Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11

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Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies

(1949e2013) e A quantitative research approach*
Xiaoyun Tang
China Tourism Academy, Beijing 100005, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Traces China's tourism policies from 1949 to 2013.

 Identifies themes based on analysis of 378 major tourism policies.
 Confirms the role of the Chinese Government as determinant of the country's tourism policies.
 Indicates how tourism policies change to address then current economic and social problems.
 Highlights the current stresses of changing to market led systems under delegated government controls.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Starting from the multi-dimensional analysis of the 379 tourism policy documents issued by Central
Received 7 March 2016 Government and related departments and ministries from 1949 to 2013, this article analyzes the evo-
Accepted 7 March 2016 lution of China's tourism development policies since the founding of China using a perspective. The
Available online xxx
research results show that (1) Tourism policy in China has evolved from being based on the adminis-
trative allocation of resources to a market-based allocation of resources constrained by administrative
Keywords:
powers. (2) The targets for tourism policy have always been developed with the strategic objectives of
Tourism policies
national economic and social development in mind. These can be divided into four stages: servicing
Evolution
China
foreign affairs, developing the business economy, providing a new growth point in the economy, and
Quantitative research becoming a national strategic pillar industry. (3) Tourism policy is mainly used for micro-supervision.
Tourism policy formulation lacks the ability to macro-control the factors of production such as capital,
land, technology and talent. (4) Increasing numbers of government departments are becoming involved
in formulating tourism policy, but policy efforts have become more stable. Recent studies suggest that
the effective operation of the tourism economy is highly dependent on the institutional arrangements
within the wider social economic system. Thus, when the Tourism Law was enacted, the development of
the Chinese tourism industry entered a new stage. In this new stage, technological advances, market
demand, and the competition and cooperative relationships among companies will jointly lead inno-
vation in the tourism industry. Innovation, such as new products and new business models will in turn be
the base for tourism industry development. Furthermore, industrial macroeconomic regulation and
public service will become the basic elements of government tourism management under the new law.
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction is the industrial economy. The system, as a productive asset and

Effective operations under real conditions are dependent on the
complex and diversified system arrangements of human society, as
*
This paper was originally published in Chinese as: TANG Xiaoyun. (2014). The
Evolution of chinese tourism development policies (1949e2013): A quantitative
perspective. Tourism Tribune, 29(8), 15e27.
E-mail address: xytang@cnta.gov.cn.
social capital, is a framework fully unleashing entrepreneurship in a
marketing process and is the basis of economic growth (Kasper,
Manfred, & Han, 2000). In practical industrial development, the
government usually stipulates policies with which to develop in-
dustries. The tourism industry is a service industry featuring mobile
space and involving multiple departments, and it is heavily
dependent on a system. China's tourism industry had first devel-
oped in the 1920s and then served China's diplomatic policies with

