Publications
Cultural Interaction, Dissemination in Ethnic Tourist Destinations: Cultural Identity and Symbol Construction—A Case Study of the Old Town of Lijiang
A study on the Old Town of Lijiang reveals that participatory cultural experiences significantly enhance tourists' awareness and willingness to disseminate local ethnic culture. Using a combination of field investigations, expert interviews, and advanced text analysis (TF-IDF algorithm), researchers identified key factors such as Dongba culture, traditional architecture, and Naxi ancient music as pivotal in fostering cultural interaction. Experimental designs, including pre-test/post-test and cross-sectional surveys, demonstrated that 85% of tourists engaged in these activities showed increased awareness, while 75% expressed a desire to promote Lijiang's culture. This underscores the potential of culturally immersive tourism to strengthen identity and dissemination in UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China
Heritage and tourism in Lijiang shape local identities and consumer values through staged traditions. The study reveals that romanticized ethnic performances, like Naxi weddings, serve as both heritage products and reflections of broader social-cultural shifts. These performances, designed for tourists, expose tensions between authenticity and commercialization while illustrating how tradition is redefined in a market-driven context. The research highlights the rise of 'romantic consumerism' in China, where urban disillusionment fuels demand for aestheticized, ethnic experiences. By analyzing daily practices—tourism and identity performance—the study demonstrates how heritage industries influence societal values, dreams, and expectations.
Response Actions to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a World Heritage Site: A Case Study of the Old Town of Lijiang, China
The Old Town of Lijiang (OToL) successfully mitigated the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through adaptive response strategies. These included coordinated government management, stringent prevention measures, technological integration, community engagement, and public education campaigns. Unlike other heritage sites that suffered severe tourism revenue losses, OToL maintained stability by balancing crisis response with sustainable tourism recovery. The study highlights a model for resilience in World Heritage Sites, offering lessons for future crises and post-pandemic development. It underscores the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration—government officials, local residents, and business owners—in navigating global disruptions while preserving cultural integrity.
Tourist Satisfaction Simulation: A Case Study of the Old Town of Lijiang
Research reveals that while tourists highly rate their environmental experience and overall satisfaction with the Old Town of Lijiang, significant dissatisfaction persists regarding product prices and service quality. This gap underscores urgent needs for improvement to better meet visitor expectations. The study validates its findings through repeated simulations, demonstrating consistent, normally distributed satisfaction levels that mirror real-world data. This dual confirmation not only highlights areas requiring enhancement in the scenic area but also establishes the robustness of the simulation model as a reliable tool for digital governance and sustainable tourism development.
Tracing the Evolution of Tourist Perception of Destination Image: A Multi-Method Analysis of a Cultural Heritage Tourist Site
Tourist perceptions at Lijiang Old Town have undergone significant shifts over seven years—pre-, during, and post-pandemic—revealing adaptability and resilience in cultural heritage tourism. Post-pandemic, visitors increasingly prioritized cultural depth and high-quality service experiences, while pre-pandemic narratives focused more on attractions and commercial elements. During the pandemic, narratives adapted to quieter, safer, and personalized experiences, highlighting the impact of safety measures. The study used a multi-method approach combining TF-IDF, Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to analyze 50,022 user-generated reviews, offering empirical insights for sustainable tourism management.
Heritagization as an Authoritarian Urban Practice in China : Insights from Lijiang
Heritagization in China, exemplified by the Old Town of Lijiang (Dayan), functions as an authoritarian urban practice that drives gentrification while legitimizing spatial transformations under state control. The study reveals how local authorities and heritage regulations shape historic neighborhoods into display objects, serving dominant classes while suppressing community resistance. By analyzing the role of state actors and regulatory frameworks, the research exposes heritagization as a tool for 'ordering' space, directly impacting residents' lives. It also critiques participatory practices that mask gentrification, highlighting how heritage discourses can be weaponized to hinder local opposition.
A Study Of Language Usage In The Old Town Of Lijiang
In the Old Town of Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and major tourism destination in China, Chinese dominates public signage visibility, while Dongba script serves as a culturally significant marker in bottom-up linguistic landscapes. Multilingualism is more pronounced in Dayan Old Town compared to Shuhe, with English appearing prominently in top-down signs due to its global influence. The study analyzed digital photos of signs to quantify language proportions and preferences, revealing nuanced dynamics in language use within multi-ethnic rural areas. These findings offer insights for future research on linguistic landscapes in tourism-suspended cities.
