Unhappy Farmers In The Happy Farmhouse:a Critically Anthropological Observation On Development Of Tourism In Longwan Village

Based on insights gained from rural tourism in development anthropology, tourism anthropology and the prior work on contemporary rural China’s transformations, this thesis examines the developing and predicament of rural tourism in globalization tide as well as its social and economy impacts on local life in longwan village, Gansu Province. As an ethnographic case study for rethinking rural China’s development model, this study seeks to integrate both bottom-up and top-down perspectives from with which to explore further significance of adaptive wisdom which demonstrated its operational worth in routine practices and analyze the unintended consequences brought about by unprecedented economic change. By presenting its distribution of tourism resources in the village, however, this thesis demonstrates that the understandings on these resources vary from different stakeholders. On the other hand, different from the expectation of government and companies, their understanding on tourism is an immixture of traditional livelihood mode, community structure, and the influence of socialism tradition. This study contributes to an existing body of knowledge in the anthropological study of sustainable development and the social and human costs of progress. In this sense, it is essential to understand the unique cultural situation and power structure in target communities.