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
0261-5177/© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
2 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
the founding of the New China. It has subsequently turned into
industry of economic and social importance after China's reform
and opening-up.
This article takes the 379 policy papers issued by the govern-
ment from 1949 to 2013 as the base from which to systematically
sort and analyze the quantity, structure, types and frameworks,
targets and tools that explain the internal relationships between
China's tourism development and policy arrangements, and the
evolution, implementation and development of those policies.
Semantically, the word “policies” means political strategy or
tactics. In the practice of politics, “policy” bears three layers of
meaning, the strategy, tactics and/or implementation. Secondly,
there is an implicit code of conduct, including guiding principles,
routes, policies and criteria stipulated by the Party and the
administrative orders, decrees and statements, and thirdly, the final
political actions (Dai & Chen, 2003; Liu, 2005). The policies them-
selves possess the characteristics of various classifications, mis-
takes, procrastination and modes of expression reflecting power
structures and struggles. They reflect the organs of power through
language and words, and the nature of it is the idealization, sub-
jectification and practice of class interests (Chen & Min, 2006).
Relevant research practices (Liu & Sun, 2007; Li, Wu, Gao, & Zhang,
2009; Yang, 2006) shall be referred to in this paper. As such the
paper divides the range of policies into laws, administrative regu-
lations, rules of departments, the standard documents of the State
Council and standardized documents of various departments.
Research into national policies towards tourism development
has long been conducted in the international arena, and can be
divided into three categories. First, there are the policies and reg-
ulations promoting tourism development and the policies of re-
strictions on, and guidance of, tourism development. With regard
to promoting policy research, Edgell (1983) analyzed the important
role of the National Tourism Policy Act issued in US in 1981 that
promotes tourism against the background of international econ-
omy and trade. Similarly Soshiroda (2005) analyzed the evolution
of Japanese tourism policies from 1859 to 2003 and their regulating
role during a period of recession. With regard to research into
standards and conservation policies, Krippendorf (1982) evaluated
the risks of an unrestricted growth of tourism against the back-
ground of mass travel and suggested regulatory policies for the
corresponding economic and technological sectors. Go € ssling
(2013), for his part, estimated energy consumption and the emis-
sion of green-house gases resulting from tourism in many countries
and believes that the consumption and intensity of greenhouse gas
emissions have been seriously underestimated, thus suggesting a
need for national legislation. With regard to research into the di-
rection and development of tourism policy, Smyth (1986) provided
the example of Northern Ireland to discuss tax preferences and
lowering tax thresholds while employment rates remained high,
fully confirming the contribution of tourism to employment.
Shafer and Choi (2006) also conducted research into govern-
ment policies in tourism planning and coordination, and the role of
the dissemination of scientific knowledge, cooperation and infor-
mation management between relevant parties with common in-
terests. In a European context Minnaert, Maitland, and Miller
(2009) suggested that social tourism might be an effective social
policy to improve the quality of life for low-income Europeans.
Second, the stipulation, fulfillment and implementation of
tourism-related policies have been studied. Ritchie (1998) believes
that any tourism policy should fully consider the ideas of com-
munity residents to develop policies and schemes that are uni-
versally acceptable and sustainable. Akehurst, Bland, and Nevin
(1993) found in their research that European tourism policies
sought to attract tourists with higher consuming capabilities,
thereby leading to improved product quality and reduce seasonal
Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
impacts. Baum (1994) pointed out that economic factors are the
main reasons as to why there are different tourism policies in
different countries after undertaking a comparative study of
tourism policies in various countries. Wang and Ap (2013)
concluded in their research that the successful implementation of
policies in China is dependent on the capabilities and the holistic
ability of the related departments of local tourism watchdogs.
Third, the outcomes of tourism policies have been studied. Liu,
Tzeng and Lee (2012) have suggested an evaluation method for
tourism policies featuring a multi-target decision model that can be
used to identify the sequence of level and standards of tourism
policies. Meng, Siriwardanan and Pham (2013) applied CGE to
evaluate the effectiveness of Singapore's tourism policies and found
that reducing taxes on consumer expenditure can be very effective
in promoting local tourism while subsidy policies can be regarded
as being less effective.
From a Chinese perspective, research into tourism development
policies seem to be mainly about the promotion of international
experiences, the design of policy frameworks and a qualitative
analysis of policy performance. Such studies have the following
three features. First, the promotion and introduction of interna-
tional experiences was regarded as a priority at the early stage of
Chinese research. Cai Wankun (1984), Liu and Wu (1988), and Yang,
Senlin and Dineen (1995) examined the tourism policies of Japan,
U.S. and EU from these perspectives, and Wang (2002) looked to-
ward the development of agriculture-based tourism in Australia
and Taiwan. Second, the focus of research was about observing
evidences and designing framework for the shaping of tourism
policies, and Yang (2011) and Zhong (2009) provided a compre-
hensive analysis of evolving Chinese tourism policies. The issues of
tourism policies have been to the forefront of consideration in
China and have attracted significant attention as demonstrated by
the work of Li (2004), Zhang (2005), Luo and Mao (2008) and Dai
and Xia (2009) with respect to outbound tourism policies, the
orientation of policies for the general public, tourism trade policies
and tourism-related employment. Third, a qualitative means of
research has been mainly adopted. Liu, Wu and Liao (2007) eval-
uated the nature of the design defects of Golden Week from the
perspective of strategic environment assessment, and Huang and
Yuan (2008) discussed the performance of agricultural policies by
examining rural tourism policies. Shu (2011) evaluated the per-
formance of policies adopted by Guizhou Province at difference
stages And Peng and Hu (2008) suggested establishing a perfor-
mance evaluation system for tourism policies given that at that
time there were no similar quantitative evaluations of tourism
policies. Zheng, Mi and Wen (2013) also pointed out that, in the
process of stipulating tourism policies, there remained little if any
research about the prediction effects of carrying out policies.
Therefore, they suggested the implementation of quantitative
performance prediction and evaluation. In general, there still re-
mains a huge space for expanding the range and quantitative na-
ture of tourism despite the achievements that have been made in
tourism policy research.
2. Methods and data sources
The quantitative analysis of policy has long been a difficult topic.
Some fundamental processes have been adopted in public policy
analysis and policy documents since the founding of New China.
These have been taken as examples for the analysis of tourism
development policies of China at different stages despite an
inability of accessing many of the myriad of policy documents and
all the various tourism development policies across the country.
The process of research can include the following three steps. First,
there is a need to identify the nature and quantity of documents
 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
required for analysis. Second, a chronological sequence is required
based on the year of publication. Third, the samples have to be
categorized and analyzed, including quantity and structural anal-
ysis of the policies based on policy targets and means of imple-
mentation, analysis of departments stipulating policies and policy
efforts etc. Fourth, the statistical results need to be summarized to
identify the evolutionary processes and the development of China's
tourism laws and policies since the founding of New China.
These tourism development policy documents included the
tourism-related laws issued by the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress, tourism-related rules, regulations, de-
cisions, methods, detailed rules and regulations, opinions, outlines
and notices issued by the State Council and regulations, decisions,
methods, detailed rules and regulations, opinions, notices, an-
nouncements and outlines issued by National Tourism Adminis-
tration and related departments and ministries. The selected
samples of policy documents can be divided into three types: first,
special tourism policies, including comprehensive policies per-
taining solely to tourism, wider industry policies and other policies
related to various agencies of tourism such as travel agencies, res-
taurants and scenic spots; second, policies closely related to
tourism activities, including immigration policy, the vacation sys-
tem and policies issued by aviation and railway departments, since
all these policies exert significant influence over tourism. Third,
policies related to tourism in the service and other industries. The
time span for selecting samples was from 1949 when New China
was established until the end of July of 2013. All the samples were
selected from the website of National Tourism Administration,
Collection of Laws on China Tourism edited by the Department of
Policies and Laws of National Tourism Administration, the Policies
and Laws of Tourism edited by Wei Xiao'an and Zeng Bowei, the
database of China's laws and regulations on the Peoples' Network
and state laws and regulations database of the National Information
Center. For the study 379 sample policy documents were obtained
and were categorized with intervals of roughly 5 years.
3. Statistical analysis of tourism development policies
3.1. Amounts and structure of tourism development policies
3.1.1. Quantity of tourism development policies
As noted above, 379 state-level policy documents closely related
to tourism development from 1949 to the end of July of 2013 were
analyzed. Fig. 1(a) shows that tourism policies in the first 30 years
after 1949 were few in number, and even in the 1960s and 1970s
few such documents were found. From 1979 on the quantity of
tourism documents significantly. The “Sixth Five Year Plan” period
witnessed the start of China's tourism, and 15 tourism documents
were published in those 5 years, including the Decision on
Improving Tourism issued by the State Council (1981). The “Seventh
Five Year Plan” period witnessed the fastest growth of various
policies, increasing some 3 times compared with the previous five
years. During this period, large amounts of policies guiding hotels
accommodating foreign guests, travel agencies and guides were
stipulated. The “Eighth Five Year Plan” period witnessed the real
start of China's domestic tourism industry, with the fast develop-
ment of various tourism policies (95 policies in number) accounting
for 25.0% of the total quantity of policy documents. During this
period a large number of comprehensive policies about tourism
development were promulgated, including the Decision of the State
Council on Accelerating the Development of Tertiary Industry (1992),
and the Notice about Active Development of Domestic Tourism In-
dustry issued by the National Tourism Administration as trans-
mitted by General Office of the State Council (1993). In the “Ninth
and Tenth Five Year Plan” periods, the total number of policies
Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
3
declined. However, judging from the titles of sample policies, the
documents related to professional agencies and employees in
tourism, and the construction of a standardized management of
tourism and tourism destinations and the formalization and easing
of regulations relating to outbound tourism. The Methods on Man-
agement of Outbound Travel by Chinese Citizens was published in
2002. The “Eleventh Five Year Plan” period was a critical phase
featuring mass tourism, and the quantity of policies increased to 68,
accounting for 17.9% of the total. Up until now, the quantity of such
documents in the “Twelfth Five Year Plan” is not that large. How-
ever, the significance of the documentation is quite high. The
Outline about Entertainment Tourism of Chinese People and Tourism
Law of the People's Republic of China were both promulgated in 2013,
thus upgrading the tourism industry to a quality-based develop-
ment phase. In conclusion, the tourism policies and implications for
industrial practice are closely linked in terms of quantity.
3.1.2. Structures of tourism development policies
The content of policy documents about policy structures of
tourism development usually reflects the fields of administration
by governments. The research referred to the classification frame-
work1 of Tourism Policies and Regulations and Collection of Laws on
China Tourism by Wei Xiao'an and Zeng Bowei, classifying the policy
samples into tourism market policies, industrial factors policies and
comprehensive policies. The market-related policies are divided
into inbound and outbound tourism policies and domestic tourism
policies. The policies of industrial factors can be divided into pol-
icies about travel agencies and guides, tourism restaurants, tourism
attractions and tourist destinations, tourism traffic and compre-
hensive factors. The comprehensive policies can be divided into
public service policies of tourism, tourism law and tourism industry
policies and other policies. From Fig. 1(b), one can see that policies
related to travel agencies and guides accounted for 82 out of the
sample of 379 policy statements (21.6% of the total); with a further
58 inbound tourism policy documents (15.3% of total) and 56
relating to outbound tourism policies (14.8% of total). In contrast,
the special market policies for domestic tourism and specific pol-
icies for tourism traffic, catering and destinations were quite rare.
There were only 6 special policies about domestic tourism, ac-
counting for 1.6% of total; 11 tourism traffic policies (2.9% of total)
and 9 tourist destination policies (2.4% of total). All these data
reflect two questions. First, China's tourism policies enjoy a
prominent status in Chinese policy creation, and travel agencies
and guides and inbound and outbound tourism serve as key con-
cerns of the administration in terms of their nature and markets.
Second, there were too arguably many policy documents related to
travel agencies and tourist guides, and overall tourism policy suf-
fered from an imbalance of structure but possibly was reflecting
concerns for consumer protection. With regard to market place
policies, more emphasis was put on international than domestic
travel. And in terms of industrial structure, greater importance was
attached to travel agencies than other sectors or industries pos-
sessing tourism features. Of course, all these system arrangements
are closely linked to policy targets at different stages in China's
development. The study therefore divided the 379 policy
1
There are many different classification methods for policies. Gustafsson divided
policies into distribution policies, monopolized policies, controlled policies and re-
distribution policies from the angle of implementation of policies. However,
considering the practice of policies, they can be divided into general, basic, detailed,
macro and micro, guiding and instructive policies. In addition, due to the
comprehensiveness and applicability of the tourism industry, from the angle of
content and range of policies based on the classification methods of tourism
administrative departments and related scholars. It is possible to discern a classi-
fication of market, industrial factor and comprehensive policies.
4 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11

Fig. 1. The number and structural of China's tourism development policy during 1949e2013.

Table 1
The number of different types of China's tourism policy during 1949e2013.

The first level of classification The second level of classification Quantity The first level of classification The second level of classification Quantity

NPC's policy documents Laws 4 Policy document of Ministries and commissions Rules 16
Policy documents of State Council Rules 6 Decisions 9
Provisions 2 Methods 28
Decisions 6 Tentative Methods/Rules 39
Methods 4 Opinions 29
Detailed Rules Tentative 1 Detailed Rules 12
Methods/Rules 4 Notices 150
Opinions 2 Others 57
Outlines 1 Total 379
Notices 9

documents in terms of sources and importance as shown in Table 1.

Based on a classification of policy documents by issuing de-
2 partments, NPC and its standing committee have issued four
The four specific laws are: the Law of the People's Republic of China on the
Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens (1985, and subsequently abolished), the tourism-related laws2, accounting for 1.1% of the total. The
Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of administrative laws and regulations and various standards issued
Overseas Citizens (1985, also subsequently abolished), the Exit and Entry Admin- by the State Council reached 35 in number, accounting for 9.2% of
istration Law of the People's Republic of China (2012) and the Tourism Law of
the total. Various departments and ministries and their directly
People's Republic of China (2013).

