Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

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

Revitalizing traditional villages through rural tourism: A case study of

Yuanjia Village, Shaanxi Province, China
Jing Gao*, Bihu Wu
International Center for Recreation and Tourism Research, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Room 3354, 2nd Yifu Building, Peking University,
Beijing 100871, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Constructed a rural tourism-based traditional village revitalization model.

 Village leader-led or elite-led rural tourism development is effective.
 Farmer cooperative is a relative fair way in rural tourism benefit distribution and community participation in China.
 Embeddedness, non-embeddedness, endogeneity, empowerment and trust are main factors in Yuanjia village revitalization.

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

Article history: Increasing attention has been given to historically and culturally significant traditional villages in China
Received 17 November 2016 in the past five years. Two key themes have been protection and usage. Rural tourism has been recog-
Received in revised form nized as a key approach to rural development and poverty alleviation. Through a systematic knowledge
18 February 2017
review, this paper proposes an integrative and sustainable Rural Tourism-based Traditional Village
Accepted 9 April 2017
Revitalization model to better understand the relationship between rural tourism and village revitali-
zation. Integrated Rural Tourism and Sustainable Livelihood theory and ideology are integrated in this
model. A case study of the village of Yuanjia reveals that the model's three levels (material, social and
Keywords:
Integrated rural tourism
spiritual) are effective pathways for successful village revitalization. Village leader-led or elite-led
Sustainable livelihood development realizes endogenous and bottom-up development rather than a top-down arrangement.
Traditional village revitalization Farmer Cooperative is a relatively equitable means of benefit distribution and community participation in
China China.
Endogenous © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Rural areas and the rural way of life have gone through a global
crisis in recent years especially in developing countries; traditional
agriculture and rural culture have been disappearing or undergoing
assimilation through urbanization and modernization. In China, the
concept of the traditional village originated in late 2012 when the
first national list was released. From that time on, the effort to
protect traditional villages has risen to national attention and been
given legal status. By the end of 2016, there were four lists including
a total of more than 4000 villages designated as national traditional
villages in China. Some of these villages are World Cultural Heritage
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: gaojing880807@163.com (J. Gao), tigerwu@urban.pku.edu.cn
(B. Wu).
sites and have gained worldwide attention, such as Xidi, Hongcun
and Kaiping Diaolou (Zhou, Zhong, & Liu, 2015). These villages have
enormous cultural, historic, artistic and architectural value. How-
ever, more and more rural people have moved to big cities to find
jobs, better education and better medical services, abandoning
their houses and lands and turning their villages into ghost towns.
Recently, an increasing number of scholars have become interested
in rural heritage and communities (Gullino & Larcher, 2013; Jimura,
2011; Sun, Cruz, Min, Liu, & Zhang, 2013; Zuo, Huang, & Ding, 2014).
The Chinese government instituted a protection policy only rela-
tively recently and now has advanced both protection and utiliza-
tion policies to help preserve traditional villages.
The crisis of traditional rural villages is not unique to China:
rural agriculture, landscapes and ways of life are changing rapidly
due to globalization and urbanization. China nevertheless has a
special political, economic and cultural context. China has public,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.04.003
0261-5177/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
224 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233
collective ownership of land, and a binary urban-rural household
register. Citizens and farmers have no power to engage in private
land transactions, resulting in restrictions on changes of land
ownership. The question of how to revitalize traditional villages has
become a major academic and practical topic in China. Several
Chinese villages have developed a rural tourism industry for years,
whether due to external or endogenous forces. What kind of rural
tourism is effective for village revitalization? This paper explores an
ideal approach and constructs a sustainable tourism-based tradi-
tional village revitalization model. This model offers a better un-
derstanding of the relationship between local residents and village
revitalization within a rural tourism context. It provides a unified
framework for guiding work from an interdisciplinary perspective.
To test the model, this paper uses Yuanjia Village in Shaanxi
Province as a case study.
2. Literature review
2.1. Rural tourism as an effective approach to traditional village
revitalization
The worldwide recession of rural areas is a general phenomenon
resulting from industrial civilization. However, in the postmodern
world, rural areas have more functions than just agricultural
commodity production; they are sites of recreation, tourism, lei-
sure, specialty food production, consumption and e-commerce
(Saxena et al., 2007). Among their most important functions, they
are a destination for rural tourism. As Lane and Kastenholz (2015)
indicated, rural tourism existed since the late nineteenth century
on the European and American continents, but the 1970s and 1980s
saw “a new type of rural tourism which was driven by markets, by
rural people and communities, and by governments no matter their
status as scenic or protected areas.” Combining rurality with
