The Location of Cultural Authenticity: Identifying the Real and the Fake in Urban Guizhou

Kendall, P. 2017. The Location of Cultural Authenticity: Identifying the Real and the Fake in Urban Guizhou. The China Journal. 77, pp. 93-109. https://doi.org/10.1086/688851

TitleThe Location of Cultural Authenticity: Identifying the Real and the Fake in Urban Guizhou
TypeJournal article
AuthorsKendall, P.
Abstract

This article examines notions of cultural identity and authenticity and how these notions are articulated in the small city of Kaili in Guizhou Province, an ethnically diverse region. Despite its urban status, Kaili has been branded by the local government as a yuanshengtai tourist destination. This Chinese term literally translates as “original ecology” but is used in ordinary conversation to denote a cultural authenticity in which people exist in quiet harmony with nature. Promotional literature uses the term to tout the ethnic cultural practices that mainly occur in the villages of Kaili’s municipal periphery. In contrast, many local urban inhabitants—although amenable to the promotion of Kaili as a tourist destination—have rejected the notion that the city itself could be considered culturally authentic, and proudly declare themselves “fake” ethnic minorities, as against the “genuine” ethnic people of surrounding villages. These small-city inhabitants have also defined themselves against big-city visitors by attributing to the visitors a naïve fascination with cultural authenticity, while themselves remaining aloof from such practices. The cultural authenticity discourse in Kaili has thus facilitated a reordering of social and spatial hierarchies, as blasé small-city residents define themselves against both culturally authentic rural people and authenticity-seeking big-city tourists. In analyzing this, the article draws out the broader implications regarding PRC notions of ethnicity, cultural practices, heritage, and identity.

KeywordsChina studies
urban studies
authenticity
ethnicity
rural-urban divide
yuanshengtai
small cities
JournalThe China Journal
Journal citation77, pp. 93-109
ISSN1324-9347
Year2017
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
Accepted author manuscript
Publisher's version
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1086/688851
Publication dates
Published17 Oct 2016
Published online17 Oct 2016
Published in printJan 2017

Related outputs

Orientalist Afterlives: Theorizing Discourse about Peppa Pig and China
Kendall, P. 2023. Orientalist Afterlives: Theorizing Discourse about Peppa Pig and China. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture. 9 (2), pp. 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1386/eapc_00107_1

‘For Us Foreigners, Licking Your Fingers Clean is a Good Habit’: On Learning Chinese and Learning About Discourse from Chinese-language Textbooks.
Kehoe, S., Kendall, P. and Wielander, G. 2023. ‘For Us Foreigners, Licking Your Fingers Clean is a Good Habit’: On Learning Chinese and Learning About Discourse from Chinese-language Textbooks. in: Hird, D. (ed.) Critical Pedagogies for Modern Languages Education Bloomsbury. pp. 183-199

‘For Us Foreigners, Licking Your Fingers Clean is a Good Habit’: On Learning Chinese and Learning About Discourse from Chinese-language Textbooks.
Kehoe, S., Kendall, P. and Wielander, G. 2022. ‘For Us Foreigners, Licking Your Fingers Clean is a Good Habit’: On Learning Chinese and Learning About Discourse from Chinese-language Textbooks. Critical Pedagogy for Modern Languages Education Workshop. Lancaster 04 - 05 Feb 2022

Translating Wang Xiaoshuai: From Third Front to Cultural Revolution
Kendall, P. 2022. Translating Wang Xiaoshuai: From Third Front to Cultural Revolution . British Journal of Chinese Studies. 12 (1), pp. 40-59. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v12i1.133

Music, Identity, and Community
Kendall, P., Zou, Sheng, Chu, Yiu-Wai, Morcom, Anna and Harris, Rachel 2021. Music, Identity, and Community. in: Kehoe, S. and Wielander, G. (ed.) Cultural China 2020: The Contemporary China Centre Review London University of Westminster Press. pp. 45-63

Heritage and Memory
Verdini, G., Evans, H., Demgenski, P., Kendall, P. and Zhang, L. 2021. Heritage and Memory. in: Kehoe, S. and Wielander, G. (ed.) Cultural China 2020: The Contemporary China Centre Review London University of Westminster Press. pp. 85-102

Ruins on Ruins: Forgetting, Commemorating and Re-Forgetting the Third Front
Kendall, P. 2020. Ruins on Ruins: Forgetting, Commemorating and Re-Forgetting the Third Front.

The Sounds of Social Space: Branding, Built Environment, and Leisure in Urban China
Kendall, P. 2019. The Sounds of Social Space: Branding, Built Environment, and Leisure in Urban China. Honolulu, Hawaii University of Hawaii Press.

Small-City Music, China
Kendall, P. 2016. Small-City Music, China. in: Murray, Jeremy A. and Nadeau, Kathleen M. (ed.) Pop Culture in Asia and Oceania Santa Barbara, California ABC-CLIO. pp. 61-63

Ethnic Music, China
Kendall, P. 2016. Ethnic Music, China. in: Murray, Jeremy A. and Nadeau, Kathleen M. (ed.) Pop Culture in Asia and Oceania Santa Barbara, California ABC-CLIO. pp. 12-15

The Oriental and the Music Hall: Sound and Space in Thomas Burke’s Limehouse Chinatown
Kendall, P. 2015. The Oriental and the Music Hall: Sound and Space in Thomas Burke’s Limehouse Chinatown. in: Witchard, A. (ed.) British Modernism and Chinoiserie Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press. pp. 156-176

Between Big City and Authentic Village: Branding the Small Chinese City
Kendall, P. 2015. Between Big City and Authentic Village: Branding the Small Chinese City. CITY. 19 (5), pp. 665-680. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1071116

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/9x2wv/the-location-of-cultural-authenticity-identifying-the-real-and-the-fake-in-urban-guizhou


Share this

Usage statistics

254 total views
396 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.