Social Identification And Regional Difference Of Tourist Immigrant In Zhouzhuang

In the1970s, China has undergone a series of social institutional reforms andstructural transformation and has thus obtained rapid development in society,economy and culture as well as other aspects. Under this circumstance, Tourismmigration---a new mode of population migration, gradually appeared on the socialstage. It is the result of mass tourism development and shows the concentration oftourist destination. With the development of Chinese modernization and urbanization,due to personal and social reasons, migration tend to be more “adrift”, which,however, has caused undeniable Recognition Crisis and Recognition Dilemma. Whiletourism migration is another important migration mode, it will surely lead to manysocial problems like merging and recognition. At the same time, social identificationis also featured by spatial difference due to the various sources of migration.Therefore, knowing the current social identification condition and analyzing its reasonis practically very important.Combined with theories from tourism geography, human geography, sociologyand social geography, with the method of theoretical research and practical research,this research, taking ZhouZhuang as the case place, is constructed on quantitativeanalysis and qualitative analysis with the former focusing on the current socialidentification and the spatial difference and the later focusing on the reason of spatialdifference. By studying the social identification of ZhouZhuang from the perspectivesof cultural identification, regional identification, group identification, communityidentification, status identification and career identification, this thesis puts tourismmigration to ZhouZhuang into three categories with the emigration area as thevariable. Category One include the other areas in Jiangsu outside ZhouZhuang;Category Two include Zhejiang province, Anhui Province, Shandong Province andShanghai; Category Three include the other areas in China. Conclusions of this thesisare as follows reached by analyzing and comparing the six perspectives of socialidentification in the three categorized areas, explaining the current migration’ socialidentification and forming mechanism of regional difference based on relevanttheories and last doing revision and analysis of spatial difference of social identification.(1) On the whole, social identification of tourism migration in ZhouZhuang isnot high. They are career identification, community identification, regionalidentification, status identification, group identification and cultural identification,according to identification level from high to low. There is a certain regionaldifference of social identification of tourism migration in ZhouZhuang, among which,cultural identification, group identification and community identification differ a lotin regions.(2) The current identification situation in ZhouZhuang is formed for manyreasons. The solidifying trend of culture after tourism migration, the developmenttrend of global multi-culture and the gradual loss of ZhouZhuang’s local culture havea large influence on migration’ cultural identification. And the lack of householdregistration protection system and the economic development level contribute to thelow regional identification. In addition, the marginalization of migration is the reasonwhy they are usually labeled “outsiders”. The unique community environment andrelationship between community members in commercial development lead to themid-level community identification. The division of labor market contributes to thelow level of migration’ social status, but social comparison plays a positive influenceon the subjective status identification. The feature of tourism, the migration andworking time as well as career type plays a large influence on above mid-level careeridentification.(3) Cultural identification, group identification and community identification oftourism migration of ZhouZhuang vary a lot in areas. The difference of cultures indifferent regions and attitudes of cultural transformation is the reason why culturalidentification varies; the negative “mirrored self” and spatial difference of socialcommunication is the reason why group identification varies; religious organizationand chain effect of social network is the reason why community identification differs.This study contributes to expanding research area of social identification,enriching the research of tourism migration, promoting the merging of humangeography, tourist geography, sociology and social psychology and can serve asreference for uplifting tourists’ sense of belonging, social and economic stability aswell as sustainable development.