tourism is a relatively effective global development path. Rural
tourism brings economic revenue and jobs; governments and re-
searchers credit it with slowing down the population loss in rural
areas (Augustyn, 1998; Flisher & Felsenstein, 2000). Although it has
been defined in many different ways, rural tourism has two basic
features: it employs rural inhabitants, and involves recycling and
revalorizing existing rural infrastructure and heritage resources as
tourist accommodations and attractions (Lane & Kastenholz, 2015).
Although Barbieri (2013) questions “the link between rural tourism
and a sustainable valorized traditional countryside,” on the whole,
rural tourism is still a vigorous trend throughout the world. It
should not be understood merely as a type of tourism, but also as a
tool for the conservation and regeneration of rural society and rural
culture. In practice, the key issues are how to balance the needs and
perspectives of different stakeholders and manage them equitably
and efficiently.
Extensive research concerning tourism and villages, especially
rural tourism already exists. By measuring the attitudes of local
residents and their perceptions and involvement, tourism's effects
on local communities can be analyzed (Lindberg, Dellaert, &
Rassing, 1999; Wang & Pfister, 2008; Williams & Lawson, 2001).
Visitor satisfaction with the tourism experience has also been
researched (Devesa, Laguna, & Palacios, 2010; Kastenholz, Carneiro,
Marques, & Lima, 2012). From the marketing perspective, rural
Destination Management Organizations, brands, images and mar-
keting strategies are the major issues to explore (Adeyinka-Ojo,
Khoo-Lattimore, & Nair, 2014; Chen, Lin, & Kuo, 2013; Haven-
Tang & Sedgley, 2014; Zhou, 2014). The sustainability of rural
tourism planning and management has received increasing atten-
tion. Many studies have developed sustainability indicators that
include social, economic and environmental dimensions (Blancas,
Lozano-Oyola, Gonz alez, Guerrero, & Caballero, 2011). In addition,
the institutional dimension has been a consideration. As for sus-
tainable village revitalization, the needs of different must be
addressed. The most effective method is community participation
or community-based action. A good partnership between village
residents and outside developers would lead to sustainable dia-
logue for the growth of tourism (Hwang, Stewart, & Ko, 2012).
Effective collective action can enhance community solidarity,
identity and empowerment and strengthen locals' position in ne-
gotiations with outsiders, making it a popular approach in devel-
oped countries. In the United States, another powerful force for
revitalizing rural communities is university-community partner-
ships (Grunwell & Ha, 2014). No matter which approach to tourism
development is used to revitalize villages, local villagers' rights
must be taken into account as they live there and influence the
social environment.
In China, traditional villages have been long recognized by
architectural, archaeological and artistical specialists as cultural
relics. In their view, the first task is protection and preservation.
National and local governments have usually intervened and taken
over development rights, designating villages as tourism attrac-
tions and collecting tickets. Local villagers have received little
benefit and in most cases had no decision-making power. The
famous World Cultural Heritage villages of Xidi and Hongcun are
typical examples (Ying & Zhou, 2007). A new communal approach
for tourism development in rural China was developed in these two
villages. The classic idea of community participation in tourism in a
Western context can be examined from at least two perspectives:
the decision-making and benefit-sharing processes (McIntosh &
Goeldner, 1986). However, in the Chinese collective context, sus-
tainability can mean participation in benefit sharing by stake-
holders rather than participation in decision making in present
national social stage. These two standards could both be realized in
the near future. The trend has already begun in China, along with
the development of rural tourism development and the increase in
leisure demands. The government is also aware of the values of
traditional villages and the problems they face, and thus encour-
ages locals to develop rural tourism. That is to say, if a traditional
village does not diversify from a sole dependence on agriculture to
a wider range of socioeconomic activities, it will rapidly decay.
Based on diversified spatial distributions and village types, many
research interests and efforts have been made concerning tradi-
tional villages in recent years. In both theory and practice, rural
tourism is explicitly an approach to traditional village revitalization.
However, what is the right pathway and procedure at the local
level? No coordinated research efforts have been made, and inte-
gration is needed.
2.2. Integrated rural tourism (IRT)
As rural tourism facilitates the development of lagging regions, a
more integrated and territorial approach that also considers the
sustainability of rural tourism is needed. The concept of Integrated
Rural Tourism (IRT) was derived from EU research projects carried
out after 2000. It is theorized as tourism explicitly linked to the
economic, social, cultural, natural and human structures of the lo-
calities in which it takes place. It integrates tourism into local level.
As both a theory and an approach, IRT leads to more sustainable
tourism than other forms of tourism because it can create powerful
network connections between social, cultural, economic and
environmental resources. IRT builds practical ways of thinking
about improving linkages between tourism and local and regional
resources, activities, products and communities in light of changing
trends in tourism demands (Saxena et al., 2007). To conceptualize
this notion, seven dimensions of integration have been identified:
scale, sustainability, networking, endogeneity, embeddedness,
 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233 225

