Huashan Rock Art: Presentation of a Chinese Cultural Heritage Site in the Absence of Tourism Infrastructure

Abstract

The Huashan Rock Art site is a cultural tourism site of considerable importance in the development of domestic tourism focusing on heritage and history. As a previously peripheral part of Chinese society, Huashan has a significant role in explaining to Chinese people the extent and complexity of their history. Yet development of the research site has been hampered by the lack of tourism infrastructure (e.g. managerial capacity, accommodation, transportation, integrated services and so forth) and the private sector is not well-positioned to make up for the shortfall. The situation compares unfavourably with other destinations in neighbouring provinces. Under these circumstances, a program of qualitative research was launched using in-depth personal interviews to investigate the means by which Huashan Rock Art site is being presented and promoted currently and how can that presentation lead to an emotional and ideological response. It was found that there is some interaction between the type and nature of presentation and the success of the site in terms of destination management and this interaction is explored.