Cultural sustainability in southwest China with tourism and community education: The case of Xijiang Miao village

As a multi-ethnic state, China comprises of 56 nationalities and most of them are populated in the southwest of China with distinct culture. In 2000, in recognition of the increasing economic gap between east and west, the Chinese government introduced the influential “Western Development” policy, emphasizing the potential to develop tourism to fuel economic development in western China, and obviously, a range of ethnic cultural heritage products have become the main attractions of the tourist destinations in the southwest. It is clear that the consequent rapid growth in income generated by the development of local tourism enables the provision of better physical resources, ensuring that tourism becomes an effective means of cultural transmission while also protecting diverse cultural treasures and providing rich educational resources. However, there is some controversy regarding the advantages and disadvantages tourism brings for local cultures, especially within the context of globalization. In Xijiang’s case, as despite the rapid development of regional tourism, the preservation of cultural heritage has been neglected. This paper focuses on balancing economic benefits with the need to maintain the legacy of the ethnic cultural heritage, and exploring to what extent has the goal of cultural sustainability affected community education in Xijiang. Considered from the perspectives of convenience and feasibility, a mixed-methods research, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods of enquiry will be adopted to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives.