Tourism and the UNESCO Effect: A Study of a Milk Tradition in South China

10.6641/PICCFC.13.2013.13.23

Sau-Wa Mak

2013 中華飲食文化國際學術研討會論文集

第13屆（2013 / 10 / 20）

41 - 70

英文

The nomination of ＂City of Gastronomy＂ by UNESCO Creative Cities Network affected the expression of culinary tradition and tourism industry in south China. Chengdu, followed after Popayan and Ostersund, became UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2011. How does recognition by an international body affect the way cities in China perceive and perform their ＂culinary traditions＂? In this paper I study the strategies employed by the local government in Shunde to achieve the goal of becoming a ＂City of Castronomy＂, just like Chengdu. I focus on how this affected the local government in promoting tourism and how this also transformed the ways local people in expressing their culinary tradition in Shunde in 2010-2011. In addition, I discuss how UNESCO designation became a new factor in a long-running and complex local discourse on tradition. Observing the on-the-ground effects of UNESCO's recognition on City of Gastronomy upon local community provides insight into the broader interaction between global cultural policy and local tradition.