Abstract
China has emerged as a “major destination country for tourism” in the 21st century, with particularly rapid growth in the area of urban tourism. Qingdao now occupies the top position in a competitive ranking of urban tourism destinations in China. This paper explores the significance of modern historical heritage and the policy for its utilization in the development of urban tourism in China through an analysis of the Qingdao example. The rapid increase in tourism in Qingdao comes from a unique brand of urban tourism created by the city, which combines its natural sightseeing resources with the sensible preservation and use of structures of high historical value from a period of German colonial rule in the 19th century. This paper looks beyond natural resources to focus on the use of human resources, especially the resources of historical heritage, for tourism.
Qingdao serves as a successful example in China of the preservation and use of modern historical heritage for tourism. The norm in China is for modern cultural heritage from 1840 and beyond to be viewed as “negative heritage” from a period of colonial rule. This has led to the continued destruction of sites connected to this heritage in cities such as Dalian. Qingdao has taken a very different route. Modern historical heritage sites, such as the Governor’s Official Residence, the Badaguna Villa (in an area admired as “the World’s Architecture Museum”), and the Qingdao Beer Museum make up the core of the city’s urban landscape known as “Blue Sky, Blue Sea, Red Tile,” and have led to the development of urban tourism.