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 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
affiliated organizations have issued 340 policies, accounting for
89.7% of the total. Based on the classification of the nature of policy
documents, NPC and its standing committee have issued four
tourism-related laws, accounting for 1.1% of the total. The admin-
istrative laws and regulations in forms of rules, provisions, de-
cisions, methods, details and tentative methods/rules, and the rules
and details published by departments and ministries approved by
the State Council before the stipulation of Legislative Law3, totaled
32, accounting for 8.4% of the total. The State Council and its affil-
iated organizations have stipulated 59 department-level rules in
forms of orders, methods, instructions and rules, accounting for
15.6% of the total. The State Council issued 18 normative documents
in forms of opinions, outline, notice and replies, accounting for 4.7%
of the total. The State Council and its affiliated organizations issued
266 normative documents in forms of opinions, notices and replies,
accounting for 70.2% of all documents, as shown in Fig. 1(d). The
longitudinal analysis shows the different focus of policies at
different times. As shown in Fig. 1(c), the “Eighth Five Year Plan”
period witnessed the most normative documents of ministries and
commissions, and the “Ninth Five Year Plan”, “Tenth Five Year Plan”
and “Eleventh Five Year Plan” period witnessed more department-
level rules. In the “Twelfth Five Year Plan” period, the level of policy
documents was rather high and proportion of normative docu-
ments related to laws issued by the State Council was large. In
general, most of China's tourism policies are of a normative nature
with relatively less regulatory requirements. After the reform and
opening up, the quantity of the State Council's administrative rules
and normative documents remained rather stable, but those
relating to the departmental rules of various ministries increased
rapidly from the 1990s, and the competent departments came to
exert greater influence over the development of tourism.
3.2. Targets and policy tools of tourism policies
3.2.1. Targets of tourism policies
Generally speaking, the formation of public tourism policies
results from two factors, first, the level of evolution of the tourism
industry, and second, the r targets of government (Su, 2011). Gov-
ernment targets usually refer to an action for establishing related
public policies and their purposes, and the standards and effects to
be achieved. According to different classification methods, there are
general and specific targets, longer-term and short-term targets,
political governance and management targets, economic targets,
cultural and social targets. The targets of government policies are
usually reflected in terms of the quantity, structure and types of
policies.
While analyzing the core policy documents and tourism policy
samples, the tourism policies in China can be roughly summarized
3
Administrative laws and regulations usually include rules, methods, enforce-
ment regulations and stipulations. According to Article 61 of the Legislation Law,
the administrative laws and regulations shall be released after the Premier signs the
decree of the State Council and the department regulations shall be released after
chief officer of the department signs orders. On May 18th of 2004, the Summary of
the Symposium on Issues Concerning Applicable Legal Norms for the Trial of
Administrative Cases by the Supreme People's Court (Legal [2004] No.96) clearly
says that there are three types of effective administrative laws considering the
evolution of legislative procedure of New China, first, the administrative laws and
regulations stipulated and issued by the State Council, second, the administrative
laws and regulations approved by the State Council and issued by departments of
the State Council in accordance with the procedures stipulated according to the
existing administrative laws and regulations before the implementation of the
Legislation Law. However, after the implementation of the Legislation Law, the
normative documents approved by the State Council and issued by departments of
the State Council are no longer administrative laws and regulations, third, other
administrative laws and regulations determined by the State Council when sorting
out administrative laws and regulations.
Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
5
as possessing four targets: First, the foreign exchange activities
before reform and opening up. In this phase, the tourism policies
are mainly about standardizing and promoting the domestic travel
of foreign immigrants and the exit and entry of foreigners and to
address failure in meeting economic targets. The policy documents
include the Temporal Methods for Registration of Foreign Settlers and
Issuance of Residence Certificate (1954) and the Rules about Man-
agement of Exit and Entry of Foreigners and Residence and Travel
(1964) etc. Second, China strove to earn foreign exchanges through
international tourism in the first 15 years after reform and opening
up. The National Tourism Work Conference in 1981 determined
that “the tourism is a comprehensive economic endeavor and is a
driving force for development”. The economic targets of tourism
policies gradually emerged at that time. Later, large number of
policies promoting tourism through establishing facilities for exit
and entry visas, fundamental reception and travel service were
established. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control
of the Exit and Entry of Overseas Citizens (1985, abolished) was
stipulated and issued at that time. Third, by taking advantage of the
its economic strength, domestic tourism was recognized for its
ability to help boost internal demand for goods and services from
the middle and latter part of 1990s to the first ten years of the 21st
century. If the middle and latter part of 1990s was prelude to the
growth of domestic tourism, the early 21st century witnessed that
growth as numbers of tourist trips rapidly grew to about 4 billion by
2015. From the Notices about Opinions of Actively Developing Do-
mestic Tourism Industry by National Tourism Administration Trans-
mitted by General Office of the State Council (1993), a series of
policies have been put forward, including the Decision of the State
Council on Amending the Regulation on Public Holidays for National
Annual Festivals and Memorial Days (the first amendment) (1999),
the Notice about Opinions of Further Developing Holiday Tourism by
National Tourism Administration Transmitted by General Office of the
State Council (2000), the Notice about Accelerating Tourism Devel-
opment by the State Council (2001) and the Opinions of the State
Council on Accelerating the Development of the Service Industry
(2007). All these policies are based on the strategic targets to “build
the world's leading tourism power and to foster newly-emerging
pillars”. Until 2008, the tourism development policies have shif-
ted to a thinking of “vigorously developing domestic tourism,
actively developing inbound tourism and orderly developing
outbound tourism”. The dominant power of domestic tourism
market is maintained, and the function of tourism to drive domestic
demand is confirmed. Fourth, regarding the “Twelfth Five Year
Plan” as a starting point, the tourism industry takes a holistic view
of the economy and society. By the end of 2009, the Opinions on
Accelerating the Development of Tourism Industry issued by the State
Council designated the tourism industry as “the strategic pillar
industry and the modern service industry satisfied by the mass”,
and the tourism industry started to bear economic and social
functions. In 2013, The Outline for National Tourism and Leisure, and
the Tourism Law were stipulated, the rights of free travel by citizens
were fully respected and the tourism industry was given enough
attention with regard to its functions on improving livelihood,
promoting culture and education, and the social functions of
tourism became ever more prominent.
3.2.2. Tourism policy tools
The policy tools are a major means of realizing policy targets.
According to Rothwell and Zegveld (1985), the fundamental policy
tools are divided into supply, environment and demand. The
supply-based policy tools are divided into scientific and techno-
logical information support, infrastructure construction and capital
investment etc. Environmentally-based policy tools can be divided
into target planning, financial support, tax preferences, and legal
6 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11

