Dr Yujie Zhu
Research interests
- Politics of the Past
- Material Culture
- Social memory
- Cultural Tourism
- Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Politics of Remembering and Forgetting
Teaching Interests:
HUMN8033 Tourism, Heritage, and Globalisation
HUMN8019 UNESCO and World Heritage: Conserving Cultural Heritage Values
HUMN8035 Critical Issues in Intangible Heritage
HUMN8037 Culture and Heritage in China Field School
I am a convenor of Culture and Heritage Field School (China), conducted bi-annually in partnership with Sichuan University.
Biography
As a scholar of anthropology and heritage studies, my research interests centre on the politics of heritage, memory and tourism practices. I contribute to heritage studies by developing a specifically ethics-oriented focus raised by global heritage industries that confront and often generate crises, conflicts as well as innovations in culturally sensitive contexts.
I serve as Associate Editor of Journal of Anthropological Research, and am on the Editorial Board of Cultural Geographies and Journal of Heritage Tourism.
My first book Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China (Amsterdam University Press, 2018) explored the roles of post-disaster reconstruction and heritage tourism in shaping the relationship between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities.https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462985674/heritage-and-romantic-consumption-in-china
My second book Heritage Politics in China (Routledge, 2020; co-authored) considered the impact of heritage policies and discourses on the Chinese state and society. https://www.routledge.com/Heritage-Politics-in-China-The-Power-of-the-Past-1st-Edition/Zhu-Maags/p/book/9781138332706
My third book Heritage Tourism: From Problems to Possibilities (Cambridge University Press 2021) explores ethical issues that are hidden behind the economic and cultural benefits of heritage tourism, and advocates the development of the industry as an exercise of empowerment and co-production.
I am an co-editor of Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies (Berghahn 2018) and Heritage and Religion in East Asia (Routledge 2020).
My journal articles have been published in leading heritage and tourism journals, such as International Journal of Heritage Studies; Annals of Tourism Research; Tourism Geographies; International Journal of Cultural Policy; and American Anthropologist.
Before joining the ANU Center for Heritage and Museum Studies, I received my Ph.D. in Anthropology from Heidelberg University, Germany and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Center on China in the World, ANU.
Researcher's projects
Heritage and Tourism
In the 21st century, various forms of mobility – diaspora, migration, tourism – have become deeply involved in cultural identity formation. This project examines the key political and ethical issues that emerge through heritage tourism as one of the fastest-growing forms in the global tourism industry.
Yujie Zhu, 2018. Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China. Leiden: Amsterdam University Press
Yujie Zhu. 2021. Heritage Tourism: From Problems to Possibilites. Cambridge University Press
Heritage and Memory Politics
Since the early 20th century, heritage, museums and memorials have played active roles in constructing and reinterpreting the social memories of nation-states and sub-groups within the national population (Lowenthal 2015). Among the key questions that emerge from these shifting adaptations are: what kinds of narratives of the past are selected and interpreted for public display? How and why does the state turn historic events into ‘sites of memory’ for commemoration? A close investigation of these questions will help us understand the way in which mechanisms for the commemoration of the past – heritage, museums, memorials – become the foundation of modern nation-building.
Yujie Zhu and Christina Maags. 2020. Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past. London: Routledge
Tuuli Lahdesmaki, Suzie Thomas and Yujie Zhu. Eds. 2019. Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies. Oxford:Berghahn Books
Religion and Heritage
While religious heritage occupied one fifth world heritage sites in East Asia, yet very little research examines the interrelationship between the two.This project analyses the socio-cultural and political consequences of heritagisation of religious sites and practices. What is actually being revived and what is being invented? How does this development affect religious spaces and the perception of religion in the public realm? Does heritage serve as a new tool for the state to control and regulate religious spaces? Or does heritage offer a fertile ground for religious revival? Does the heritage industry engender secularization and a loss of religious efficacy? Or do such commercial practices lead to innovation in religious-spiritual life?
