Making the Hometown of Qipao

Abstract

This paper investigates how culture and heritage have been reclaimed for economic development through the invention and ascription of historical continuity. In 2017, the Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County (XMAC) in China’s Liaoning Province adopted the identity of being the hometown of qipao, the traditional clothing of Manchu people developed during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). I investigate why the XMAC government has used “hometown of qipao” as a brand to enhance cultural tourism and to generate income by establishing commercial relationships between local qipao makers with qipao producers in other parts of China. I argue that the prestige of the self-designation as the historical origin of qipao has been a critical advantage for textile manufacturers and artists in XMAC to gain a foothold in the qipao industry which has been heavily dominated by companies producing ethnic Han versions of the garment. I analyze evidence about the XMAC government’s creation and promotion of the “hometown of qipao” identity as found in official publications and media related to cultural tourism to assess the effects of using the region’s history to produce a “local product” for a national market. This study will contribute to understanding how heritage is commercialized in China but also how products developed for cultural tourism can have an equal or greater socioeconomic impact on the communities generating them than tourism itself.