors personal communications with scholars in this field and from the as yet unpublished work of Frank Booz who is completing a doctoral dissertation focusing on the tea trade between Yaan and Tibet.
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Sigley, G. (2013). The Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Politics of Cultural Heritage in Southwest China: Regional Identity in the Context of a Rising China. In: Blumenfield, T., Silverman, H. (eds) Cultural Heritage Politics in China. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6874-5_12
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