Ethnic tourism and Folksongs: A case study among the Blang (Bulang) of Yunnan, China

Abstract In 2008 “Blang Nationality’s Singing and Instrument Playing” ( Bulangzu tanchang ) was listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage protection. The creation of ethnic parks, cultural villages, and ecomuseums in Southwest China raises some questions about the ethnic minorities’ traditional cultural/musical heritage and its sustainable development: What is the impact of ethnic tourism development on local minorities and what is the role played by government cultural policy in the preservation and dissemination of Blang musical heritage? How is this ethnic group’s identity represented in staged performances for tourists and in mass media? And what is the agency of Blang culture bearers officially appointed ‘cultural heritage inheritors’ in constructing, defining, and representing their own ethnic/musical identity? This article deals with a research project conducted mainly among the Blang of Manxi village in Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna), Yunnan Province, Southwest China, in the Spring of 2017. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the current interplay of ethnic tourism, government policy, mass media and culture bearers among an ethnic group considered a “minority among the minorities” in China and the effects of this interplay on the sustainability of traditional musical heritage.