complementarity and empowerment (Clark & Chabrel, 2007). economic and institutional capital. Institutional arrangements
These are the key features and factors of IRT. Later, to make it include vertical and horizontal arrangements. Vulnerability context
possible to validate the measurement instruments, Marzo-Navarro, includes trends, shocks, seasonality and institutions. Outcomes
Pedraja-Iglesias and Vinzo  n (2016) refined and validated a new include sustainable economic, social, environmental and institu-
measurement instrument that excluded scale and sustainability. tional development. According to SLFT, tourism is seen as a context
IRT also contains three elementsdlocal actors, networks and rela- and a livelihood strategy in which all factors are embedded, influ-
tionshipsdwhich are at the same time influenced by formal and enced and shaped.
informal institutional arrangements. In nature SL and SLFT are both textural and integrated frame-
Saxena and Ilbery (2010) examined community attitudes and works. Their basic target is sustainable development. Su, Wall, and
distinctive practices that shaped local responses to IRT develop- Xu (2016) already pointed out that high dependency on tourism-
ment in lagging rural regions. Different actor-groups were inves- related activities as the sole livelihood option could diminish the
tigated and future real changes were expected from these actors sustainability of local livelihoods. So diversified livelihood options
(Saxena & Ilbery, 2010). Panyik, Costa, and R atz (2011) derived and socio-ecological resiliences (Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2011) are also
some key successful factors of the event-based approach to IRT. necessary for sustainable development.
Obviously, trust is important in maintaining networks which is a
basic foundation for cooperation. In a word, the philosophical 3. Constructing a sustainable rural tourism-based traditional
foundation of IRT is sustainable development and the significance village revitalization model
of local actors, which underlies the endogenous development style.
Its ideology is in line with the research objects and value. As the Based on the preceding literature review and analysis, this paper
concept of IRT was proposed in a European context, the main case proposes a synthetic framework for tourism-based traditional
studies of IRT practices were conducted in France and Ireland village revitalization in the Chinese context, as shown in Fig. 1. It is
(Cawley & Gillmor, 2008; Cawley, Marsat, & Gillmor, 2007), the UK, inspired by Julian Huxley's model mentioned in Haggett's book
Spain and Greece (Petrou, Pantziou, Dimara, & Skuras, 2007), and (1975: 238e239). Cultural geographers tried to define culture
English/Welsh Border (Saxena & Ilbery, 2010). Lenao and Saarinen precisely, although culture is complex and all-embracing. The En-
(2015) were the first to use IRT to assess the development of ru- glish biologist Huxley simplified culture into three components
ral tourism in a developing country, Botswana, and concluded that based on an analogy between cultural and biological evolution:
although it was a useful tool, it needed to be carefully contextual- mentifacts, which are the most central and durable elements of a
ized to reflect developing countries' situations. In short, IRT as an culture; sociofacts, which are those aspects of a culture relating to
innovative concept has integrated multiple disciplines and stake- links between individuals and groups; and artifacts, which are
holders, and thus provides a useful analytical framework. those aspects of a culture relating to a group's links with its ma-
terial environment. Liao (2011, pp. 435e457) subsequently absor-
2.3. A sustainable livelihood approach in the tourism context bed and developed Huxley's model and divided people and the
relationship between people and their environment into material,
Rural regions, especially lagging areas, are experiencing pro- social and spiritual levels corresponding to Huxley's three com-
found socio-economic changes that make it necessary to transform ponents. The material level is the superficial system, such as the
and diversify rural livelihoods. In modern times, traditional ways of culture landscape which people can experience. The social level is
life such as crop-growing, fishing, or forestry cannot perform the the normative system, such as laws or guidelines that people can
tasks of poverty reduction and rural development. In the 1980s, the perceive. The spiritual level is the ideal system, such as beliefs or
Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) was proposed, a holistic
and integrated philosophy of rural sustainable development
(Conroy & Litvinoff, 1988). Now its focus shifted from agricultural
practices to tourism. In Sustainable Livelihood capabilities are
important overlaping greatly with assets and activities. Access to
assets and activities mediated by institutions and social relations
are highlighted at the same time (Ellis, 2000). SL was first proposed
in Western and developed countries. Cahn (2002) pointed out that
culture and tradition were prominent in Pacific livelihoods, and
proposed a sustainable Pacific livelihoods model integrating culture
and tradition, indicating that the conceptual context is important.
There is no unified framework for SL and the most prominent
one was developed by the UK Department for International
Development which used a people-centered approach (DFID, 1999).
Five key features were identified: assets, transforming structures
and processes, vulnerability context, outcomes and strategies. As
tourism has become as a rural livelihood choice and a rural
development and poverty alleviation strategy, a framework to
demonstrate the relationship between SL and tourism develop-
ment is needed. Tourism has distinctive features, however, that
differentiate it from traditional industries from a production-
consumption perspective (Jafari, 1974). Shen, Hughey, and
Simmons (2008) proposed a Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
for Tourism (SLFT) demonstrating the key features of a tourism
livelihoods system which includes assets, tourism-related and non-
tourism-related activities, outcomes, institutional arrangements Fig. 1. A sustainable Rural Tourism-Based Traditional Village Revitalization model
and a vulnerability context. Assets include human, social, natural, (RTTVR).
226 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233

