Associate Professor Yujie Zhu
Areas of expertise
- Heritage Tourism, Visitor And Audience Studies 430207
- Intangible Heritage 430208
- Critical Heritage, Museum And Archive Studies 430202
- Social And Cultural Anthropology 440107
Research interests
With a background in anthropology and a focus on critical heritage studies, my research centers on the cultural politics of the past within diverse heritage and memory spaces. I am interested in exploring the multifaceted roles that heritage plays in processes of social transformation and knowledge transmission. My research encompasses various aspects of the heritage and memory work including the impact of heritage tourism, the politics of remembering and forgetting, and the interplay between heritage and reconciliation.
I am the author and editor of eight books, including recent work on Heritage Tourism (Cambridge, 2021), Heritage Politics in China (Routledge, 2020, co-authored with Christina Maags), and a special issue on Heritage Interpretation, Conflict and Reconciliation in East Asia (2021, co-edited with William Logan). My articles have appeared in leading journals in the fields, including International Journal of Heritage Studies, Memory Studies, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Geographies, American Anthropologist, and International Journal of Cultural Policy.
Teaching Interests:
I organize annual workshops focused on the incorporation of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in sustainable development. Additionally, I provide annual cultural orientations for new international students and Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates, with a particular emphasis on fostering cultural awareness of Indigenous knowledge.
Biography
I completed my PhD in Anthropology at Heidelberg University, Germany, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU. Before embarking on my academic career, I have worked at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).
My work has attracted competitive funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), UNESCO, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the European Union Leonardo Program, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
I was elected as the vice-president (Communication) of the International Association of Critical Heritage Studies (2014-2020) and Deputy-chair of Anthropology Tourism Committee of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (2013-2021). Now I serve as the Editorial Board member of Cultural Geographies, Journal of Heritage Tourism, and Journal of Anthropological Research, and an expert member of ICH Committee of International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
Since 2022, I serve as a member of ANU University Academic Board and University Research Committee (representing the Academic Board).
Researcher's projects
Heritage and Tourism
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. 2021. Heritage Tourism: From Problems to Possibilites. Cambridge University Press
Yujie Zhu, 2018. Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China. Leiden: Amsterdam University Press
Heritage and Memory Politics
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?
Yujie Zhu and Christina Maags. 2020. Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past. London: Routledge
Mace Jessica and Yujie Zhu, Eds. 2021. Notions of Heritage. Presses de l'Université du Québec
Tuuli Lahdesmaki, Suzie Thomas and Yujie Zhu. Eds. 2019. Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies. Oxford:Berghahn Books
Heritage and Religion
This project analyses the socio-cultural and political consequences of heritage making of religious sites. 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:
· Madeleine Tan (2021-) Heritage Tourism in Greek (Primary Supervisor)
· Karma Kong (2020-) The Politic of Memory in Post-industrial Japan (Primary Supervisor)
· Hao Zheng (2018-) Cultural Urban landscape in Chinese Towns (Panel Chair)
· Alex McCosker (2019-) A history of pilgrimage to Kokoda and Papua New Guinea. (Associate Supervisor)
· Yu-ting Lin (2018-) Mining development and social impact on Taiwan indigenous peoples (Associate Supervisor)
Completions
· Junmin Liu (2020-2023) Heritage and homemaking of Yi migrant workers in Shenzhen, China (Primary Supervisor)
· Wenzhuo Zhang (2018-2023) Sustainable Management of Chinese Historic Urban Centres with Colonial Backgrounds (Panel Chair)
· Jieyi Xie (2015-2021) The Silk Roads or Economic Belt: An Analysis of the Interaction Between China’s World Heritage and its Economic and Political Ambitions (Associate Supervisor)
· Shengjin Xie (2015-2020) Pursuing good life in this world: the aspiration of Daoist clerics in Longhu Shan, China (Associate Supervisor)
· Yun Zhou (2015-2019) Constructing a Divine Domesticity: Woman’s Messenger (1912-1951) and Her Republican Dreamers (Associate Supervisor)
Publications
- Zhu, Y 2023, 'Memory, homecoming and the politics of diaspora tourism in China', Tourism Geographies, 25. pp. 95-112.
- Zhu, Y & González Martínez, P 2022, 'Heritage, values and gentrification: the redevelopment of historic areas in China', International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 476-494.
- Zhu, Y 2022, 'The Ladder of Heritage Interpretation', in Neil A. Silberman (ed.), World Heritage: 50 Years and Moving Forward, Chae Su-hee (Director General, WHIPIC), International Centre for the Interpretation and Presentation of World Heritage Sites under the auspi, pp. 102-123.
- Zhu, Y 2022, 'Hot interpretations of difficult heritage: the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre in China', Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 32-44.
- Zhu, Y 2022, 'The Show Must Go On: Livestreaming Intangible Cultural Heritage in China during Covid-19', in Linda Jaivin AND Esther Sunkyung Klein WITH Sharon Strange (ed.), CONTRADICTION, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 178-183.
- Zhu, Y 2021, Heritage Tourism: From Problems to Possibilities, Cambridge University Press, UK.
- Zhu, Y & Liu, J 2021, 'Cultural Reproduction: Ethnic Festivals as Intangible Cultural Heritage in China', Loisir et Societe, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 415-428.
- Zhu, Y, Wang, S & Rowlands, M 2021, 'Introduction: Heritage and religion in East Asia', in S-L Wang, M Rowlands & Y Zhu (ed.), Heritage and Religion in East Asia, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 1-12.
- Zhu, Y 2021, 'Ethnic religion after disasters: Intangible Cultural Heritage in China', in S-L Wang, M Rowlands & Y Zhu (ed.), Heritage and Religion in East Asia, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 88-102.
- Mace, J & Zhu, Y 2021, 'Introduction: Notions of Heritage', in Jessica Mace and Yujie Zhu (ed.), Notions of Heritage, Presses de l'Universite du Quebec, Quebec, pp. 1-9.
- 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. 869-881.
- Zhu, Y 2020, 'The Concept and Practice of Cultural Heritage in China', Ethnic Art (Minzu Yishu) , vol. 3, pp. 97-105.
- Zhu, Y 2020, 'Heritage and tourism in China: challenges and critical approach', in Maria Gravari-Barbas (ed.), A Research Agenda for Heritage Tourism, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 85-100.
- 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 & Suzie Thomas (ed.), Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies, Berghahn Books, New York, pp. 21-35.
- Lahdesmaki, T, Zhu, Y & Thomas, S 2019, 'Introduction: Heritage and Scale', in Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Yujie Zhu & Suzie Thomas (ed.), Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies, 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, 'Lifestyle mobility: shifting conception of home in modern China', International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 357-374.
- Zhu, Y 2018, Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.
- 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 2018, 'Lifestyle mobility: Shifting conception of home in modern China', International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 357-374.
- 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.
- Local Remembering and National Forgetting: Memory Politics in Modern China (Primary Investigator)