Body politics and identity reconstruction in senior residential tourism spaces: an ethnographic study of Mandiu Village, Yunnan

In the cross-cultural context of aging in ethnic minority regions along the frontier, the body serves as a central medium for power struggles and the reconfiguration of local identities. An ethnographic study of the Dai village of Mandiu in Yunnan reveals that sojourners systematically integrate into local life through ‘body performances’ such as square dancing and tai chi, while the local Dai residents maintain their cultural identity and engage in implicit resistance through ‘body habitus’ in rituals and daily labor. The clash between these two bodily orders has not only reshaped the sensory geography and spatial rights of the village, but has also sparked a micro-politics centered on ‘bodily belonging’ and ‘the right to define place.’ Through ongoing interaction between hosts and guests, and through ‘negotiated bodily practices’ such as collaborative dance routines and tending the vegetable garden together, a ‘third bodily space’ that transcends binary oppositions is constructed, giving rise to an ‘embodied identity’ grounded in shared bodily memories. This analytical approach to ‘body politics’ suggests that only by returning to the scale of the body can we gain a profound understanding of the cultural shifts and the logic of identity reconstruction brought about by senior residential tourism.