values which people can imagine. Just as Huxley's model has hel-
ped people to study and comprehend culture more directly, the
three-level model completely represents how culture has been
preserved and conserved in human history. As a culturological
theory, Huxley's model has rarely been used in tourism research.
When examining traditional village revitalization, understand-
ing its nature is a precondition. This study therefore designates
revitalization as a cultural representation process which implies its
cultural nature. Then from cultural perspective to understand, the
surface layer is the material morphology such as old buildings and
costumes. The middle layer is social structure such as residents'
behavior and productivity styles. The deeper layer is cultural in-
heritance such as village regulations and folk conventions.
An intact traditional village in China must contain the preceding
three layers. The trouble that traditional villages face is the defi-
ciency of one of these layers. The RTTVR framework presented in
Fig. 1 is thus an effective guide to revitalizing traditional villages. It
synthesizes Liao's model (2011) with two theories: IRT and SL.
Integrater Rural Tourism is a driving force and a strategy for
consistently stimulating the process. For the first level, the village's
physical space must be regenerated and properly rebuilt based on Fig. 2. Location of Yuanjia in China (marked with a red star). (For interpretation of the
the local history and culture representing the locality which was references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
defined by Appadurai (1996: 178) as a complex phenomenological this article.)
quality, constituted by a series of links between the sense of social
immediacy, the technologies of interactivity, and the relativity of
Agriculture was the only livelihood strategy until the late 1970s. At
contexts in contrast to neighborhood. Locality can be produced and
the beginning of the 1980s, the village leader Guo Yulu encouraged
is connected to identification (Kozorog, 2011). The infrastructure
villagers to open up some small plants, including cement, sponge
needs to be improved which should be convenient for local people
and casting plants. At that time, the Chinese government encour-
and tourists. For the second level, the integrated rural tourism
aged township-enterprises as part of a program of industrialization.
should facilitate the sustainable livelihood of local people and bring
The village gradually accumulated a large amount of capital and
about sustainable development outcomes from the economic, so-
became the richest village in the region. Residents were employed
cial and environmental perspectives. For the third level, all of the
by the plants, getting income from them and building new two-
physical, social, economic improvement measures taken by rural
storey houses for their households; the standard of living thus
tourism need to strengthen people's place identification and soli-
improved in the 1990s. However, in the early 21st century, due to
darity and give them pride in their homeland. If all of the three-
lower competitiveness, lower profits, environmental pollution and
level objectives were completed under Integrated Rural Tourism,
lack of human resources, these plants went out of business. Resi-
it would be a successful sustainable traditional village revitaliza-
dents were out of work and the youths began to leave the village to
tion. Although the model is ideal, it has great use as a guide and a
find jobs. The splendid past was gone along with the unsustainable
reference point for rural planners, rural managers, rural entrepre-
development style.
neurs and tourism practitioners.
However, 2007 was a turning point. Yuanjia Village shifted its
Then in this paper, the RTTVR model is applied to analyze how
livelihood direction to rural tourism. After several years of devel-
rural tourism can revitalize a traditional village in Shaanxi Province,
opment it has become a successful rural tourism destination and
China, and the extent to which it reaches the standards of Inte-
now attracts numerous citizens from nearby cities especially during
grated Rural Tourism. Future strategies are proposed in the
holidays. The approximate annual number of tourists in the last five
conclusion.
years is listed in Table 1. It was designated as a National Traditional
Village in 2013 by the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural
4. Method
Development. Yuanjia Village was chosen as the study case because
it has successfully used rural tourism as a livelihood approach to
4.1. Research context
sustainably revitalize itself. Although there are few surviving
tangible cultural relics of the kind that many other villages rely on
Yuanjia Village, which is 60 km away from Xi'an City, Shaanxi
in developing rural tourism, Yuanjia Village itself still attracts
Province, has become quite a popular rural tourism destination
tourists consistently. The reasons for this success are worth
during the last five years in the big Guanzhong Region (also called
exploring. The most obvious achievement is that the population of
Guanzhong Plain) which is a historical name meaning a region
between two militarily vital gates. The location of Yuanjia is shown
in Fig. 2 with a red star. Its original population was 268 and the Table 1
village covers an area of 0.53 square kilometers, of which 75% is The approximate annual tourist amount in last five years.
suitable for crops. The nearest and the exclusive tourism attraction
Year Tourists amount (million)
is Zhao Mausoleum which is 6 km away from the village.
2012 2.0
Throughout history, it has been a typical Guanzhong village and has
2013 3.0
fully inherited the local customs. Guanzhong in Chinese means the 2014 3.6
middle part of Guanzhong Plain which is a fertile stretch land to the 2015 4.5
north of Qinling Mountain and to the south of Loess Plateau. In the 2016 5.0
1950s after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Source: From the deep-interview with one of the village
Yuanjia Village was the poorest one in its surrounding regions. leaders.
 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233 227

