Hitchhiking travel in China: Gender, agency and vulnerability

Abstract

Despite its recent emergence as an alternative way of travel, hitchhiking in China remains significantly understudied, with its gender aspects unexplored. Investigating the (re)constitution of gendered Chinese hitchhiking subjects in contemporary China, this paper rethinks the paradox of agency largely unexamined in tourism gender research. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted on the South Sichuan – Tibet Route. The findings demonstrate that gendered subjectivities of the vulnerable female and the invulnerable male in hitchhiking are produced by normative heterosexuality and the principle of reciprocity as interrelated discursive regimes. The paper contributes an understanding of resistance as a contested site that accommodates ongoing political debates and ethical reflections, which requires agency to be continuously posed as a question rather than a solution.