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Tourist troubles: I’m a local, get me out of here
A chat over pu’er tea while on holiday in Lijiang, China, offers insights into the tension between authentic culture and over-tourism.
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The old world charm of Lijiang in Yunnan, China, draws visitors but it faces the risk of undercutting its authenticity with over-tourism.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF PAUL TAN
Paul Tan
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On my recent trip to Lijiang in China’s Yunnan province, one tea shop owner I met – let’s call her Ms Zhang – started chatting about her childhood as we drank her pu’er tea. In her late 30s, the friendly woman from the Lahu ethnic group described growing up in abject poverty in a village with neither running water nor electricity, and how once she and her sister had their hair shorn as children because of a lice infestation.
Where she grew up, she said, older people would rather give up medical care if it meant having to sell off livestock to pay for hospital fees. Life was so hard then. It’s no wonder that Ms Zhang, now a mother and English-speaking business owner, expressed gratitude for the commercial energy and opportunities that tourism had brought to Lijiang.
