ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to provide relevant Chinese background for the later chapters of the book. First of all, this chapter briefly reviews the historical and traditional philosophical concepts of China. These ancient and philosophical views, especially the theory of ‘harmony between man and nature’, are very important for the Chinese tourists’ emotional expression in West Lake Cultural Landscape that I will discuss in Chapters 3 and 4. Second, this chapter discusses the history of China’s tourism development, including the influence of ancient Chinese on tourism attitudes influenced by traditional philosophical concepts, the four critical stages of China’s tourism development after the 1970s, and three essential topics of current Chinese tourism development. Third, this chapter focusses on the three stages of China’s heritage management development since the signing of the World Heritage Convention in 1985, and the issue of institutional development of Chinese heritage management.
