TROPICAL GEOGRAPHY ›› 2015, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 481-488.doi: 10.13284/j.cnki.rddl.002713

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Role Conflicts between Hosts and Guests in Ethnic Restaurants: A Case Study of Baisha Village, Lijiang

ZHANG Ji1,XU Honggang2   

  1. (1.School of Forestry and Landscape Architecture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China; 2.College of Tourism Management,Sun Yat-sen University,Guangzhou 510275,China)
  • Online:2015-07-03 Published:2015-07-03

Abstract:

The cultural interaction between local residents and tourists is the core of ethnic tourism, however, in Chinese academic circles, little attention has been paid to the research of the cultural interaction. Previous studies on China’s national exchanges did not involve the new national exchanges promoted by ethnic tourism under the background of mass tourism. Therefore, to study the role conflicts presented in the process of cultural interaction between locals and tourists not only can help to deepen ethnic tourism research, but also can extend the field and scope of national exchanges studies. Taking the theory of role and role conflict from the symbolic interactionism as the guide and two Naxi ethnic restaurants in Baisha Village, Lijiang, as the research objects, this paper conducts a qualitative research on role conflicts between local minority residents and Han tourists. Its findings show that there are multiple role conflict phenomena in the interactive processes between local residents and Han tourists. Specifically, there are not only intra-role conflict in both local residents and tourists, but also inter-role conflicts between the two sides. Those phenomena reflect not only the locals’ pursuit of economic interests, but also the status and power relationships between locals and tourists in their interactive processes.

Key words: ethnic tourism, role, role conflict, host-guest interaction, ethnic restaurant, Lijiang