China, as a nation possessing the most numerous world intangible heritage listings and the second most
world heritage sites, has become a veritable tourism nation. Nowadays, by virtue of its rich and varied
tourism resources, China, as the third most favored tourism country of destination, has successfully moved
into a new era to exude its unique charms to the world.
In the meantime,2.9 billion person-times have been recorded in the domestic tourism of China. As one of
features of the domestic tourism, the wage-earning class living in cities tends to choose rural green tourism
rather than well-known tourist destinations such as the Great Wall. In China, each ethnic group has its
distinctive traditional cultures, customs and beautiful rural sceneries. It is said that seventy percent of rural
tourism resources are on the vast rural lands. As has been proved by different countries all over the world,
rural tourism does not only satisfy the needs of tourists, but also effectively promotes rural economic
development. There is no doubt that rural tourism would also bring dramatic changes to rural society’s culture.
In this context, this paper consists of a case study on Guyi Village of Hebei Province in China. On the basis
of the Zhuohuanggui(catch that yellow devil)ceremony of the Guyi Village being listed as a national
intangible cultural heritage in2006, the number of visitors to this village has undergone a sharp increase and
various significant changes brought about by rural tourism to the development of the contemporary rural
society’s culture are analyzed and clearly identified.
View full abstract