the village has expanded from 268 to more than 2000 people
because of rural tourism development. Some people have even
decided to settle in the village for the long term. Now it becomes a
village full of vigor and vitality. So this case is representative to
understand rural tourism-based traditional village revitalization in
China.
engagement in other livelihoods, and the operation of a family
hotel. During the two field investigations, detailed notes on ob-
servations and experiences were recorded. During analysis, inter-
view contents were reviewed thoroughly by researchers to identify
major themes and categories according to the elements of the
RTTVR model. The next section presents the results of this analysis.

5. Findings
4.2. Methodology and data collection

5.1. Material level: physical space regeneration

The model outlined in the previous section was the result of
constructivist thinking, and the empirical research presented in the
To development rural tourism, Yuanjia Village was transformed
next section mainly adopts a qualitative approach. Case study
from a one-street village into a renewed network-street layout
research is one of the five qualitative approaches identified by
(Fig. 3). In the poor 1950s, houses were humble shown in the
Creswell (2007: 37,73) in which the investigator explores one or
photograph on the left in Fig. 4 which the researchers found in the
more bounded systems over time through multiple sources of in-
village history museum. Before 2007, there was only one main
formation gaining a detailed understanding of individuals and
street where two-storey houses were located and local residents
communities in their natural settings. A qualitative research
lived. In 2007, the village's head, an enterprising and energetic
methodology has been widely used in tourism research to analyze
person united with other village leaders to plan a rural tourism
different but related stakeholders in villages (Ghaderi &
development strategy. He organized a company that was collec-
Henderson, 2012; Guo & Sun, 2016). Data were mainly taken
tively owned by the village. Although there were few historic or
from primary and secondary sources which were collected during
famous cultural attractions left, including the Qinqiong Grave (the
two field investigations: a seven-day period in May 2016 and a five-
resting place of a famous Tang Dynasty personage) and a small
day period in December 2016. First, initial contact was made with
temple, he still encouraged and persuaded villagers to engage in
the village leader group (in other words, the village committee) and
providing food and accommodations for tourists. In China, every
relevant local documents were collected. Interviews with leaders
administrative village has a Communist Party Branch Secretary and
were undertaken to understand the basic conditions of tourism
a collective group as the highest leadership. Villagers are organized
development, planning and management, village changes and the
by the village leader group in the Chinese political context. In the
leaders' attitudes toward them, current issues and concerns at the
initial stage of rural tourism development, one of the key important
village level and the leaders' future aspirations. A whole field
measures was to use local produce, such as flour, tofu and chilies in
observation of the village was then performed including observa-
the family hotels. The head of Yuanjia village organized flour, tofu,
tion of every building and landscape. Finally, the most important
chili and other food material production mills in the village to in-
work was performed: conducting interviews with different groups
crease food security. Villagers who opened family hotels and res-
to deeply understand the village's rural tourism development and
taurants needed to buy materials from these mills. Gradually, some
the groups' attitudes. These groups included indigenous residents,
citizens were attracted to the village, usually families or friends
immigrant residents, business operators, employees and tourists.
who wanted to eat “Nongjiafan,” or food from family hotels which
Table 2 shows the list of interviewees. The village committee was a
was differentiated from city restaurants and thought to be
five-person group. The private business operators ran shops that
healthier. The healthy food and quiet atmosphere attracted more
sold tofu, vinegar, Chinese doughnuts, beancurd jelly, youtuotuo (a
and more tourists. The key village leader, who was male, aged 44
kind of Chinese food), sazi (a kind of Chinese food), honey,
commented:
marshmallow, dried beancurd sticks and wood slingshots. Private
In 2007, I realized that the village urgently needed to develop
business employees and tourists were randomly selected. When
rural tourism because I analyzed the national trends supporting
collecting primary data, the researchers used face-to-face in-depth
service industry policies, especially tourism. At that time, many
interviews to understand the village regeneration process, socio-
young villagers were leaving to find jobs. We faced disaster if this
economic characteristics of residents, current livelihood portfolio,
situation continued. I just wanted to create work for ourselves, for
livelihood changes, community participation willingness and atti-
the villagers. So I encouraged them to run family hotels. At first,
tudes, perceptions and behavior that occurred after rural tourism
only four households supported my plan, but gradually all of the
development. Both open and closed questions were used and the
households were involved in it. Later, to diversify the products we
main interviews lasted more than 1 h and were tape-recorded and
offered tourists, I brought investments to our village. Now, the
transcribed for content analysis.
village has changed a lot and become very lively. I am very excited
In addition, during the two field investigations, the researchers
to see the results of this development.
stayed at a family-run hotel (“Nong Jia Le” in Chinese). A partici-
Later from 2012, the leader group developed Specialty Food
patory observation was thus conveniently conducted. Researchers
Street (“Xiaochi” in Chinese) to attract tourists. The buildings that
observed daily life of residents and their interactions with other
sold food were constructed in Guanzhong style which is a regional
people in village, their ways of participating in tourism, their
architectural style of Guanzhong Region and showed local historic
and cultural information. Tourists could both eat the Specialty Food
Table 2 on the spot and take it away. More tourist attractions have since
List of interviewee numbers. been built with different business structures (Table 3). Yuanjia
Interviewees Number Village has transformed from one main street into a grid of streets
(Fig. 5). The houses in which residents live have been rebuilt to add
Village committee 5
Indigenous residents who run family hotel (Nong Jia Le) 20 more storeys and decorated traditionally to provide more space for
Personal business operators 10 tourists. Every family hotel has computers and Wi-Fi, cable TV,
Personal business employees (outsiders) 10 flush toilets and heating equipment. Other infrastructures include a
Cooperative enterprise (outer developer) 1 Boutique Homestay Hotel, children playground, temple, theater
Tourists 10
stage, tea museum, tea house and chain hotel.
228 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233

Fig. 3. The street transformation and a hand-drawn map of Yuanjia Village.

Fig. 4. The main street in 1950s (left) and now (right).

Table 3
Main streets and their business content and structure in Yuanjia Village.