and regulatory controls. The demand-based policy tools include
governmental purchases, service outsourcing and trade manage-
ment. Some comprehensive policy documents usually include
multiple policy tools. Therefore, this study classified the types of
tools based on the main contents of policy documents. At the same
time, the vacation system and visa policies are independently sor-
ted out in environmentally-based policies according to features of
tourism industry. Judging from the statistics in Table 2, China's
tourism policies are mainly environmentally based (40.1%), fol-
lowed by demand-based (18.2%) and supply-based policies (15.3%).
Through further analysis, one can observe the followings. First, the
supply-based policy tools are rare, and there are few supports
arising from capital investment (1.1%), infrastructure construction
(1.8%), and support in science, technology and information (3.2%).
Policies relating to the enhancement of employee and managerial
practices account for 9.2% of policy changes, and most are about
qualification tests for tourist guides, tourist industry certification
and tourist guide training, and at the same time, policies for various
technicians, business and management training and scientific and
research skills. The orientation such policies echoes the condition
of China's tourism industry and its past deficiencies in infrastruc-
ture and lack of tourism operational management innovative skills.
Second, the environment-based policy tools mainly focus on laws
and regulatory controls, accounting for 27.4% of total, followed by
visa policies (5.3%). Other tools, like target planning (2.9%), financial
policies (1.3%) and taxation policies (2.1%) are rarely used. Visa
policies are the tools with most influential impact on international
tourism and have been commonly used in the development of
China's tourism. However, in practice, the supply of current visa
policies remains generally deficient in meeting market demands for
international tourism. Third, the demand-orientation policy tools
are mainly about foreign trade control, accounting for 18.2% of the
total, and other policy tools, like government purchasing and
outsourcing, are almost totally absent. Such control over foreign
trade is mainly focusing on international tourism, including control
over foreign exchanges during the period of the planned economy,
price controls relevant to inbound tourism, the management of
receiving and paying foreign exchanges in inbound tourism and the
management system for future international travel services and
foreign trade operators. All these control policies played a critical
role in the past but are now gradually being eased and indeed
abandoned.
3.3. An analysis of the impact of tourism policies
3.3.1. Impacts of tourism policies
Generally speaking, the impact of policies reflects the level of
implementation, and their legal and moral persuasive power. This
article mainly focuses on the quantitative analysis of the effec-
tiveness of the policies based on the significance of the policy-
issuing organs and the types of policies adopted. According to
related rules of the Legislation Law, the force of law is superior to
administrative rules. And the administrative rules are superior to
department regulations whose power is stronger than other
normative documents. However, considering the subject of stipu-
lating and issuing policies, the administrative normative docu-
ments stipulated by the State Council are superior to department
rules and local government regulations, and the courts can refer to
such rules in trials and yet never refer to administrative normative
documents. This is because the administrative laws and regulations
and rules fall within the domain of possessing legislative power
within the Chinese system of law. The administrative normative
documents do not fall within the same remit administrative
legislation. Consequently the implication of any administrative
normative documents is very much determined by contextual is-
sues specific to the set of circumstances being considered. Judging
from the development of China's tourism industry, the adminis-
trative normative documents stipulated by the State Council enjoy
more influence when compared with department level rules and
regulations. Bearing the above factors in mind, the strength of
tourism policies is divided into 5 grades based on such levels as
laws, administrative laws and regulations and administrative
normative documents, department rules and department level
administrative normative documents issued by the State Council,
and are thus ranked in descending order, namely:
5 e Laws, the laws stipulated by NPC and its standing
committee.
4 e Administrative Laws and Regulations, the generic term for
normative documents about exercising administrative power
and fulfilling the administrative duties stipulated by the State
Council based on Constitutional laws and legal procedures,
including rules, methods, details of implementation and pro-
visions, which shall be issued in the forms of decrees by the
State Council.
3 e Administrative Normative Documents of the State Council,
the normative documents issued by the State Council, including
the decisions, orders, provisions, methods, details of imple-
mentation, opinions and notices with general binding effect.
2 e Department Rules, the orders, instructions and rules issued
by departments and affiliated organs of the State Council in the
form of decrees of Ministries according to administrative laws
and regulations, decisions and orders within the jurisdiction of
the department.
1 e Department Administrative Normative Documents, the
decisions, orders, provisions, methods, details of implementa-
tion, opinions and notices with general binding effect issued by
departments and affiliated organs of the State Council.
The effective values for policies at different stages are then to be
aggregated based on results of various policies in each year and in
different phases in accordance with descending score from 5 to 1
reflecting the above order as suggested by Sheng and Kong (2011):
In the equation ‘i’ represents various stages determined in
research (roughly each five-year-period is a stage), and the range of
i should be from 1949 to 2013; ‘N’ represents the quantity of

Table 2
The policy tool type of China's tourism development policy during 1949e2013.

Type Category Quantity Ratio Type Category Quantity Ratio

Supply-side PolicyHuman Resource Policy 35 9.2 Environment model policy Target Planning 1 2.9
Support in Science & Technology and Information 12 3.2 Financial Policy 5 1.3
Infrastructure Construction 7 1.8 Taxation Policy 8 2.1
Capital Investment 4 1.1 Laws and Regulations Control 104 27.4
Need-based policy Governmental Purchase 0 0.0 Vacation System 4 1.1
Service Outsourcing 0 0.0 Visa Policy 20 5.3
Foreign Trade Control 69 18.2 Others 104 27.4
Total 379 100

Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
tourism development policies stipulated in stage ‘i’; ‘j’ represents
number allocated to j policy stipulated in stage ‘i’; PGj represents
the score gained in policy No. J; Pj represents the value of strength
of policies No. J; and TPGi represents the overall strength of policies
in stage ‘i’.
3.3.2. Analysis of strength of tourism policies
Based on the above equation, the tourism policies from founding
of New China were analyzed with the results shown in Fig. 2(a).
Since the opening up and reform, the effectiveness of tourism
policies has been polarized. On the one hand, there were have
fewer tourism development policies before the reform and opening
up, and these are generally shown to have had little effect. Some
policies issued in this period are mainly about the management of
foreign affairs activities, and the exit and entry policies servicing
overseas Chinese and traffic and security. The highest value of
policy strength these stages is scored at the value of 31. On the other
hand, the quantity of policies after the reform and opening increase
in both number and effectiveness. Starting with the Decision of the
State Council on Enhancing Tourism in 1981, the effectiveness of
policy documents as measured on these scales kept increasing,
with the peak level being in the “Eighth Five Year Plan” when it
reached 125. In the following 10 years, this figure declined, and
another peak appeared in the “11th Five Year Plan” period and the
policy score reached 103. The peak value is in consistent with the
policy targets to promote development of tourism industry in the
“Eighth Five Year Plan” period, which was to foster new national
economic growth as the authorities sought to create economic
growth through primary industry investment. In this period, many
state-level measures were taken to promote the development of
tourism economy and a pro-tourism policy environment was
fostered, including the Decisions of the State Council on Accelerating
the Development of Tertiary Industry (1992), Rules about Working
Hours of Employees by the State Council (1995) and other highly
rated policies promoting domestic tourism. The subsequent peak in
the policy score in the “11th Five Year Plan” period had much to do
with the comprehensive development of China's tourism industry
at that time and its recognition as an important component of the
national economy and policies favoring consumer led economic
growth. Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Develop-
ment of Service Industry (2007) and Opinions on Accelerating the
Development of Tourism Industry (2009) were stipulated, and many
policy documents have been subsequently announced to satisfy the
Fig. 2. Policy efforts of tourism development in different periods.
Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
7
spirit of these two above documents, including for example the
Regulations of Annual Leave of Employees (2007) and the Rules of
Travel Agencies (2009). At the same time, with the tourism industry
better integrated into the national economy, a demand emanated
for competent tourism administrations to actively enhance the
supervision and provisions of services for the tourism industry.
Therefore, it is suggested that these scores, though fluctuating quite
a bit, basically echo the development of China's tourism industry.
Through this approach it is also possible to estimate the effect of
individual pieces of legislation and regulations, and the implica-
tions of the different stages. What might be termed the unit policy
strength value can be gauged by the dividing the policy scores in
different stages by the number of policies. As shown in Fig. 2(b), in
the initial stage after the founding of the New China and the “Sixth
Five Year Plan” period are two main periods for unit policy strength,
with the former representing the start of the tourism industry and
latter representing the reform and opening up. Tourism develop-
ment served as one of the starting points of the post-reform
economy. During the initial stage of the founding of New China,
there were only a few tourism policies, but each had a significant
impact indicating that China placed a high value on the capability of
the tourism industry in dealing with foreign affairs. The “Sixth Five
Year Plan” period might be said to be the start of the tourism in-
dustry. Therefore, the State Council decided to enhance tourism and
stipulated many important policy documents as the foundation of
the tourism industry and the creation of careers within that in-
dustry. These policy documents include Management Methods for
Travel Vehicles and Ships (1982), the Law of the People's Republic of
China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens (1985), the Law
of the People's Republic of China on the Control of the Exit and Entry of
Overseas Citizens (1985), Tentative Rules on Management of Scenic
Spots (1985), and Tentative Rules on Management of Travel Agencies
(1985). In addition, from the “Seventh Five Year Plan” period, the
scores of unit policies at various stages has kept increasing, repre-
senting stable growth of the tourism industry. This upward trend
continues, predicting a future sound development.
3.4. Participants of tourism policy designs
Tourism is a comprehensive industry covering many sectors and
fields, with multiple departments participating in formulating
development policies in the different periods. Fig. 3(a) shows the
involvement of such departments was rare before the reform and
8 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11

opening up. However, after reform and opening up, such activities and Macao Compatriots and Increasing National Foreign Exchange
increased year by year. As seen in Fig. 3, the first five years in the Earnings in 1963. Altogether, there were 8 departments participating
1960s witnessed a small peak due to the issuance of the Notice on in the formulation of this normative document, including Overseas
Promoting Tourism Businesses for Overseas Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese Affairs Commission, People's Bank of China, Ministry of

Fig. 3. Participating departments of tourism sector development policy at different stages.

Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
Communications, Ministry of Railways, Civil Aviation Administra-
tion of China, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Food and Ministry
of Foreign Trade, indicating the wide range of sectors involved in
international tourism. After the reform and opening up, the number
of participant departments reached a peak level in the “Eleventh
Five Year Plan” period, totaling 17 participants in formulating
tourism policies. This achievement arose from and contributed to
the comprehensive development of the tourism industry.
Judging from the numbers of policy stipulations and issuance,
the leading departments in this process included the State Council
and National Tourism Administration, and major participant de-
partments include Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Public Security,
Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce, involving 30 or
more departments1 (Fig. 3(d)). As shown in Fig. 3(b), the number of
policy documents issued by a single department reached 332, ac-
counting for 87.6% of the total; the number for policy documents
promulgated by two departments reached 35 (accounting for 9.2%
of total); the number for policy documents issued by three de-
partments reached 4, (1.1%); and the number of documents issued
by three or more departments reached 8, (2.1%). In Fig. 3(c), the
major conduit for stipulating tourism policies was mainly provided
by the National Tourism Administration which issued 260 policy
documents (68.6%); with the National Tourism Administration also
providing 33 other documents of regulations etc. to account for 293
promulgations. What is worth mentioning is the number of policy
documents not stipulated by National Tourism Administration
numbered 79, accounting for about a fifth of the total. Many of
these latter documents comprised regulations about immigration,
visas, traffic and transportation, which are quite important for the
international and domestic tourism markets. One aspect of China's
administrative system is that while tourism has impacts that fall
within the jurisdiction of many different departments, not all of
those departments may necessarily possess expertise in tourism at
national or provincial levels. On the other hand, given its national
importance, the industry is increasingly attracting attention from
the different levels of government, especially given its role as
complimenting government economic and social policies.
In looking at these issues it needs to be noted that after the
founding of the New China, the departmentalization of the State
Council and its ministries and departments directly affiliated to
State Council changed, and the current names name of de-
partments and ministries are used in this paper. The policy docu-
ments issued by the State Development Planning Commission and
State Administration of Commodity Prices were transferred to the
National Development and Reform Commission and documents
issued previously by Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Foreign
Trade were transferred to the Ministry of Commerce due to the
change of names and functions of departments and ministries.
4. Conclusion and prospects of research
4.1. Conclusion of research
Tourism is an economically-focused service industry and has
had different missions at different stages of China's economic and
social policies. After sorting the tourism policy documents issued
over the past 60 or more years, many policy designs were not
consecutive. Rather, they primarily reflected government concerns
at different stages in the evolution of Chinese policies. Such stage-
focused arrangements nonetheless powerfully pushed forward the
development and progress of tourism. At the same time, such ar-
rangements reflect a relatively conservative and complicated set of
concerns by government.
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research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
9
(1) Tourism policy in China has evolved from being based on the
administrative allocation of resources into a market-based
allocation of resources restrained by administrative powers.
The evolution of China's economic system is mainly driven by
government; hence the change in tourism policy evolved from being
based the administrative allocation of resources to a market-based
one. The differences can be observed by analyzing the quantity
and structure of tourism development policies in different stages
and by identifying the application of policy tools and differences of
policies over time. From the founding of New China to the end of
“Cultural Revolution”, the tourism industry had been constrained by
the planned economy and endowed with the function of “expanding
political influences on international community”. Consequently
tourism policies were initially about the immigration of foreigners
and services for overseas citizens. At the beginning of reform and
opening up, the tourism industry was still a public service sector
even though its nature was getting clearer. Monopolization could
still be seen in many areas and strict control was imposed on foreign
exchange currency. This is clear through many policy documents
issued in the same period, including Notice on Adjusting Charging
Standards on Comprehensive Service for Self-supporting Foreign Tour-
ists (1979), Notice on Issuing Fundamental Requirements of Operating
Tourism Restaurants (1982) and Tentative Rules about Price of Inter-
national Tourism of China (1985). In the 1990s, China's market
economy was gradually established, the regulations imposed on
tourism became gradually eased and the monopolies (such as state
owned hotels) were broken up by privatization policies. The stipu-
lation and issuance of a series of documents further unleashed the
vitality of tourism and shifted the focus of tourism administrative
management from administration-based control to standard su-
pervision and service. These documents include Notice on Pricing
Management of International Tourism (1993), Notice on Name Man-
agement after Company-based Restructuring of Travel Agencies (1994),
Tentative Methods about Trial Operation of Sino-foreign Joint Venture
Travel Agencies (1998) and Rules about Evaluation of Stars of Hotels for
Overseas Tourists in People's Republic of China (1998). In the 21st
Century, the reform of “market-based allocation of resources” was
pushed further as governmental functions were transformed. The
tourism administrative management gradually shifted to public
service and macro-regulation with the stipulation of a series of
policy documents, including Opinions on Further Improving Public
Service in Tourism (2012), Opinions on Accelerating the Development of
Tourism Industry through Financial Support (2012), Tourism Law of the
People's Republic of China (2013) and Outlines on Development of
Tourism Quality (2013e2020). The evolution of the tourism industry
is a process of continuous market-based allocation of resources and
the liberation of productivity.
(2) The targets of tourism policies have always been consistent
with the strategic goals of national economic and social
development
China's tourism industry has had different tasks in different
times in the course of its development. All these different tasks
have helped formulate the different policies. The evolution of tar-
gets for tourism policies has always been consistent with the
strategic goals of national economic and social development, e.g.
people-to-people diplomacy, foreign exchange activities, foreign
exchange earnings, pushing consumption, improving employment,
raising self-cultivation and servicing people's livelihood. Taking
foreign affairs activities during the period of the planned economy
period as an example, the emotional appeal of entertainment in
tourism for the capitalist class was not compliant with the spirit of
those times. However, the Chinese government needed people-to-
10 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
people diplomacy more to “break the ice” of the then existing
diplomatic environment. Hence the tourism policies for promoting
inbound tourism stipulated at that period including Methods about
Preferential Treatment of Traffic Charges of Self-support International
Tourists (1958) and Rules of Management of Entry, Exit and Transit of
Foreigners (1964) satisfactorily fulfilled the mission of the times.
The middle and latter part of 1990s to the first decade of 21st
Century also saw the Asian financial crisis and global financial
crisis. Therefore, promoting domestic demand became an impor-
tant target for national economic development. The tourism in-
dustry voluntarily shifted its strategic focus from putting a high
priority on attracting inbound tourists to developing domestic
tourism, in order to turn tourism into a new growth point of the
national economy and a major force driving domestic consumer
demand. And, the tourism policies and their goals stipulated in this
phase all focused on the promotion of domestic tourism. For
example, many policies at that time have contributed to promoting
domestic tourism services, including Decisions of the State Council
on Amending Public Holidays Festivals and Memorial Days (First
Amendment) (1999), Notice about Opinions of Further Developing
Holiday Tourism by National Tourism Administration Transmitted by
General Office of the State Council (2000) and Opinions of the State
Council on Accelerating the Development of Service Industry (2007).
All these policies have perfectly satisfied the strategic demand of
China towards tourism. Therefore, the national strategy of tourism
industry has remained unchanged over the past 60 years or more in
that tourism policies have always been subordinated to the eco-
