Tea Tourism and its Impacts on Ethnic Marriage and Labor Division

ABSTRACT

Profound changes have been identified in the ethnic tea regions of Yunnan Province, southwest China, with the influence of tourism and the tea economy. The tea industry and tea tourism provide special opportunities for females. This research captures the characteristics of the changes in family and labor division. Empirical data were collected between 2006 to 2016 from in-depth interviews and focus groups on ethnic females. This research indicates that the intermarriage radius of local people is greater than ever before, as local people have more and wider encounters. Marriage provides a pathway for people from diverse backgrounds to complement each other. Both male and female play important roles. Although some women are more sociable and adventurous, and they are responsible for expanding business, other females prefer to take home-based duties. The dynamics of power in gender relationships has evolved significantly with the influence of tea and tourism. Tea tourism provides a platform for individual development within the social evolution. This article reflects the swift changes in remote Yunnan, where gender roles, the tea industry and social changes are interwoven. The research is significant in exploring changes in ethnic marriage and labor division based on tea resources.

摘要

在旅游和茶业经济的影响下，中国西南云南省的少数民族地区正在经历深刻变迁。旅游业和茶旅游为这一地区的女性提供了许多机会。本研究旨在提炼出家庭和劳动分工变化的特征，并进行相关探讨。2006–2016年期间进行持续的田野调查，使用深入访谈、群体聚焦访谈等方法对该地区少数民族女性进行了访谈。研究发现：伴随着茶旅游的发展，当地人的通婚半径比之前要大，因为有更多与外界接触的机会。婚姻为多元背景的人们提供了一个相互成就的路径，男性和女性都起着重要的作用。尽管一些女性更有交际能力和探险精神，并承担更多生意拓展的责任，其他的女性则承担着家庭里的责任。伴随着茶和旅游的影响，性别关系中权力发生明显的动态变化。在社会演进过程中，茶旅游为个人的发展提供了一个平台。这一研究表明，位于偏远地区的云南正在发生快速的变化，这一变化伴随着性别角色、茶产业和社会变迁。这一研究对于探索拥有茶资源的少数民族的婚姻和劳动分工的变化是有积极意义的。

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• ethnic marriage
• labor division
• tea tourism
• tea industry
• Yunnan

关键词:

• 性别
• 少数民族婚姻
• 劳动分工、 茶旅游
• 茶产业
• 云南

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a scholarship granted to Qingqing Lin from the China Scholarship Council. The authors are grateful to the people in Xishuangbanna, Linchang and Pu’er in Yunnan, China. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Professor Honggang Xu for her encouragement, inspiration and suggestions. They thank the referees for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China NSF 41801127, the National Natural Science Foundation of China NSF 41701144, and the Humanities and Social Sciences projects of the Ministry of Education 15YJA790019.

Notes on contributors

Qingqing Lin

Qingqing Lin is Associate Professor in the School of Tourism Management at South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China (E-mail: 476,761,[email protected]). She is interested in theorizing intersections of tourism, tea, history and social change and has written on issues such as the social construction of tea destinations, tea tourism and environmental change, tourism research from the perspective of book reviews, historic sociology and tourism social change.

Julie Jie Wen

Julie Jie Wen is Lecturer in Tourism Studies in the University of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (E-mail: [email protected]). She is interested in rural tourism, especially from the perspective of social science. Dr Wen has explored tourism development in less developed regions in China and has published articles on gender and tourism, sustainable tourism and poverty-alleviation.