Cultural Heritage Politics in China: An Introduction

This introductory chapter explores how cultural heritage, in the guise of tourism, museums, ethnic identity, and historical spaces, has become key to the Chinese state’s developmental and global strategy. With an eye toward asserting cultural power globally, the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription is highly sought. Nonetheless, contradictions and complications in designating, protecting, and sometimes destroying heritage abound, revealing frictions arising from deploying heritage as a revenue source when agreement about value is not universal. The chapter provides a backdrop to polyvocal accounts of defining, listing, preserving, and narrating heritage in China presented by contributors to this volume.