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Small tourism firms (STFs) established and operated by local families can be an engine of sustainable rural tourism. This paper stresses the intimate intertwining of family and business in rural STFs and conceptualizes their entrepreneurial success as a combination of business performance and family well-being. Integrating the resource-based view and network embeddedness theory, relationships among the STF owners’ dual social networks (family and industry networks), entrepreneurial resource acquisition, and entrepreneurial success are proposed and tested with a sample of 276 STFs in rural China. The empirical analyses reveal that (1) compared with tangible and knowledge-based resources, the owners’ acquisition of psychic resources has the strongest effect on entrepreneurial success; and (2) although industry networks provide more diverse access to entrepreneurial resources, family networks are superior in facilitating psychic resource acquisition, thus are especially important to the entrepreneurial success of rural STFs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

In the international education market, much attention has been paid to China, as it is the world’s largest source country in sending students abroad. The other side of the story, that is, China, as...

Many indigenous communities are greatly influenced by tourism development and their support for tourism matters to both developers and tourists’ experiences. Therefore, it is important to u...

This study explores the current status of research on inbound tourism to China, which ranks third globally among tourist receiving countries. The importance of inbound tourism as an indicator of na...

The role of children in family tourism has been recognized increasingly. However, their travel experiences are under-researched. This is the first study that focuses on children's views of family tourism in the world's most populous country, China. It explores Chinese children's views of family tourism experiences. More than one hundred (139) children aged 8–11 from three schools in a coastal Chinese city participated in the research by drawing pictures and sharing stories with the researchers. The results suggest that Chinese children, at least in these schools, have extensive travel experiences and a clear idea of what constitutes a memorable family tourism experience. Such experiences usually occur with their nuclear family, and are centered upon family togetherness and physical activities. Animal encounters, tasting local food, and appreciation of natural and built environments also matter. As future tourists, their views offer implications for destinations interested in attracting more Chinese tourists.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a debilitating condition, and the pain easily spreads to other parts of the face. Here, we established a mouse model of partial transection of the infraorbital nerve (pT-ION) and found that the Connexin 36 (Cx36) inhibitor mefloquine caused greater alleviation of pT-ION-induced cold allodynia compared to the reduction of mechanical allodynia. Mefloquine reversed the pT-ION-induced upregulation of Cx36, glutamate receptor ionotropic kainate 2 (GluK2), transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), and phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (p-ERK) in the trigeminal ganglion. Cold allodynia but not mechanical allodynia induced by pT-ION or by virus-mediated overexpression of Cx36 in the trigeminal ganglion was reversed by the GluK2 antagonist NS102, and knocking down Cx36 expression in Nav1.8-expressing nociceptors by injecting virus into the orofacial skin area of Nav1.8-Cre mice attenuated cold allodynia but not mechanical allodynia. In conclusion, we show that Cx36 contributes greatly to the development of orofacial pain hypersensitivity through GluK2, TRPA1, and p-ERK signaling. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12264-020-00594-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The 595-nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) has been used to treat vascular anomalies for about 30 years; however, there are insufficient data in Chinese patients concerning therapeutic efficacy, optimized parameters, and procedure techniques.To study the efficacy and relevant factors in PDL therapy for vascular anomalies in Chinese patients.We enrolled 431 patients with 8 different vascular anomalies and no previous treatment in this retrospective study. A detailed classification of vascular anomalies and various parameters and techniques of PDL were studied. The clinical outcomes were analysed using the Investigator Global Assessment.Improvements were significantly correlated with infantile haemangioma (IH) subtypes (p 0.05). A significant correlation between efficacy and lesion colour, anatomical sites, and hypertrophic-type port-wine stain (PWS) was found (p 0.05). There was no significant correlation between efficacy and age or sex (p 0.05).PDL is an effective and safe therapeutic modality for managing vascular anomalies in Chinese patients. We determined that differentiating and identifying IH subtypes prior to treatment could be a useful parameter for predicting therapeutic results. Lesion colour, sites, and hypertrophic changes in PWS are relevant therapeutic factors. PDL parameters and techniques differ according to the various vascular anomalies to achieve optimal results.

The family, as a leisure unit, is an important museum consumer group. The literature on family leisure in museums concentrates on the cognitive and the learning aspects in science museums and art g...

This study emphasizes the intersection of two topics: the breaks or gaps in the life trajectory of Chinese citizens which may facilitate travel behaviour, and the analysis of forces which may constrain this activity. To understand the future possibilities for Chinese gap time tourism, the present survey expands on Wu, Pearce, Huang, and Fan’s [(2015). Gap year in China: Views from the participants and implications for the future. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(2), 158–174] earlier netnographic work. The researchers document the demographic characteristics of Chinese potential gap time holiday takers, their preferred style and their perceived constraints. Respondents preferred relatively short breaks during their early career for their gap time. They were predominantly constrained by a culturally distinctive hierarchy of concerns that differed from those found in western studies. In order, the constraints were financial and time issues, lack of travel companions, social responsibility obligations, personal ...

