Tourism, Borders, and Geopolitics

This book revisits the period of rapprochement tourism between China and Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, highlighting the role it played in facilitating cultural exchange despite ongoing political tensions. Contextualizing rapprochement tourism within broader discussions on cross-border tourism in politically sensitive regions, this book proposes a concept of 'cultural geopolitics' and an interdisciplinary framework - Mobility, Morality and Materiality - to offer a fresh perspective on heritage management. It employs tourist interviews, photographs and other visual aids to communicate complex theoretical concepts in an accessible manner. Topics covered include border repoliticization, the role of heritage in national narratives, the commodification of historical figures, and the intersection of spirituality and tourism. The book closes by outlining future directions for research, including difficult heritage management, individualized mobilities, and kinship-based return tourism, before concluding with reflections on sustainable peace and well-being. This book will interest a range of scholars spanning the social sciences, including critical tourism studies, heritage management, cultural geography, and Chinese studies.

J.J. Zhang is Assistant Professor of Human Geography at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests lie in the intersection of socio-cultural geography, tourism, geopolitics, and well-being. His work on rapprochement tourism has received multiple international Best Paper Awards.

Foreword by C. Michael Hall Overview and Aim Chapter 1: Introduction: Rapprochement Tourism in Context 1.1 The Pivotal Era of 2008-2016: Tourism and Rapprochement 1.2 Objectives and Scope 1.3 Significance of the Study in Today's Context 1.4 A Note on Research Methods and Some Personal Reflections 1.5 Structure of the Book Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations: Rethinking Tourism Across Borders of Conflict 2.1 Reviewing Rapprochement Tourism 2.1.1 Tourism across borders of conflict 2.1.2 Academic literature on China-Taiwan tourism 2.1.3 Towards a cultural-geopolitical approach 2.2 Re-theorizing the 'Border' 2.2.1 Border as a noun and border(ing) as a verb 2.2.2 The real and imagined borders at multiple sites 2.2.3 B/order(ing) identities 2.2.4 Performing borders 2.3 The 3 'M's of Cross-Border Scholarship 2.3.1 Mobility 2.3.2 Morality 2.3.3 Materiality 2.4 Synthesis and Reflections Chapter 3: Post-Conflict Place Making: Taming and Consuming Sensitive Histories & Difficult Heritages 3.1 Introduction: Managing Memory across the Strait 3.2 Post-conflict Heritage Management 3.3 Exploring China's Rapprochement Strategies 3.3.1 Reducing historical differences to the realm of the same 3.3.2 Between memory and money: cashing in on Chiang Kai-shek 3.4 Taiwan's Practices of Rapprochement 3.4.1 Heritage in the making: the National Palace Museum 3.4.2 Re-casting Chiang Kai-shek: cartoonization of sensitive historical figures 3.5 Summary: Digesting the Past, Consuming a More Palatable Future Chapter 4: Cross-Border Mobilities: Cross-Strait Tourists' Travel Experiences on 'The Other Side' 4.1 Introduction: Borders on the Move 4.2 Liminal Encounters and the Materialities of Border Crossing 4.3 Crossing the Border: Checkpoints, Travel Documents and the Performance of Identity 4.3.1 The Taiwan Compatriot Permit 4.3.2 The Chinese checkpoint as threshold 4.4 Political Border as Personal Boundary: Cross-strait Tourists' Experiences 4.4.1 The Taiwan Travel Permit as a site of bordering 4.4.2 Taiwanese identification cards and playful identities 4.5 Street Economies: Buying and Selling at a Ferry Terminal 4.6 Summary: Mobility, Materiality, and the Liminal Lives of Borders Chapter 5: Enchanted Encounters: Spiritual Geographies of Cross-strait Tourism 5.1 Introduction: The Enchanted World of Rapprochement Tourism 5.2 Spirits Matter in Contemporary China and Taiwan 5.3 Encountering the 'Untamed' 5.3.1 The Wang Yulan Cult 5.3.2 Return of the dead soldiers 5.4 Paying Homage to the 'Heavenly Mother': Mazu Pilgrimage Tours 5.4.1 From seafarers' guardian to Cross-strait Goddess of Peace 5.4.2 The Mobility of Pilgrimage: Scales, Meanings, and Embodied Encounters 5.4.3 Testimonial Time, Collective Selves: Pilgrimage as Socializing Practice 5.5 Summary: Hauntings, Pilgrimages, and Post-National Possibilities Chapter 6: Re-visiting Battlefield Memories, Exploring the Senses: Post-war Material Culture of Kinmen in the Midst of Rapprochement Tourism 6.1 Introduction: Re-visiting Kinmen 6.2 Conceptualizing Commemorative Materialities 6.3 6.4 6.5 Food for Thought: Ingesting memory 6.5.1 Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor and the Battlefield Cocktail Series 6.5.2 Bullet Crackers and Mine Cakes 6.5.3 Gastronomic Commemoration 6.6 Summary: The Afterlives of Things in Rapprochement Tourism Chapter 7: Rethinking Rapprochement Tourism: Reflections and Future Directions 7.1 Rapprochement Tourism between China & Taiwan: A Summary 7.1.1 Border, Mobility, and the Reworking of Territory 7.1.2 Identity, Morality, and the Politics of Encounter 7.1.3 Materiality, Immateriality, and the Agency of Things 7.1.4 Synthesis 7.2 Potential Avenues for Future Research 7.2.1 Difficult Heritage, Moral Judgements, and the Politics of Remembrance 7.2.2 Unequal Mobilities and the Rise of the Independent Traveller 7.2.3 Kinship, Return Travel, and the Intimacies of Cross-Border Connection 7.2.4 Rethinking Rapprochement Tourism Through Sustainable Peace and Well-being 7.3 Concluding Remarks: Re-visiting 'Peace through Tourism' References