Empowerment of women through cultural tourism: perspectives of Hui minority embroiderers in Ningxia, China

Abstract

Engagement of vulnerable rural women in the demonstration and practices of cultural heritage for tourism is a strategy that can empower them. Five dimensions of women’s empowerment (economic, social, psychological, educational and political) are examined at multiple scales (self, family, community and society) in a Hui ethnic community in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, northwest of China. This county is nationally recognized for its poverty. Semistructured interviews were undertaken with government officials, management staff of embroidery cooperatives and rural women. It is shown that the involvement of rural Hui women in embroidery tourism has not only advanced them economically but also provided feasible paths for social, psychological, educational and political empowerment to varying degrees. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of the research are then discussed.

Keywords:

• Cultural heritage
• tourism
• rural women
• empowerment
• embroidery
• poverty reduction
• China

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Haiyuan county government and all the interview participants for the support to our research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 A 5A tourism desintation is the highest level of tourism destinations in the China’s government accredation system, which rates tourism desitnstions from A to AAAAA in terms of quality of tourism reserouces, infrastructure, services, management and other criteria.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (19XNI004) to Dr. Ming Ming Su.

Notes on contributors

Ming Ming Su

Dr. Ming Ming Su is an Associate Professor at the School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing. She holds degrees from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Tsinghua University in China. Her research focuses on heritage management, tourism impacts, tourism and community relations, tourism at protected areas, and tourism issues in China.

Geoffrey Wall

Dr. Geoffrey Wall is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Canada. He holds qualifications from the universities of Leeds, Cambridge and Hull in the UK, and Toronto in Canada. His research focuses on tourism, recreation and the socio-economic implications of climate change. He is involved in various tourism and environmental projects in China.

Jianfu Ma

Dr. Jianfu Ma is an Associate Professor from North Minzu University in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, P. R. China. He obtained his PhD in Anthropology from Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on theory of anthropology, ethnic identity, overseas Chinese studies.

Marcello Notarianni

Mr. Marcello Notarianni is a Tourism Consultant based in Madrid, Spain. He has conducted various tourism consultation projects in Europe, South America and in many places in China.

Sangui Wang

Dr. Wang Sangui is a Professor School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China and the Director of China Anti-Poverty Research Institute, Renmin University of China. His research focuses on poverty reduction and rural development. He has won various national awards for his contributions to the poverty alleviation in China.