Tourism, Politics and Beliefs in Nizu Village in Shangri-La, Southwest China

While most of the literature in tourism studies focuses on the problems relating to tourism development at World Heritage Sites, little attention is paid to places that somehow failed to be included in the list of World Heritage Sites. This paper will talk about tourism, politics and beliefs in a Tibetan village called Nizu, with a reputation as the ‘backyard of Shangri-La’ in relation to the famous tourism destination Shangri-La County, Southwest China. Geographically located within the Three Parallel Rivers Region, which is a natural World Heritage Site, the 2003 application of Nizu village to be included in the Three Parallel Rivers WHS failed due to the governmental plan for a copper mine north of the village. Pudacuo National Park’s establishment in 2007 brought hope to the villagers of Nizu for promising to develop the village and region around its ecotourism products. Such hope hasn't realized. Currently, the village attracts approximately 1500 visitors each year. One significant issue in the village, brought about by the ‘underdeveloped tourism dream’, is the diversity of ideas held about environment/nature. Traditionally, the villagers believed in the ancient Bon Religion, a belief that treats mountains and rivers as gods and then bonds people’s everyday life to these gods. In such a belief, the tangible (mountains and rivers) and the intangible (spirits and gods) are intertwined and inseparable. With the existing ambivalent attitudes to developing (eco)tourism in the village, various ideas of dealing natural resources become tangled with other socio-political issues among villagers. By contextualizing and theorizing from a political ecology perspective, I question what role does the notion of world heritage site play in a complicated situation such as in Nizu village? Also, I ask how far can the idea of ‘protecting heritage’ progress without close scrutiny on the power issues involving the different players?