Street Name Establishment Time Business Content Business Structure (Operator)

Nongjiale Street 2007 Accommodations and food Local resident household

Zuofang Street 2008 Produce and raw food materials Extraneous individual operators
Xiaochi Street 2009 Local specialty food Extraneous individual operators
Bar Street 2012 Bars to drink beer or wine Joint venture with an outside company
Guanzhong Ancient Town 2013 Handicrafts, artwork, food Extraneous company investment
Huimin Street 2015 Hui nationality food Joint venture with an outside company
Citang Street 2015 Local specialty food Joint venture with an outside company
Shuyuan Street 2016 Handicrafts, artwork, food Joint venture with an outside company

Note: “Zuofang” is a Chinese name meaning food workshop. “Huimin” is a Chinese name meaning a minority group. “Citang” is a Chinese name meaning ancestral hall.
“Shuyuan” is a Chinese name meaning academy of classical learning.

5.2. Social level: sustainable livelihoods of local residents and the
nonnatives
Since Yuanjia adopted rural tourism as its main livelihood
strategy, local residents' lives have greatly improved. As for the
vulnerability context, Yuanjia Village was in a relatively stable
environment without financial, natural or terrorist shocks. From
the national to provincial levels, the Chinese government has
advocated for rural tourism and created favorable policies and
subsidies for villages. Although tourism has an inherent season-
ality, Yuanjia has diversified its tourism attractions and products to
appeal to artistic and innovative people.
For livelihood assets, residents no longer engage in agricultural
production and the farmland is now used for tourism development.
Residents' natural capital has decreased. However, from an eco-
nomic perspective, residents acknowledge that their household
income has substantially increased. Their income comes from three
sources. Residents who run family hotels earn money directly.
 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233
Fig. 5. Pictures of some streets (photograph by the first author).
There are also residents who rent their house to outsiders. The
annual tourism bonus from Village Collection is another important
income for households. Average household income increased from
RMB30,000 before 2007 to RMB500,000 at present. Although now
residents need to purchase vegetables from outside retailers, the
general income has absolutely increased. Human capital refers to
the skills, knowledge and health that enable people to pursue
livelihood strategies (Chen, Shivakoti, Zhu, & Maddox, 2012).
Involvement in rural tourism requires new capabilities and skills
from those required in agriculture and industrial activities,
including marketing skills (online promotions and online sales) and
tourism service skills (cooking and communication). Residents
have been better connected to the outside world through in-
teractions with tourists and their changed lifestyles, as described by
Su et al. (2016). Physical capital is reflected in living conditions and
the physical space renewal mentioned earlier. Rural tourism
strengthens the social networks of residents. As tourism service
work is not as physically taxing as agricultural work, relatives and
neighbors can drop by frequently to chat with and entertain tour-
ists. A local female family hotel operator aged 56 commented:
Since we opened up the family hotel in 2010, I have no longer
planted crops. My house was refurbished for accommodations and
food services. The home environment was cleaner and more
convenient than before. Tourists like my cooking and usually return
many times. We chat and communicate for fun. My total income
increased and I never thought I could make money from rural
tourism before. During busy times especially national holidays, I
employ people to help my family. The village committee specified
the basic prices for the menu, based on which we can make some
innovations and changes. Although the family hotels compete with
each other, we compete with pleasure and this does not impair
neighbors' relationships.
Tourism involvement keeps the young in the village. If there
were no tourism, they would leave to seek jobs in the cities. Due to
rural tourism, some younger residents choose to help both their
own households and the development of the whole village. The son
of one village group and committee member, who was 27
commented:
My father is one of the village leaders and after I graduated from
university, I began to work for the village collective company for the
better development of Yuanjia Village. I take advantage of my major
computer science to serve it. I am very delighted that Yuanjia
Village has experienced such prosperity in recent years and I am
hopeful for its future. I would not go to the metropolis to find op-
portunity as many of my classmates did, and I think Yuanjia Village
229
is worth devoting all my life to.
Yuanjia Village developed by itself initially, and gradually
attracted more investment and capital. Higher levels of government
have supported its development and many organizations have
visited and learned from it. At present, Yuanjia Village has attracted
more than 2000 people from surrounding villages or far regions,
who work and operate businesses there. Some small business op-
erators have even bought houses and now live there permanently.
The village committee has made its collective construction land
building apartments available to outsiders, selling them at a pref-
erential price.
The strategies the village committee used must be emphasized
here, as they are key reasons why the village has succeeded. On one
hand, the village leaders created a policy that providing free
buildings to extraneous food producers and operators. Thus, it
attracted the most skilled and experienced people to the village to
sell specialty food. For example, soybeans as most Chinese favorite
food can be processed into jellied bean curd, fried bean curd and
soybean milk. The tofu shopkeeper makes use of techniques
learned from his grandfather's generation. On the other hand, the
village leaders established different cooperatives, which share the
