Introduction: (Un)Authorised Heritage Discourse and Practice in China

Ludwig, Carol; Walton, Linda

doi:10.1017/9789048536818.001

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…These developments cannot be separated from a growing tendency in international relations to treat heritage, and particularly its recognition as World Heritage, as an important resource for projecting different forms of power (Barros Leal Farias, 2022; Nakano & Zhu, 2020). China seems particularly aware of the role heritage may play in pursuing global power ambitions (Ludwig & Walton, 2020). In recent years, the Chinese government stressed the need to ‘deepen participation in the international governance of cultural heritage’ and for heritage to ‘serve the country's diplomatic strategic situation’ (State Council, 2021).…”

Section: Exploring Chinese Power In the Heritage Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To make sense of the foundations of China's power in the heritage regime, notably its compulsory, institutional and structural power, it is important to consider its initial adaptation to the World Heritage regime following its ratification of the 1972 Convention in 1985 (Ludwig & Walton, 2020, p. 24; see also Zhang, 2017). China's first mandate (1991–1997) in the WHC centred on capacity building and generating domestic awareness (interview 7; 9).…”

Section: Learning the Game (1985–1999): China's Early Participation A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, from the early 1980s and especially after 1989, the Communist Party increasingly employed China's pre‐Communist cultural heritage in moral education campaigns and domestic propaganda (Ai, 2012, pp. 129–133; Ludwig & Walton, 2020; Shepherd, 2013). As Mayer notes, the ‘culture–policy nexus’ that informed the reinterpretation of history and heritage along nationalist lines originated in concerns with domestic legitimacy, but it also gradually shaped foreign policy (Mayer, 2018, pp.…”

Section: Learning the Game (1985–1999): China's Early Participation A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When approached through the lens of power, previous research not only reveals a range of relevant insights but also reveals several important blind spots for understanding the evolution of Chinese power in the WHC. China‐focused scholarship stresses the power benefits to be gained from heritage, such as domestic legitimacy, national cohesion, and external recognition (Ludwig & Walton, 2020, p. 25; Mayer, 2018; Shepherd, 2013, p. 21; Winter, 2019). In terms of productive power, some even argue that its actions in relation to heritage provide the ‘antithesis to the perception of China as a threat to the international order’ (Nakano & Zhu, 2020, p. 876), as the UN validates its global aspirations and even confers prestige upon it (Nakano, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 5 5 Over time, the SACH emerged as the primary organ for domestic heritage management and the preparation of nominations (Ludwig & Walton, 2020, p. 20). In 2008, the Ministry of Construction became the Ministry of Urban–Rural Development.…”

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Chinese power in the World Heritage Committee: From learning the game to shaping the rules

Langendonk,

Drieskens

2024

Global Policy

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Despite growing interest in China's use of heritage in its domestic and foreign policies, little is known about how its evolving power affects the multilateral core of the heritage regime. To tackle this gap, we apply Barnett and Duvall's four‐power framework to China's role in the World Heritage Committee (WHC) and heritage issues in UNESCO since the early 2000s. To parse power shifts across the four ideal types of compulsory, institutional, structural, and productive power, we analyse the domestic and international developments that shaped China's relationship with the regime and highlight two episodes of Chinese power at work: the WHC's Suzhou (2004) and Fuzhou (2021) sessions. We argue that China's power potential rose across all four power types and that its potential for exercising structural and productive power is buoyed by the Belt and Road Initiative and the integration of heritage into its foreign policy. We note that China's exercise of power rarely transgresses organisational norms and that it has followed, rather than spurred, the shift to a culture of thinly veiled power politics in the WHC. Nevertheless, we argue that, as an ambitious power in heritage, China shares the responsibility for this outcome and the future of the heritage regime.

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Section: Exploring Chinese Power In the Heritage Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Learning the Game (1985–1999): China's Early Participation A...mentioning

confidence: 99%