The ancient tea horse road and the politics of cultural heritage in Southwest China: Regional identity in the context of a rising China

Abstract

This chapter explores the multiple uses of cultural heritage as related to the ancient tea horse road (ATHR) of Southwest China, a network of trading routes linking tea producing regions of Yunnan and Sichuan with consumption markets in Tibet, Guangdong, Beijing and beyond. Cultural tourism, nostalgia and romance, ethnic unity and regional identity connect the tea road, identified by Yunnanese scholars as a concept in the early 1990s, to explicit and implicit governmental agendas. Preserving and revitalizing the road reaffirms the importance of Southwest China's culture and history to the Chinese center and to regions and nations on China's southern periphery.