Wengding's "Primitive" Tribe: Capital, Power and the Spatial Production of Uneven Development
Abstract
In the dominant discourses, ethnic tourism is often presented as a tool for rural development, but it does not lead to equal benefits for all members in the rural area. This research examines Wengding, a Wa ethnic village in southwest China that was once known as "China's last primitive tribe." The study utilizes Wengding as a case village for exploring the impacts of tourism development on the production of space, power, and everyday life in the village. Methodologically, this study combines policy discourse analysis, qualitatively coded data from 20 travel reviews on Trip.com and Ctrip (2021–2024), and secondary studies on Wengding and ethnic tourism in China. Findings suggest that the development in Wengding has not been a simple story of economic growth, but rather a story of a political economy in which outside capital and local elites capture the highest returns, while villagers pay the long-term costs of staged authenticity and risks associated with tourism development. The fire incident in Wengding in 2021 is used as an example of how such a conflict has been revealed in the village. This research ends with a discussion on the possibility of cooperative governance in the reconstruction of Wengding for a new type of tourism.
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