specialty food profits among members (Fig. 6 and Table 4). For
example, if a local resident invests RMB10,000 in the specialty food
cooperative, he receives a bonus corresponding to his percentage of
the annual profit, minus an amount distributed to the business
operator. Everyone whether native or non-native can purchase
shares. This measure has reduced the gap between the rich and the
poor. Villagers and business operators have regular meetings to
exchange opinions which are organized by the village committee.
The people's right to speak and power to decide are thus guaran-
teed. The tofu shopkeeper commented:
I am not a native of Yuanjia Village. My grandfather and my
father made tofu for years and I inherited this skill. In 2008 I came
to this village because I heard that it provided free houses for food
businesses. From that time I began to make tofu in this village. At
first, I received all of the money I earned every day. As the number
of tourists increased, I gained more and more income. My family
changed from poor tofu producers to being well off. It is true that
not all of the food businesses have had profits as great as mine. So in
2012 the rural cooperatives were gradually established and people
bought shares in them. Now the main rural cooperatives include
yogurt, oil, sauce, flour, pepper, vermicelli and tofu. Every year all of
the profits are divided into three parts: one for the business oper-
ators, one for the sharing bonus and the rest to be kept in reserve. I
also have shares in other rural cooperatives. This system integrated
230 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233
Fig. 6. Rural cooperative information lists were shown on the wall.
Table 4
Original members and total capital of rural cooperatives.
Cooperative Name Number of shares
Yogurt cooperative 140
Oil cooperative 33
Sauce cooperative 108
Flour cooperative 40
Pepper cooperative 164
Vermicelli cooperative 53
Tofu cooperative 96
all of the business operators into a collective and provided diver-
sified products and choices for tourists. We all hope Yuanjia Village
develops further. The village leaders organize us to communicate
regularly face to face. Now, I have bought a house and live here.
5.3. Spiritual level: place identity and cultural memory
Rural tourism development in Yuanjia Village has changed its
cultural structure. This change can be seen as an achievement led
by local collective action and contributed to by all 2000 people.
According to Huang and Stewart (1996) solidarity is developed in
two ways: (1) because residents share a similar cultural background
and lifestyle, they are naturally inclined to identify with one
another, and (2) personal ties are formed and solidarity strength-
ened by working with one another on tasks to reach a common
goal. Community solidarity and identity are strengthened by the
common goal of rural tourism development among the entire
population of Yuanjia Village. Locals and non-locals refashioned
themselves and established a new sense of harmonious commu-
nity. According to Puddifoot (1995), a critical element of commu-
nity identity is its “collectiveness,” which emphasizes sharing
individual senses of community to shape a collective community
identity. This is also reflected in the interviews. A male employee
commented:
I am from a nearby village and work in Yuanjia Village every day.
Now it has become famous in surrounding regions and people like
to work here. I like the atmosphere and I also have shares in the
cooperative. So I care about the village's rural tourism
development.
At the same time, local food and local handicrafts are derived
from local culture and tradition, reminding villagers of their locality
and homeland (Fig. 7). Rural tourism development has improved
their living conditions and increased pride in the community. They
are willing to live there unlike many other poor villages in China
that are abandoned by people seeking better living conditions. Only
Shares of total capital (ten thousand)
331
200
345
101
400
190
230
by retaining its population can a village continue to exist. No peo-
ple, no revitalization.
5.4. An attempt at integrated rural tourism
The practice of Yuanjia Village is an attempt at Integrated Rural
Tourism. Successful IRT includes four elements: embeddedness,
non-embeddedness, endogeneity and empowerment (Saxena et al.,
2007). All four elements are reflected in the rural tourism devel-
opment of Yuanjia Village. Local specialty food and local handicraft
production represent embeddedness which is based on local
unique knowledge and relationships. This core factor reflects the
locality and distinguishes Yuanjia Village from other villages. Non-
embeddedness is helpful for linking to external markets. Yuanjia
Village has its own brand of yogurt (Fig. 8), capsicol, hand-made
noodles, vermicelli and so on. The whole village is also branded
as “the place where you can have a Guanzhongyinxiang experi-
ence.” Furthermore, it sells its brand and products in Yintai Shop-
ping Mall which is a famous shopping mall in Xi'an. Now it has two
other new shops in Xi'an and Xianyang. Using a chain-retailer
model, it increases its popularity in Shaanxi Province and even
throughout the whole country. It promotes traditional food and
makes it delicious and healthy. Yuanjia Village even owns and
operates its own shuttle buses operating from Xi'an Train Station to
the village (Fig. 8).
As for endogeneity and empowerment, community members
have the power to be involved in and receive equitable benefits
from tourism. Native residents, non-native residents and em-
ployees get along with each other harmoniously and struggle for a
common goal. All of the measures taken to revitalize the village are
an attempt at Integrated Rural Tourism. One female tourist
commented:
My husband and I have retired and we have a big apartment in
Xi'an City. But we don't like the crowded city and every weekend
we go to Yuanjia Village for relaxation and to climb the mountains
 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233 231

Fig. 7. Production process of local food.

