Tourism as a territorial strategy in the South China Sea

Abstract

The chapter first situates and provides a brief political history of China’s general outbound tourism policies and practices before turning to the South China Sea. It pays particular attention to the territorial claims implicit in new Chinese passport designs and the establishment of the Sansha City administrative region, which covers much of the South China Sea. This is followed with a qualitative analysis of state official announcements and destination marketing materials from both private and state-owned Chinese travel agencies, as well as online how-to guides and blogs. The analysis explores the territorial implications of representations of South China Sea destinations as not only new sites for leisure, but for the performance and training of a patriotic Chinese citizenry.