A Study on Tourist Satisfaction in Intangible Cultural Heritage Places Based on Web Text Analysis and IPA Analysis—Case Study on Lijiang Old Town
Tourist satisfaction in UNESCO World Heritage Sites with intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is significantly influenced by the uniqueness and richness of their cultural resources, yet infrastructure and tourism consumption often lag behind. A study analyzing web text data and using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) on Lijiang Old Town, a representative ICH destination, found that while its cultural offerings drive high satisfaction, areas like infrastructure and service quality require substantial improvement to meet visitor expectations. The research highlights the need for balanced development in such sites to sustain both cultural preservation and tourism growth.
Research on Tourist Satisfaction with Lijiang's Ancient City Image Based on the IPA Analysis Method
Tourist satisfaction with the image of Lijiang Old Town is critical for its sustainable development, according to a study using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). The research identified key areas needing improvement—such as ancient town positioning, public services, and architectural style—to enhance tourist experience. By analyzing 19 demand indicators across five dimensions (MI, BI, AI, EI), the study revealed discrepancies between perceived importance and satisfaction levels. These findings provide actionable strategies for Lijiang to maintain its cultural heritage while meeting evolving tourist expectations, ensuring long-term viability.
Tourism, feelings, and the consumption of heritage
Tourists visiting Lijiang Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in China, engage with heritage landscapes to experience positive emotions that counter the fast-paced urban life, leading to self-transformation and spiritual rejuvenation. The study reveals two primary ways tourists interact with the site: strolling to decode cultural values or staying still to immerse in its 'heritage aura,' both aimed at relaxation and a sense of slowness. This research contributes to understanding the affective dimensions of heritage landscapes, highlighting their cultural value and the subjective experiences they evoke. The study employs embodied interactions analysis to explore these complex feelings, offering insights into how tourists derive inspiration from heritage for personal growth.
Understanding tourists' travel behavior before, during, and after the trip with data from social media platforms
Tourists' travel behavior at UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town of Lijiang exhibits distinct patterns before, during, and after their trips. Before traveling, they primarily seek information on destinations and optimal stay durations. During their visit, natural sceneries emerge as key attractions. Post-trip discussions focus on experiences and services. These behavioral insights provide actionable guidance for destination management, offering a novel framework to analyze spatiotemporal travel dynamics using social media data.
Analysis of the Vulnerability and Resilience of the Tourism Supply Chain under the Uncertain Environment of COVID-19: Case Study Based on Lijiang
COVID-19 disrupted the tourism supply chain (TSC) of Lijiang, exposing vulnerabilities while also revealing resilience and recovery potential. The study, using consensual qualitative research and case analysis, identified key factors contributing to TSC fragility—supply side, demand side, government policies, destination economic structure, and supply chain attributes—that exacerbated pandemic-related disruptions. However, the research also highlighted inherent resilience in China's economic environment, tourism dynamics, and market participants, enabling restorative growth despite challenges. The findings contribute to TSC theory under crisis conditions and offer actionable insights for risk management and sustainable development strategies. This work underscores the dual nature of crises: while they inflict damage, they also present opportunities for innovation and systemic improvement.
Heritage Commoditization in the Living Heritage Sites: A Case of 'Creative Destruction' in Lijiang’s Old Town in China
Lijiang’s Old Town, following its 1997 UNESCO World Heritage designation, exemplifies the dual impacts of tourism-driven development—'creative destruction'—as hypothesized by Mitchell. While rapid touristic growth has predominantly led to destructive changes, some enhancements have also emerged. The study scrutinizes Lijiang’s trajectory through Mitchell’s model and compares observations with existing research, noting that post-pandemic reassessment could provide further insights into the site’s evolution.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure: Negative Experiences of Tourists with Different Satisfaction Levels
Tourist experiences, while subjective, can evoke both positive and negative emotions regardless of satisfaction levels. A study on Lijiang Old Town revealed that tourists with varying satisfaction levels share common negative experience themes—such as commercialization, lack of authenticity, 'touristy' aspects, and disorientation—but perceive them differently. While low-satisfaction tourists often complain about these elements, highly satisfied ones may appreciate the same experiences, highlighting a phenomenon where 'one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.' The research used computer-assisted content analysis to explore these perceptions, emphasizing the need for personalized approaches in addressing negative feedback. This insight challenges conventional notions of tourist satisfaction and underscores the importance of tailoring tourism management strategies to individual expectations.