Seasonal migration is an emerging trend among seniors in China. In comparison with the lifestyle-oriented migrations of seniors in much of the western world, Chinese seniors often travel with a focus on improving their health and longevity. Adapting the concept of a therapeutic landscape, the changes experienced by seniors with health problems who visit Bama County, a remote area in southwest China well-known for the longevity of its residents, are explored through personal observation and in-depth interviews. All seniors reported improvements, to different degrees, in their physical, mental and social health. These positive transformations were attributed to the therapeutic physical, social and symbolic landscapes of Bama, as well as to the seniors’ proactive actions and their positive mindset. Implications are offered to the service industry, especially the broad tourism and hospitality industry, that is interested in attracting and catering to the aging Chinese population.

With increases in disposable income in China as well as the traditional focus on family life, family tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in contemporary Chinese tourism. This study presents a systematic review of 66 research articles from Chinese academic journals published between 1995 and 2015. The general trend, themes and methods are analyzed. Listening to children’s voices, paying attention to diverse family types, the influence of social media on family travel, collaboration among researchers with different backgrounds, and thinking through the role of Chinese culture are posited as topics requiring increased attention to enhance future family tourism research in China.

Museums have been widely considered as informal educational sites. Studies about families in museums heavily concentrate on the cognitive aspects and the learning outcomes in science museums and art galleries. Compared with previous research, this study emphasizes four distinctive themes: a focus on the pre-trip stage of the museum visit, museums depicting local heritage, a Chinese context, and attention to social and cultural issues. In detail, this study explores the motivations of Chinese parents who take their children to a cluster of heritage museums at the southern end of China’s Grand Canal, a newly designated world heritage site in Hangzhou. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with parents visiting the museums with their children. It was found that the key push factors include education and learning, relaxation, creating positive experience for children, relationship enhancement (quality time with children) and extended family obligations. Free admission, the innovative displays, th...

Entertainment is a feature of some tourism settings and acts as a key pull factor for visiting certain destinations. Research-based studies about entertainment and the tourist experience are, however, rather limited. This study pursued this research opportunity and explored international tourists’ experiences in an iconic performance-based entertainment, the Impression Sanjie Liu in southern China. More than 350 tourists’ spontaneous reviews posted on TripAdvisor were analyzed through Leximancer software. It was found that international tourists were generally positive toward the culturally distinctive style of the entertainment. Despite the challenge of comprehending meanings and the language, they were impressed with the grand spectacle, the performances of many people, and the context. The disruptive behavior of other tourists, particularly the domestic Chinese tourists, troubled some international tourists. Implications for both academic research and the tourism entertainment industry are offered.

The present study is one of the first to assess the characteristics and consider the implications of the emerging gap year phenomenon within China. More specifically, the research answers three questions: (1) Who are the Chinese gap year takers? (2) What motivates the Chinese gap year participants' involvement in the new activity? and (3) How does the concept of a Chinese gap year differ from its Western counterpart? A netnographic study of 103 blogs was followed by 18 in-depth telephone interviews. The findings were compared with existing knowledge from studies about the Western gap year participants. It was found that individuals taking a Chinese gap year differed from their western counterparts both in demographic and behavioural terms. The type of gap year (career gap vs. pre-university gap) and forces from within the broader Chinese cultural context are producing a growing, distinctive and positively perceived travel phenomenon. The present study offers initial implications for international tourism ...

This study analyzes an uncommon tourism attraction pricing phenomenon in China, known as “free West Lake”. West Lake Scenic District in Hangzhou is a World Heritage Site in China׳s most prosperous eastern region. Here, the admission fee was progressively removed and free access was introduced. This paper uses Chinese newspaper reports, official documents and academic articles to explore the evolution of the pricing policy and its consequences for visitor use and government finances, with implications for other attractions in China and elsewhere. This novel pricing initiative resulted in an initial economic loss to the local government but eventually broadened the economic base, reduced the environmental pressure on certain sensitive heritage sites, and enhanced tourists׳ experiences, residents׳ quality of life and the city׳s reputation, providing novel insights into public resource management in China. The case highlights the importance of adopting a broad perspective on admission pricing, as the implications may extend beyond the narrow confines of the facility in question.

This study examines international tourists' experiences in Beijing's Silk Market, one of the China's most well-known tourist markets. Tourists' spontaneous reviews on TripAdvisor were analyzed through Leximancer, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. The study confirms that markets can be major tourism attractions and can provide important experiences for international tourists. Most international tourists were impressed with their Silk Market trip. The dominant narratives of their experiences were the “price” of the items they “bought”, the “fun” of “bargaining”, and the “fake” quality of the products. Further analyses show that different satisfaction groups used somewhat different narratives to represent their shopping experiences and that male international tourists enjoyed the Silk Market experiences more than their female counterparts.

This study reports an investigation of the ways in which local youth understand tourism in a rural heritage community in Tibet, China. The sustainable livelihoods framework was adopted to organise the areas of interest. Focus groups were initially conducted, and the resulting information was used in a subsequent questionnaire-based survey. It was found that the young Tibetan hosts understood tourists as ‘passers-by' in different vehicles. The tourists were seen as visiting the community because of two major tourism resources: the traditional Tibetan incense-making techniques, and the residence and culture of a Tibetan historical figure. The youth were positive towards tourism development in their community and identified some activities and strategies for their involvement in tourism. In assessing future outcomes and directions for tourism, the rural Tibetan youth would like to see both community and personal well-being improved through tourism.

