ABSTRACT
The first chapter sought to establish a context for the study of Chinese tourism. In this final chapter we wish to return to contextual issues to highlight issues in the understanding of Chinese tourism, the policies that accompany them and the implications for research. It has become increasingly clear to us in our own past research and in the reviewing of the chapters and other materials for this book, that simply transferring concepts from western academic literature to inform research in China is, at least for the present, not wholly appropriate. It is also evident that we are not alone in this opinion. For example, in their chapter Li and Sofield explicitly questioned at length the appropriateness of science-led western paradigms for the interpretation and classification of National Parks and natural areas in China, arguing that such approaches misunderstand the cultural significance and meanings for Chinese visitors. Similarly, Wall (2005) has advised against adopting western notions of community participation in tourism without questioning those notions in a system. Rather he argued the key test is participation in benefits, not involvement in a process as is understood in the West. The challenge for Chinese tourism planning is to generate such benefits from what is still often a top-down mode of planning. While in the future, as China changes, it may become more appropriate to use western concepts for tourism and destination planning, at present key factors are still at work in China that inhibit such easy transfers of ideas.
