Tourism, Borders, and Geopolitics Cultural Encounters Across the Taiwan Strait

Foreword by C. Michael Hall

Overview and Aim

Chapter 1: Introduction: Rapprochement Tourism in Context

1.1      The Pivotal Era of 2008–2016: Tourism and Rapprochement

1.2      Objectives and Scope

1.3      Significance of the Study in Today’s Context

1.4      A Note on Research Methods and Some Personal Reflections

1.5      Structure of the Book

Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations: Rethinking Tourism Across Borders of Conflict

2.1      Reviewing Rapprochement Tourism     

2.1.1  Tourism across borders of conflict

2.1.2  Academic literature on China-Taiwan tourism                                      

2.1.3   Towards a cultural-geopolitical approach

2.2      Re-theorizing the ‘Border’                                                        

2.2.1   Border as a noun and border(ing) as a verb                              

2.2.2   The real and imagined borders at multiple sites                        

          2.2.3   B/order(ing) identities                                                              

          2.2.4   Performing borders 

2.3      The 3 ‘M’s of Cross-Border Scholarship

          2.3.1   Mobility

          2.3.2   Morality

          2.3.3   Materiality

2.4      Synthesis and Reflections

Chapter 3: Post-Conflict Place Making: Taming and Consuming Sensitive Histories & Difficult Heritages

3.1      Introduction: Managing Memory across the Strait

3.2      Post-conflict Heritage Management

3.3      Exploring China’s Rapprochement Strategies

          3.3.1   Reducing historical differences to the realm of the same

          3.3.2   Between memory and money: cashing in on Chiang Kai-shek

3.4      Taiwan’s Practices of Rapprochement

          3.4.1   Heritage in the making: the National Palace Museum

          3.4.2   Re-casting Chiang Kai-shek: cartoonization of sensitive historical figures

3.5      Summary: Digesting the Past, Consuming a More Palatable Future

Chapter 4: Cross-Border Mobilities: Cross-Strait Tourists’ Travel Experiences on ‘The Other Side’

4.1     Introduction: Borders on the Move

4.2     Liminal Encounters and the Materialities of Border Crossing

4.3     Crossing the Border: Checkpoints, Travel Documents and the Performance of Identity

          4.3.1   The Taiwan Compatriot Permit

          4.3.2   The Chinese checkpoint as threshold

4.4      Political Border as Personal Boundary: Cross-strait Tourists’ Experiences

          4.4.1   The Taiwan Travel Permit as a site of bordering

          4.4.2   Taiwanese identification cards and playful identities

4.5      Street Economies: Buying and Selling at a Ferry Terminal

4.6      Summary: Mobility, Materiality, and the Liminal Lives of Borders

Chapter 5: Enchanted Encounters: Spiritual Geographies of Cross-strait Tourism

5.1      Introduction: The Enchanted World of Rapprochement Tourism

5.2     Spirits Matter in Contemporary China and Taiwan

5.3     Encountering the ‘Untamed’

          5.3.1   The Wang Yulan Cult

          5.3.2   Return of the dead soldiers

5.4      Paying Homage to the ‘Heavenly Mother’: Mazu Pilgrimage Tours

          5.4.1   From seafarers’ guardian to Cross-strait Goddess of Peace

          5.4.2   The Mobility of Pilgrimage: Scales, Meanings, and Embodied Encounters

          5.4.3   Testimonial Time, Collective Selves: Pilgrimage as Socializing Practice

5.5      Summary: Hauntings, Pilgrimages, and Post-National Possibilities

Chapter 6: Re-visiting Battlefield Memories, Exploring the Senses: Post-war Material Culture of Kinmen in the Midst of Rapprochement Tourism

6.1      Introduction: Re-visiting Kinmen

6.2      Conceptualizing Commemorative Materialities

6.3      Memories and Materiel: From Artillery Shells to Household Knives

6.4      Echoes of War, Harmonies of Peace: The Kinmen Tunnel Music Festival

6.5      Food for Thought: Ingesting memory

          6.5.1   Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor and the Battlefield Cocktail Series

          6.5.2    Bullet Crackers and Mine Cakes

          6.5.3   Gastronomic Commemoration

6.6      Summary: The Afterlives of Things in Rapprochement Tourism

Chapter 7: Rethinking Rapprochement Tourism: Reflections and Future Directions

7.1      Rapprochement Tourism between China & Taiwan: A Summary

          7.1.1   Border, Mobility, and the Reworking of Territory

          7.1.2   Identity, Morality, and the Politics of Encounter

          7.1.3   Materiality, Immateriality, and the Agency of Things

          7.1.4   Synthesis

7.2       Potential Avenues for Future Research

          7.2.1   Difficult Heritage, Moral Judgements, and the Politics of Remembrance

          7.2.2   Unequal Mobilities and the Rise of the Independent Traveller

          7.2.3   Kinship, Return Travel, and the Intimacies of Cross-Border Connection

7.2.4   Rethinking Rapprochement Tourism Through Sustainable Peace and Well-being

7.3      Concluding Remarks: Re-visiting ‘Peace through Tourism’

References

Biography

J.J. Zhang is Assistant Professor of Human Geography at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests lie in the intersection of socio-cultural geography, tourism, geopolitics, and well-being. His work on rapprochement tourism has received multiple international Best Paper Awards.