Research On Qinghai-Tibet Tourism Geography During The Republic Of China (1912-1949)

Republic of China is an important period of social transformation in our country.Because of the unique natural environment and the political,economic and cultural background,the Qinghai-Tibet has attracted numerous tourists home and abroad to explore,study,exchange.Although no large-scale tourism industry in Qinghai-Tibet,the bud of the modern tourism industry had appeared.The rising tourism activities had significantly affect the social-economic development in Qinghai-Tibet,which promoted the modernization of Qinghai-Tibet.The purpose of this paper is to systematically explore the tourism development and analyze the relationships between the tourism development and geographical environment in Qinghai-Tibet during the period of the Republic of China using the research method of historical tourism geography.The main contents of this paper are as follows:From the natural environment and human environment,this study discusses the tourism development background of the Qinghai-Tibet during the period of Republic of China.for the natural geographical environment,this paper focuses on the Landform environment and hydrological environment affecting tourism activities.For the human environment,the paper focuses on the political environment,population,religion,economic development,traffic conditions.The characteristics of the tourism resources of the Qinghai-Tibet are summarized during the period of the Republic of China.And then the tourism resources are classified according to the research results of the modern tourism geography.In this paper,the tourism resources of the Qinghai-Tibet are divided into five aspects:physiographic landscape,water landscape,biological landscape,human activities,architecture and facilities.And the distribution of tourism resources has been analyzed.the study concludes that the natural and human geography environment is the basic reason for the formation of tourism resources distribution in Qinghai-Tibet.The characteristics and development of tourism resources in Qinghai-Tibet were analyzed by the case of Kumbum Monastery.This paper explores the tourist routes to Tibet during the period of Republic of China.Research shows that,in the construction of tourist transportation,tourists travelling to Tibet mainly depended on the narrow meandering footpaths along with the mountains or rivers.Road transport network had been constructed in Qinghai Province with the center of Xining and the west to Ruoqiang,north to Dunhuang,east to Lanzhou,south to Yushu.However,due to the lack of funds and maintenance,the usage of highway in Qinghai was limited to Xining and its surrounding areas.The tourists transportation was the same with Tibet in the other parts of Qinghai.Xining and Lhasa were the two most important nodes of the tourism transportation network during the Republic of China,the others important are Yushu,Jiangzi,Yadong and Qamdo.In transport vehicles,Tibet still rely on human and animal power,and Qinghai witnessed the automobile,aircraft and other modern means of transport.highway transportation in Qinghai was becoming more and more developed.The basic motivations of tourists travelling to Qinghai-Tibet during the period of the Republic of China is summarized into four aspects:government exchanges,religious worship,scientific investigation and political exploration.And with different motives,the behavior of tourists also varied much.Similarly,this chapter makes a case study of the tourists' behavior.In terms of spatial distribution,political exploration tourists were mainly concentrated in Tibet,where the tourism activities were basically confined to Lhasa and its surrounding areas.Xining,the provincial capital of Qinghai Province,was also the center of the government communication tourists' activities.And for the scientific investigation tourists,in Tibet,the main tourism attractions are Mount Everest,Hengduan Mountains and forest canyon areas in eastern Tibet and the area in the northern Tibetan plateau with the core of Namco.The geological survey in Qinghai converged in Amne Machin and its surroundings and Qaidam Basin.For religious worship tourists,the spatial characteristics is more obvious.Places of worship were the ultimate destinations of these tourists.Yadong,Qamdo and Xiangtang were the main entrance to the region of Qinghai-Tibet during the period of Republic of China.Regarding the tourist flow,Tibet and Qinghai were the two relatively independent tourism destinations.The Potala Palace and Kumbum monastery had become the center of the tourist flow respectively.The case in this part are the French geologist Hayden Henry's hunting tourism in Tibet and the famous borderland scholar Ma Hetian's investigation tour in Qinghai.In Qinghai-Tibet,the tourism accommodation consisted of four types:hotel,inn,post house and temples during the period of Republic of China.the newly-emerging tourism facilities like Kunlun Hotel,Huangzhong Building and Zhengji Inn marked the new achievements of tourism industry in Qinghai-Tibet.In the distribution of tourist accommodation,the emerging tourist lodging facilities were mainly located in Xining City,Qinghai,and the other areas depends mainly on post house and temples accommodation.a number of tourist and recreational facilities(e.g.parks,cinemas,theaters)had been constructed in Qinghai,which promoted the tourism development and leisure activities.In the tourism catering industry,the development of the tea house was more prominent.In summary,there are some basic characteristics of the tourism development in Qinghai-Tibet during the period of Republic of China:1)The modern tourism industry began to sprout.Some elements of tourism modernization began to appear,and the tourism industry had also transferred from the ancient to the modern.2)Tourism activities are mainly focused on official activities.Although due to the change in the political environment,the size and type of business travel activities had also varied,the tourists were limited to government officials and funded celebrities from all walks of life.A small proportion of the tourism activities and their collateral entertainment did not have universal social significance.3)Regional tourism development was unbalanced.There are significant differences between Qinghai and Tibet,as well as in their respective regions,in terms of tourism infrastructure construction,the number of tourists,the distribution of tourism resources and the awareness of tourism.4)The temporal characteristics of tourism activities were significant.The change of the political environment and the level of economic development made the temporal characteristics of tourism activities in the Qinghai-Tibet during the period of Republic of China more significant,which were reflected in tourism motivations,tourism transportation,tourism accommodation and other elements of the tourism industry.This study can enrich the research contents,methods and fields of historical geography and reveal its application subject characteristics.This study can simultaneously contribute to the disciplinary construction of historical tourism geography.