Fig. 8. Yogurt brand and shuttle bus with Yuanjia brand on it.

nearby. I like the food and the people here. I heard that the village
committee is quite an innovative and ambitious collective. I often
live in a permanent family hotel and chat with the local residents
about village affairs which I find very interesting. The village
leaders help the villagers live a happy life which is really hard-won.
In short, residents and outsiders worked under the direction of
the village committee to provide healthy specialty food first and
then innovative entertainment and leisure activities, and the
development benefits could be shared by all which improved their
enthusiasm and loyalty. The makers of specialty food comprise
mostly households. The next generation can inherit their skills and
pass them on to the next generation. Trust is already a key symbol
of Yuanjia Village, including trust between leaders and residents,
residents and employees, residents and tourists. Just like Life-
timehonored Brand (Lao Zi Hao) in China, Yuanjia Village offers a
sustainable revitalization paradigm.
232 J. Gao, B. Wu / Tourism Management 63 (2017) 223e233
6. Conclusions and discussion
6.1. Academic implications
Traditional villages in China embrace tangible and intangible
heritages; indigenous people still live there, engaging in livelihood
activities. Urbanization results in the disappearance of villages and
population loss. The question of how to conserve and make the best
use of these villages is a significant practical and academic issue.
Recently, rural tourism has become a major means of preserving
such villages, even though the literature documents some negative
impacts (Fleischer & Pizam, 1997; Hall, 2000; Luloff et al., 1994).
Optimistically, this study tries to find an effective and somewhat
universal approach, or a pathway adapted to the Chinese context.
Based on an interdisciplinary perspective that assembles geogra-
phy, sociology and management, the researchers constructed a
sustainable Rural Tourism-based Traditional Village Revitalization
model (RTTVR). The conceptual framework extends previous re-
searches which stress either sustainability (Blancas et al., 2011) or
community participation (Hwang et al., 2012) from partial per-
spectives, and is the first to develop an integrated cultural
perspective in a village revitalization context. The model integrates
theories of and approaches to village revitalization that address an
endogenous style. The three material, social and spiritual levels
evolve step by step and circulate according to the Tourist Area Life
Cycle principle, demonstrating how a village can sustainably exist.
This model also conforms to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Block,
2011, pp. 913e915) from low material needs to high spiritual as-
pirations. This study contributes to the literature on the relation-
ship between Integrated Rural Tourism and village revitalization.
Thereinto Yuanjia Village sets an example of successful traditional
village revitalization by rural tourism.
6.2. Practical implications
Aside from the theoretical implications mentioned earlier, this
study has useful practical implications. Rural tourism planners and
community planners working for governments need to focus on all
levels in the model. The reality in China is that many villages have
developed rural tourism at only the physical level which refers to
the material level in the model, and failed to take the superior levels
which refer to the social and spiritual level in the model into ac-
count, resulting in some failures. The model designates Integrated
Rural Tourism as a driving force stressing the significance of
endogenous development, community collective action and
regional networks in the village revitalization process. In the Chi-
nese political context, village elites and leaders are the best means
of realizing Integrated Rural Tourism development (Saxena et al.,
2007) and village revitalization in the manner of Yuanjia Village.
There is no guarantee that local residents have sufficient and
autonomous rights within enterprise or government-led tourism
development styles. Historically, the gentry (in Chinese “Xiangxian”
and “Shishen”) took responsibility for keeping rural society stable
and prosperous. The notion of revitalization means changing social
and cultural structures to shape a sustainable and growing
community.
For now, Yuanjia Village is still struggling on the road to a better
community. For tourism attractions, it tries to provide tourists with
more diversified products. Although most tourists are attracted
there by its cuisine, it has developed experienced activities as
handicraft-making, recreational activities as boutique hotels,
traditional competitions as traditional Chinese cricket fighting. In
order to create a better natural environment, the deserted agri-
cultural land will be developed to offer farming experience activ-
ities and to recover the production function of land for purposes of
environmental sustainability. Yuanjia Village is on the road to
becoming a harmonious, tranquil, healthy, traditional and modern
rural community.
6.3. Limitations and future research
Future research is needed to further explore possible mecha-
nisms to facilitate village revitalization in a Chinese context beyond
tourism. This research is only a beginning. Deeper and more
detailed researches are needed based on the proposed model to
explore a variety of questions: at the material level, how to balance
authenticity and tourists' needs in tourism development; at the
social level, how to create a harmonious atmosphere between
residents and outcomers; and at the most important spiritual level,
how to attract young people back to the village and keep them for
the long term. These are managerial issues but also need academic
support. Moreover, Integrated Rural Tourism must be better inter-
preted and used. Other successful factors in rural development and
village revitalization may also be integrated: the indigenous Chi-
nese NGO and volunteer organization “Friend of Old Village” in
particular, has been established to develop social power and capital
for village protection and usage. Villages have both functional and
emotional roles in people's daily lives.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Yuanjia Village Committee and all the in-
terviewees for their help and support, which make the research
smoothly completed. Thanks to the Chinese National Science Fund
(41271151) providing some capital support.
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Jing Gao is a PhD candidate student at the College of Ur-
ban and Environmental Sciences, studying in the Center
for Recreation and Tourism Research, Peking University,
Beijing, China. Her research focuses on traditional village
revitalization, rural tourism planning and management in
China.
Bihu Wu, Ph.D. is a Professor and Director in the Center for
Recreation and Tourism Research at Peking University. His
research interests include tourism planning, destination
marketing and tourism education. He has had a wide va-
riety of experiences in tourism studies and is the author of
more than 200 papers and 20 books published in China
and abroad. Prof. Wu also serves as an editorial committee
member of several international referred journals in
tourism and geography.