Volume: 13  Number: 2  Page: 171–194

Cultural Heritage Assets in China as Sustainable Tourism Products: Case Studies of the Hutongs and the Huanghua Section of the Great Wall

Hilary du Cros1, Thomas Bauer2, Carlos Lo3 and Song Rui4 1Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong and the Department of Management and Marketing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China, 2School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China, 3Department of Management and Marketing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China and 4Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Beijing, China

Due to its rich stock of heritage assets, extraordinary pace of market liberalisation, and its political administration, the People’s Republic of China is at a crossroads in terms of the management of its heritage assets. In order to better understand the threats and opportunities that market liberalisation may pose for cultural heritage assets as future tourism products, this study examines two examples in the Beijing municipality; the Hutongs and the section of the Great Wall at Huanghua. These case studies are used to investigate the coordination of policy to balance modernisation and conservation of heritage assets in Beijing, and place it against a general model of stakeholder roles that can drive the sustainable use of heritage assets. Teasing out the nature of these roles has identified where tourism development aids or detracts from existing heritage conservation policies. Without better coordination of roles in policy implementation, the sustainability of many heritage assets as future tourism products is in question.

Keywords: China, heritage, sustainable tourism, Hutongs, Great Wall

© 2005 H. du Cros et al.

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