ABSTRACT
Focusing on Tong Ren Tang (TRT), Beijing's celebrated traditional Chinese medicine shop, this study examines the pharmacy's attractiveness as a domestic tourism attraction as a corporate heritage tourism brand. The research also considers its role in encapsulating and expressing Chinese National Identity from a primordial perspective. The study takes account of the multiple role identity perspective of corporate heritage institutions and is also informed by the literature on nationality and ethnicity. Moreover, TRT is also of significance to the national identity of China. This is because traditional Chinese medicine is viewed as a delineating trait of China and of Chinese civilisation. TRT's age and impeccable imperial provenance means that it is not only Beijing's, but also China's, most celebrated corporate heritage shop. Heritage tourism, and the embryonic corporate heritage tourism/corporate heritage tourism brand domain, can be regarded as sub-streams, albeit significant sub-streams, of the broader heritage territory.