Promoting conservation or change? The UNESCO label of world heritage (re)shaping urban morphology in the Old Town of Lijiang, China
The UNESCO World Heritage label significantly reshapes urban morphology, often prioritizing physical conservation over traditional social fabric. A study on Lijiang's Old Town found that while architectural structures and historic characteristics were well-preserved post-inscription, neighborhood networks and cultural cohesion eroded due to heritage-led development. The research introduces the Conzenian approach as a framework for monitoring Outstanding Universal Values (OUV) and employs spatial plan analysis alongside multi-stakeholder interviews to assess urban morphology from macro to micro levels. This method reveals a tension between conservation efforts and economic growth, offering insights into balancing heritage preservation with sustainable urban development in China and globally.
Flow in soundscape: the conceptualization of soundscape flow experience and its relationship with soundscape perception and behaviour intention in tourism destinations
Research on the Old Town of Lijiang reveals that soundscape perception—encompassing preference, comfort, and richness—significantly influences tourists' flow experiences, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. The study identified four dimensions of soundscape flow experience: time distortion, control, enjoyment, and concentration. While preference and richness positively impact flow, comfort does not show a significant effect. This application of flow theory to soundscape research provides actionable insights for tourism destinations to enhance the quality of auditory experiences, thereby shaping visitor behavior.
Imagine the Old Town of Lijiang: Contextualising community participation for urban heritage management in China
A community participatory method, the 'Imagine' approach, has shown potential for adaptation to the Chinese context, particularly for managing UNESCO World Heritage Sites like the Old Town of Lijiang. This study tested and contextualized the method, originally developed in Australia, through workshops with residents in three housing clusters within the site. The findings suggest that balancing top-down and bottom-up processes can enhance community engagement in heritage management, addressing challenges posed by rapid urbanization. Further research is recommended to refine this approach for broader application across China.
Perceived Authenticity and Place Attachment: New Findings from Chinese World Heritage Sites
A groundbreaking study challenges prior assumptions by revealing that perceived authenticity significantly influences place attachment, with distinct effects on its components. Conducted at two UNESCO World Heritage Sites—Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, and the Old Town of Lijiang—this research demonstrates that tourists' perceptions of architectural or intangible heritage authenticity vary in their impact on place attachment. Furthermore, it establishes a strong link between place attachment and loyalty, with place attachment acting as a mediator between perceived authenticity and loyalty. These findings refine our understanding of the dynamics between authenticity and place attachment while offering actionable insights for heritage management and marketing strategies.
Governance Innovation Issues on World Heritage Sites: A Case Study Of Lijiang Old Town, China
Local governments in China face significant governance challenges when managing UNESCO World Heritage Sites, particularly due to efficiency-driven incentives that neglect public responsibility and social issues. A study of Lijiang Old Town reveals that traditional models of public administration, overemphasizing technological and instrumental rationality, lead to administrative monopolies, low governing efficiency, and legitimation crises. The research proposes a paradigm shift toward governance innovation, advocating for theoretical breakthroughs to address these dilemmas effectively. This case study highlights the need for adaptive governance strategies that balance efficiency with social accountability in heritage management.
Informing or consulting? Exploring community participation within urban heritage management in China
Community participation in urban heritage management within China's state-centralized framework remains limited, with engagement primarily at the 'informing or consulting' level. A study of Lijiang's Old Town reveals minimal resident involvement in decision-making despite recommendations for inclusive governance to address rapid urbanization challenges. Researchers employed a community participation assessment framework through semi-structured interviews with native and migrant residents, as well as administrators, focusing on four key aspects: decision-making roles, participant competence, social justice, and empowerment equity. The findings underscore the need for increased public awareness, willingness, and power delegation to residents to foster more effective heritage management strategies.
Lifestyle, profit, and the selling of home to tourists in Lijiang, China
Research on Lijiang Old Town, China, reveals that the commodification of home as a lifestyle experience drives both profit and tourism development. The study finds that guesthouse owners strategically blend personal lifestyles with tourist expectations to create meaningful hospitality spaces, transforming them into zones of sentimental care while sustaining capital accumulation. This synergy between profit and lifestyle redefines tourism consumption by integrating home-related elements, turning the sense of 'home' into a marketable commodity. The approach combines qualitative analysis of entrepreneurial strategies with an examination of how these practices shape Lijiang's tourism economy.
Protection Status of a World Cultural Heritage Site Under Tourism Development: Case Study of Shuhe Ancient Town
Shuhe Ancient Town, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town of Lijiang, exemplifies the challenges of balancing tourism development with cultural heritage protection. Despite being a pilot project for sustainable tourism, rapid modernization led by real estate companies under government guidance has significantly altered its original character, displacing indigenous Naxi inhabitants and eroding its historical significance. The study reveals that while tourism brought economic benefits, it also highlighted systemic issues in heritage preservation, including weak enforcement of protection laws and misaligned priorities between local authorities and UNESCO standards.
Tea drinking and the tastescapes of wellbeing in tourism
Tea drinking in tourist destinations can significantly contribute to wellbeing by fostering spatial, temporal, and social connections. The concept of 'tastescapes' highlights how tea activities in places like Lijiang Old Town create closeness to nature, slow down life's rhythm, and build social bonds through shared experiences. This study reveals that wellbeing is relational, emerging from interactions between humans, tea, and the environment rather than being an intrinsic quality. The research involved analyzing why guesthouse owners organize tea activities for tourists and how some tourists favor tea drinking for relaxation, using Lijiang Old Town as a case study.
The relationship between tourists’ perceptions of customized authenticity and loyalty to guesthouses in heritage destinations: an empirical study of the world heritage of Lijiang Old Town, China
A study of 397 tourists in Lijiang Old Town, China, reveals that perceptions of customized authenticity—specifically object-related and existential dimensions—significantly influence guesthouse loyalty. Tourists' sense of being at home in heritage destinations acts as a mediator between their perception of authenticity and loyalty. The research introduces new measurement scales for assessing these dimensions, extending the understanding of authenticity in the context of guesthouses within UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Tourism and the pursuit of subjective wellbeing: A temporal perspective
Tourists seeking subjective wellbeing often experience a shift from the fast-paced life at home to a slower rhythm in destinations, a phenomenon termed 'temporal retreat.' This study highlights how such experiences in Lijiang Old Town, China, can enhance wellbeing through therapeutic social and spatial orchestration. By examining domestic independent tourists' perceptions, researchers found that slowdown and relaxation in contrast to bustling urban life at home contribute significantly to comfort and wellbeing. The analysis suggests that tourism, when viewed temporally, not only offers a means to improve quality of life but also deepens the understanding of therapeutic destination qualities.
Studying Languages in the Linguistic Landscape of Lijiang Old Town
Linguistic landscape research reveals significant differences between the language use patterns on Fuhui Street and Xinhua Street in Lijiang Old Town. The study highlights variations in bilingual and multilingual signage, particularly involving Chinese, Dongba scripts, and English, alongside differing attitudes among local stakeholders and tourists towards these languages. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods—digital photography for data collection, supplemented by questionnaires and interviews—the research provides insights into the complex interplay of language use in a culturally rich urban setting.
Traditional Chinese ecological wisdom and its practical meaning: a case study of the river system in Lijiang Old Town
Lijiang Old Town's river system exemplifies the enduring practical value of traditional Chinese ecological wisdom, demonstrating how ancient principles can address modern environmental challenges. The study reveals that the town's design—rooted in harmonious coexistence with nature—effectively mitigated water pollution and improved water quality through innovative practices like street washing, bridge market culture, and water conservation folklore (e.g., three-hole wells). By integrating these traditional methods into contemporary management, Lijiang achieved significant improvements: sewage treatment rates surged from 45.2% (2008) to 86.82% (2012), and downstream water quality upgraded from 'worst grade V' (2010) to 'grade III' (2014). The research highlights the resilience of ecological wisdom in modern sustainability efforts, offering a blueprint for balancing urban development with environmental stewardship.
Photography-based analysis of tourists’ temporal–spatial behaviour in the Old Town of Lijiang
A novel photography-based approach reveals key temporal and spatial patterns of tourist behavior in the UNESCO-listed Old Town of Lijiang, offering new insights for sustainable tourism management. Analyzing 1308 publicly shared photos, researchers estimated tourists' daily visit frequencies, movement traces, and hotspots, demonstrating the potential of photo-sharing data to track visitor distribution with high accuracy. This method provides a non-intrusive alternative to traditional surveys, enabling more precise planning of resources and conservation efforts in historically significant areas.
Ancient water supply system of the old town of Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China
The ancient water supply system of Lijiang's Old Town, recognized by UNESCO for its complexity and functionality, remains effective despite modern challenges. This study evaluates the system's resilience, highlighting its ingenious design that has sustained 25,000 inhabitants across 3.8 km² at an altitude of 2,400 meters. Researchers analyzed the system's structure and performance, contrasting it with contemporary urban developments to assess its adaptability. The findings underscore the system's historical significance while addressing its vulnerability to modernization.
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