The Commoditisation of Cultural Heritage in the Multiactor Governance of China: A Case Study of the Hongjiang Trading Town

This study reviews the history of tourism development in the Hongjiang Trading Town of Hunan Province, China, between 2012 and 2021. Based on our experiences in preparing development plans for clients in the case study region, we report that the establishment and operation of the partnership between private and public sectors managed to revive tourism and improve the locals’ living conditions based on the region's rich cultural heritage resources. In addition, we observe that the relocation, renovation, and new development projects that served divergent interests and priorities among partners featured a two-faced nature, which renders multiactor governance a “wicked tool” for preserving and reusing cultural heritage in the periphery regions of China. Thus, we argue that the role of multi-objectiveness and multi-agency are aspects that require an examination to provide insights and promote the transition toward sustainable tourism in the modern context.