Evolution of China's tourism policies

This paper reviews the evolution of China's tourism policies after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It notes that while the evolution of China's tourism policies witnessed a transition from taking tourism as part of political affairs to regarding it as an important tertiary industry due to Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up policies in the last century, it is an emerging trend from the turn of this century that tourism is viewed in government policy agendas to be able to play multiple roles including economic, social, political, and environmental ones.