Michael Rowlands, Shuli Wang and Yujie Zhu. Eds 2020. Heritage and Religion in East Asia. London: Routledge
Current student projects
I am currently supervising PhD students working on the following topics:
- Intangible cultural heritage and community building
- Politics of industrial heritage in Japan
- Reconstruction of Chinese anicent city
- The Silk Roads or Economic Belt: An Analysis of the Interaction Between China’s World Heritage and its Economic and Political Ambitions
- Mining development and social impact on Taiwan indigenous peoples
- The conversation of cultural landscape in Chengdu Plain under new countryside construction
- HUL Approach for Sustainable Managment of Chinese HIstoric Urban Centres with Colonial Backgrounds
Publications
- Zhu, Y 2020, 'Memory, homecoming and the politics of diaspora tourism in China', Tourism Geographies, pp. 1-18.
- Zhu, Y & Maags, C 2020, Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past, Routledge, London.
- Nakano, R & Zhu, Y 2020, 'Heritage as soft power: Japan and China in international politics', International Journal of Cultural Policy, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 869ââ¬â881.
- Zhu, Y 2020, 'Heritage and Religion in China', in Stephan Feuchtwang (ed.), Handbook on Religion in China, Edward Elgar Publishing, United Kingdom, pp. 96-108.
- Zhu, Y 2020, 'Between State and Society: Heritage Politics in Urban China', in Sonia Lam-Knott, Creighton Connolly & Kong Chong Ho (ed.), Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities: Spaces of Depoliticization, Routledge, New York, United States, pp. 93-105.
- Zhu, Y 2019, 'Politics of Scale: Cultural Heritage in China ', in Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Yujie Zhu and Suzie Thomas (ed.), Politics of Scale, Berghahn Books, New York, pp. 21-35.
- Zhu, Y, Lahdesmaki, T & Thomas, S 2019, 'Introduction. Heritage and Scale', in Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Yujie Zhu and Suzie Thomas (ed.), Politics of Scale, Berghahn Books, New York, pp. 1-20.
- Zhu, Y & Yang, Y 2019, 'Time Travelling to the Ancient Capital of China: A Case Study of Xian Heritage and Urban Renewal', Journal of Xuzhou Institute of Technology(Social Sciences Edition), vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1-7.
- Zhu, Y 2019, Book Review 'Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao's China', by Denise Y. Ho, The China Journal, vol. 81, pp. 214-216.
- Zhu, Y 2018, Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.
- Zhu, Y 2018, 'Lifestyle mobility: shifting conception of home in modern China', International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 357-374.
- Zhu, Y 2018, 'Uses of the past: negotiating heritage in Xi'an', International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol 24, No 2, pp. 181-192
- Zhu, Y 2018, 'A Shared Destiny: Dungans and The New Silk Road', in Jane Golley and Linda Jaivin (ed.), The China Story Yearbook 2017: Prosperity, ANU Press, Acton, Australia.
- Zhu, Y, Jin, L & Graburn, N 2017, 'Domesticating Tourism Anthropology in China', American Anthropologist, vol. 119, no. 4, pp. 730-735pp.
- Zhu, Y & Yang, Y 2017, 'Travelling to the Past: Xi'an and the Tang Imperial City', in Leanne White (ed.), Commercial Nationalism and Tourism: Selling the National Story, Channel View Publications, Bristol, United Kingdom, pp. 64-74.
- Zhu, Y 2017, 'Regulating Old Towns: The Battle for the Tourist Yuan', in Jane Golley; Linda Jaivin; Luigi Tomba (ed.), China Yearbook 2016: Control, ANU Press, Australia, pp. 138-142pp.
- Zhu, Y 2016, 'Heritage Making in Lijiang: Governance, Reconstruction and Local Naxi Life', in Christoph Brumann & David Berliner (ed.), World Heritage on the Ground: Ethnographic Perspectives, Berghahn Books, New York, pp. 78-96.
- Zhu, Y 2016, 'Authenticity and Heritage Conservation in China: Translation, Interpretation, Practices', in Katharina Weiler, Niels Gutschow (ed.), Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation: Discourses, Opinions, Experiences in Europe, South and East Asia, Springer International Publishing Switzerland, Switzerland, pp. 187-200.
- Zhu, Y 2016, 'Performance, tourism', in Jafar Jafari and Honggen Xiao (ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism, Springer International Publishing Switzerland, Online, pp. 711-713pp.
- Zhu, Y 2016, 'Book Review 'A Landscape of Travel: The Work of Tourism in Rural Ethnic China' by Jenny Chio', American Anthropologist, vol. 118, no. 3, pp. 655-656.
- Zhu, Y 2015, 'Cultural effects of authenticity: contested heritage practices in China', International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 594-608.
- Zhu, Y & Salazar, N 2015, 'Heritage and Tourism', in Lynn Meskell (ed.), Global Heritage: A Reader, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, UK, pp. 240-258.
- Zhu, Y & Hua, Y 2015, 'Transforming Tradition: Performing Wedding Ritual in Modern China', in Jennifer Laing and Warwick Frost (ed.), Rituals and Traditional Events in the Modern World, Routledge, Abingdon and New York, pp. 51-66.
- Zhu, Y 2015, 'The Construction and Introspection of the Discourse System of Inheritance: Three Cultural Heritage Practices', in Yu Xinjian (ed.), Cultural Heritage Research, Sichuan University Press, Chengdu, China, pp. 19-26.
- Zhu, Y 2015, 'Performing Heritage: Authenticity in Tourism', Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities, vol. 2015, no. 6, pp. 1-9.
- Zhu, Y 2014, 'Heritage and Tourism in Global Discourse', Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities, vol. 7, no. 2014, pp. 7-13.
- Smith, L and Zhu, Y. 2014, 'Discourse and Process : A Perspective of Critical Heritage Studies', Journal of Baise University, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 77-82. (published in Mandarin)
- Zhu, Y & Li, N 2013, 'Groping for Stones to Cross the River: Governing Heritage in Emei', in Blumenfield T, Silverman H (ed.), Cultural Heritage Politics in China, Springer New York, New York USA, pp. 51-71.
- Zhu, Y 2012, 'Performing heritage: Rethinking authenticity in tourism', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 1495-1513.
- Zhu, Y. 2012 What Can We Bring to the World? [Review of the article "What Marco Polo Forgot: Chinese Contemporary Art Reconfigures the Global", by Aihwa Ong]. Current Anthropology, 53 (4), 489-490.
- Zhu, Y 2012, 'Shifting images: The World Heritage City Lijiang, China', Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics, vol. 67, no. April 2012, pp. 58-68.
- Zhu, Y 2012, 'Authenticity in heritage conservation: Interpretation and local practice', Guizhou Social Sciences (Guizhou Shehui Kexue), vol. 268, no. 4, pp. 18-24.
- Zhu, Y 2012, 'When the Global Meets the Local in Tourism-Cultural Performances in Lijiang as Case Studies', Journal of China Tourism Research, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 302-319.
- Zhu, Y 2012, 'Tourism gaze and urban imaginaries in China', Tourism Tribune, vol. 11, no. 2012, pp. 14-23.
- Zhu, Y 2011, 'Some thoughts on comparison of heritage conservation in historic cities in China and the West: A transcultural perspective', Southeast Culture, vol. 221, no. 3, pp. 118-122.
- Zhu, Y 2009, 'Enhancing Inter-Agency and Stakeholder Coordination for Joint Action in Sustainable Management at World Heritage Sites', Sustainable Tourism Management at World Heritage Sites- Enhancing Interagency and Stakeholder Coordination for Joint Action, ed. Gabor Vereczi, Zhu Yujie, Wang Shuo, UNTWO, Madrid Spain.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Heritage-making of war memories: Remembering Nanjing Massacre in nation-building (Primary Investigator)
