Groping for stones to cross the river: Governing heritage in emei

Heritage governance plays an essential role in conservation, planning, as well as inscribing World Heritage. In China, the government maintains its regulatory legitimacy of heritage resources while pursuing the goals of national integration and economic growth. By examining the development of UNESCO World Heritage Site Mt. Emei, this chapter aims to explore the process of heritage governance and the politics of the heritage campaign in transitional China. It argues that Emei developed its governance trajectory from the integration and negotiation between political rules, social norms, and cultural values made more complicated by a commercially constructed tourism development discourse.