Who benefits? Tourism development in Fenghuang County, China

The Chinese government is making tourism an important rural development strategy. Local governments and outside developers jointly manage and develop natural and cultural resources to increase tourism revenues. The government sells development and management rights to large for-profit corporations. This paper examines one such project in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, where Yellow Dragon Cave Corporation (YDCC) and the local government of Fenghuang County are jointly promoting tourism. Pleasant climate, stunning views, "colorful" ethnic minority cultures, and the newly discovered and partially restored Ming Dynasty "Southern China Great Wall" are the primary tourist attractions in Fenghuang County. This project impacts 374,000 people, made up of 29 national minorities and representing 74 percent of the local population. Some researchers argue that this public-private partnership successfully produces profits for developers and creates economic growth. The present research uses a power and scale perspective to identify the preliminary socioeconomic impacts of this capital-intensive development model on local communities. Open-ended interviews with residents, government officials, and business representatives are combined with demographic and economic statistics to identify the decision-makers, document the distribution of social power, and identify the flow of costs and benefits through the tourism system.