A Study on Sustainable Tourism Development in Chinese Historic Towns and Villages

本研究试图阐明中国云南省丽江古城旅游业所面临的问题。审查了现有土著社会（称为纳西族的少数民族）和多数民族（临时居民）参与与商业旅游有关的活动的方式。结果发现，近年来，历史建筑的用途发生了巨大变化。目前，超过90%的商店是以旅游为导向的纪念品商店和餐馆。此外，超过50%的店主是临时居民，主要是汉族人，其中绝大多数是从原住民业主那里租用房间。这些研究结果表明，随着旅游业的发展，土著民族的居住地和文化正在迅速变化。作者将文化遗产旅游的开发方式分为两种模式。一种是“由外而内”的方式，即以满足游客的需求为主，牺牲当地的文化特色。另一种方法是“由内而外”的方法，这意味着当地社区遵循自己的增长原则，游客来这里主要是为了享受和学习当地的智慧。本文以丽江市文物保护建筑的现状为例，对这两种方法进行了研究。在这座中国著名的世界遗产城市中，约140座重要的乡土建筑无论在形式上还是在使用上都面临着严重的旅游转型压力。我们调查了这些建筑，发现它们的用途发生了巨大的变化，伴随着形式、布局和装饰风格的变化。我们进一步检讨政策体系，发现这些变化的乡土建筑是由于缺乏适当的地位，在保护政策体系，缺乏足够的财政援助，并缺乏充分的技术支持。

This study attempted to clarify the issues facing the tourist industry at the Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China, a World Heritage Site. The ways in which both the existing indigenous society (a minority known as the Naxis) and the majority peoples, temporary residents, engage in commercial tourism-related activities were examined. As a result, it was found that, in recent years, the usage of historic buildings has drastically changed. At present, over 90% of shops are tourist-oriented souvenir shops and restaurants. Furthermore, over 50% of shopkeepers are temporary residents, mainly Han Chinese, with a large majority renting rooms from indigenous owners. These findings suggest that the location of the residences of the indigenous minority and its culture are rapidly changing as tourism develops.The authors categorize the development approach of cultural heritage tourism into two patterns. One is the "outside-in" approach, which means to dominantly satisfy the tourists' needs while sacrificing the local cultural character. The other approach is the "inside-out" approach, which means that the local community follows its own growth principle, and tourists come in mostly to enjoy and to learn from the local wisdom. We examine the two approaches by taking the current status of protected buildings in Lijiang city as a case study. In this famous Chinese world heritage city, some 140 important vernacular buildings face serious pressure of tourism oriented transformation both in form and in usage. We investigate the buildings and find they have changed their usage dramatically, accompanied with relevant changes in form, layout, and decoration styles. We further review the policy system and find that these changes in vernacular buildings are due to lack of proper standing in conservation policy system, lack of sufficient financial aid, and lack of full technical support.