nomic and social management of the State.
(3) Policy tools are mainly used for micro-control to gradually
realize public management and macro-regulation.
In fact, the change of policy tools represents the transformation
of governmental functions. As seen in the above statistics, the policy
tools for China's tourism development since the founding of China
have shifted their focus from simple administrative orders to
guiding and instructing enterprises and standardizing markets
through stipulating national and industrial standards and bench-
marking leading players, thus realizing the functional trans-
formation from governmental regulations, domination and
guidance to one of service and supervision. The range of adminis-
trative arrangements for the management of tourism has also
changed, from previously creating a uniformity of standards for staff
and travel companies in the tourism industry to currently coordi-
nating industrial development and upholding the legitimate rights
and interests of consumers and business operators in tourism in a
holistic manner, and caring about and satisfying the demands of
China's new mass tourism. However, more micro-controls have
been imposed and the absence of macro-regulation has been quite
serious. First, the absence of macro-regulatory policies for other
industrial factors such as capital, skills and science and technology
has led to uneven performances between companies and destina-
tions. Equally investment for public infrastructure facilities and
scientific and technological system has been insufficient. Similarly
the attention on the role of tourist guides has detracted attention
from the cultivation of skills in other aspects of the industry. Up until
now, policies regarding tourism technological innovation have been
largely absent, and the establishment of an innovative system lags
behind leading to deficiencies in the provision of information and a
loss of innovative capacity in the industry. Similarly it may be said
that the current macro-regulatory tools of finance and taxation are
still far from benefiting tourism. Difficulties in financing and
discrimination in taxation are still challenges that restrict the
development of tourism enterprises. In part this has something to
do with the restricted functional abilities of the relevant tourism
Please cite this article in press as: Tang, X., The historical evolution of China's tourism development policies (1949e2013) e A quantitative
research approach, Tourism Management (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.010
departments. Equally there are difficulties in dovetailing tourism as
a strategic pillar and coordinating with many other government
departments to create the required synergy. There is also a tendency
to an overuse of regulation. Since the founding of New China, a total
of 104 policy documents related to tourism laws and regulations and
administrative rules have been stipulated, accounting for 27.9% of all
such laws and regulations. Many of the regulations and adminis-
trative rules about travel agencies and tourist guides impose re-
strictions and control onto industrial entities in a much too detailed
manner, thus limiting their development. At the same time, the
demand-based policy tools have been applied too much in the arena
of foreign trade control. As international tourism intertwines with
diplomacy, foreign exchange and many other political and economic
factors, it is easy for this part of tourism activity to be regarded as a
target for control. In general, under the influence of various extra-
neous factors, China's tourism has become heavily dependent on
micro-regulation and is less capable of responding to the macro-
regulation of production factors like capital, science and technol-
ogy, and human resources, and it is unable to meet the current
demands of tourism development in these areas of concern.
Therefore, it still has ample room for improvement.
(4) More policy makers appear and the search for stability stable
Just as tourism is a comprehensive industry, involving cooper-
ation and coordination with many other departments, so too the
departments involved are also evolving and developing their own
policies at various stages. Apart from the National Tourism
Administration, the Ministry of Security and Foreign Ministry also
played a role in tourism in the early stages when foreign exchange
and foreign affairs were a top priority. Later, as tourism developed
economically, more departments became involved, including
Ministry of Housing Construction, State Administration of Industry
of Commerce, China Insurance Regulatory Commission and de-
partments related to scenic spot construction and foreign exchange
and pricing management. Since the commencement of the 21st
Century, the developmental goals for tourism have become more
diversified as the tourism products integrate more with other in-
dustries. The Ministry of Education, Civil Aviation Administration,
Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Culture, People's Bank of China,
Ministry of Finance and China Banking Regulatory Commission and
China Securities Regulatory Commission also have a role in the
stipulation of tourism development policies, creating a synergy to
push forward tourism in China. This is indicative of the high value
China places on tourism. Of course, such a trend also results in a
more diversified, comprehensive and complicated situation,
requiring more efforts within industrial coordination. Looking to
the future, strengthening macro supervision and regulation over
tourism economy, fully giving play to markets in allocating re-
sources and governing tourism markets and utilizing tourism re-
sources by laws shall be the foundation for many departments to
promote and coordinate tourism. From a political view, in the
1990s, the dimensions tourism policies first fluctuated and then
stabilized. And the small peak of regulations and laws in 11th Five
Year Plan period was indicative of tourism entering into a period of
growth, and the forthcoming policies provided support for markets
and helped tourism's comprehensive development.
4.2. Prospects of policies
Various systematic arrangements have vigorously pushed
tourism forward. However, in fact, an imbalance of structure of
system design for tourism development still remains, and the envi-
ronment for such policies is still littered with restrictions. Even now,
taxes for using water, electricity and gas for some tourism
 X. Tang / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e11
enterprises in many places are still higher than that for ordinary
enterprises. The often under-capitalized smaller tourism companies
are still facing difficulties of financing. Many obstacles, such as the
implementation of rules about tourism agencies' participating in
governmental purchasing and the services outsourcing and policies
related to the land use for tourism development remain uncertain
requiring future consideration. It can be predicted that China's
tourism industry will enter into a brand new phase after the passing
of the Tourism Law in October 2013. Speaking of China's national
strategic thinking, the tourism industry requires policy support in
the process of interacting more with social, culture and international
factors. In industrial development, the innovation of product busi-
ness and commercial model led by technological advances, market
demand and the competition and cooperation relations between
enterprises will serve as a fundamental driver for future upgrading of
industrial efficiency. Innovations of various systems, technology and
markets, e.g. transformation of product models and service, will keep
emerging. To fit this demand, the design of systems for the innova-
tion of tourism industry needs more attention, and an innovation of
corresponding financial and taxation policies related to production
factors like capital, technology and human resources realized
required. In markets, the ever increasing demand for “entertainment
tourism” will inevitably impact on in policy design, and break-
throughs will be made in systems for vacation and welfare. With
references to the management of tourism, it seems macro regulation
and control, and an orientation toward the public will become
fundamental elements with the transformation of government
functions and expansion of tourism industry. The internationaliza-
tion of industry and the battle for a Chinese voice in international
arena will become the new focal points in the policy making process.
In general, the sound operation of the tourism industry is dependent
on various arrangements in the social and economic system. Tourism
however will maintain its development in the future.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a grant from the National Social
Science Foundation of China (12FGL009). Special thanks to the hard
efforts made by Ye Qin, a postgraduate student from Beijing Inter-
national Studies University, in collecting fundamental data for the
essay. Thank you again.
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Xiaoyun Tang is an Associate Researcher at China Tourism
Academy. She received her PhD from the School of Man-
agement, Tianjin University in 2007. Her main research
topics are the growth of the tourism, legal and regulatory
controls, tourism impacts and sustainable development.
She has hosted one project funded by the National Natural
Science Foundation and one sub-project of a key national
social science project. She has published more than 20 ac-
ademic papers and 2 monographs, participated in editing
four books, and served as Vice-Director Commissioner of
the Ethnic Tourism Committee, China Union of Anthropo-
logical and Ethnological Sciences.