The role of self-gentrification in sustainable tourism: Indigenous entrepreneurship at Honghe Hani Rice Terraces World Heritage Site, China

This article examines three forms of tourism gentrification occurring within the newly inscribed (2013) Honghe Hani Rice Terraces UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yunnan, China. The indigenous Hani and Yi communities who populate this remote mountainous area, possess distinct cultural practices that have supported the rice terrace ecosystem for centuries. This article draws on interviews and non-participant observation conducted with inhabitants and newcomers to analyse the types of gentrification occurring within the site. We argue that indigenous cultural practices, and consequently rice cultivation in the area, are threatened by gentrifier-led and state-led gentrification combined with high levels of outward migration of indigenous persons. This could pose a significant threat to the sustainability of tourism at this site and may ultimately compromise the site’s World Heritage Status. In the midst of these dangers, some indigenous people are shown to be improving their socioeconomic standing – and becoming “middle class” or “gentry” – particularly through adopting entrepreneurial strategies gleaned from their encounters with outside-gentrifiers and tourists. This article proposes the concept of “self-gentrification” as a way to describe individuals who seek to improve themselves and their own community, while under threat of gentrification