Livelihood strategies denote the range and combination of activities and choices made by households. Some research has focused on the potential impacts of sustainable livelihood, and only a few studies have begun considering sensitivity of livelihood strategies. Based on the gradient altitude and resettlement project, mountain settlements are classified into four types: the high-mountain settlement, the semi-mountain settlement, the river valley settlement and the resettlement area. Using semi-structured interviews, we have defined the farm and non-farm livelihood strategies as dependent variables, while the natural, human, physical, financial, and social capitals are considered as independent variables in order to model the relationship between livelihood strategies and livelihood capitals. In term of different settlements, we estimate the sensitivity of farm and non-farm livelihood strategies to livelihood capitals. The results indicate that natural and human capitals exhibited a positive correlation with the farm livelihood strategy, although the effect varies with the four types of settlements. Financial and social capitals are the catalyst for driving non-farm activities. Our findings suggest that no size fits all solutions to the livelihood strategy issues, and only livelihood capitals will be helpful in the long term if they are complemented by relative policies that enhance capital capacity as well as increase access to capitals. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This chapter assesses the portrayal in the online English media of mainland China tourist behavior. Social representation theory is used to classify and interpret the major themes being portrayed in recent online reports. The analysis suggested two emancipated representations, one which incorporated both “ugly” behavior and positive issues, while the second view highlighted the undesirable behaviors due to cultural clashes. Two minority representations also existed. The first offered a warm welcome toward the more sophisticated and well-educated market and the other stressed the potential damage to China’s national reputation of their unfavorable behavior. Implications and directions for future research and viewing outbound tourists are offered.

Considerable efforts are underway to understand the behaviours of the growing number of outbound Chinese tourists. Existing research has shown that this market is complex, and an awareness of regional differences, change within China, and sensitivity to other world views are needed to guide studies in this area. For western researchers, several puzzles require conceptual clarification. These items of interest include what motivates Chinese tourists and are their motives different from those of western tourists? Among the other questions to be asked are, how do Chinese tourists interact with each other and their hosts, and how do they view unfamiliar natural environments? These are big questions and require a holistic and comprehensive approach to seeking initial answers. The paper approaches the puzzles posed by Chinese tourist behaviour by considering tourists' experiences as an orchestrated pattern of five blended forces. In particular, attention was directed towards the social behaviours, the role of sensory modalities, and the cognitive, affective and activity facets of experience. Further, this review explains how three major streams of influence (Confucianism, Communism and Capitalism) operate on and through the Chinese outbound tourists' experiences. The paper identifies these multiple influences as producing an oscillating triple-C gaze. The application of this concept can arguably help better delineate the perspectives of the twenty first century outbound Chinese travellers. As the quest to solve the puzzles of Chinese tourist behaviour gathers momentum, the opportunities for more longitudinal research and comparative studies viewed within this triple-C gaze are identified as useful complements to existing work.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the average daily consumption of cigarettes and its correlates, attitudes toward smoking, and suggestions for anti‐smoking measures in a sample of Chinese college student smokers.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 150 college student cigarette smokers in Baoding, a city near Beijing, filled out a questionnaire asking about their average daily consumption of cigarettes, attitude toward smoking and their opinions on how they might control their smoking behavior.FindingsIn total, 85.3 percent of the smoking students were males and 14.7 percent females, and males had started smoking earlier. However, and surprisingly, the average daily consumption among females was greater than among males (9.6 vs 5.6 cigarettes a day, pPractical implicationsFindings in this paper underscore the importance of developing effective smoking cessation programs through gender‐specific approaches at post‐secondary educational institutions as well as coordinating anti‐smoking efforts at multiple levels of educational administration in China.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the few studies on Chinese college students' cigarette smoking practices and student smokers' attitudes toward cigarette smoking. It also reports for the first time possible effective anti‐smoking measures as suggested by the students themselves. The value of this study lies in the finding that cigarette smoking among highly educated individuals in China is on the rise and vigorous research on the smoking behavior of this group should be a high priority.

This study reviews tourism research in and about Tibet, China. The work uses a bibliometric approach and seeks to compare domestic tourism research with a Tibetan focus to the overall Chinese efforts in tourism study. International scholarly activities pertaining to Tibet were also considered. The approach follows Hsu et al. (2010) and offers a model for assessing tourism studies in many developing regions and destinations. Key topics for analysis included such factors as time lines, disciplinary approaches, study themes, data collection techniques, tools of analysis, and authorship patterns. In the Tibetan case a pragmatic, macro-level and applied approach to research was identified. Opportunities exist for more small-scale studies of tourism businesses, further analysis of the politics inherent in tourism strategies, more work on the tourism issues in the main destination of Lhasa, better national and international cooperation and the application of more refined statistical and interpretive techniques.

To observe the duration of enterovirus-71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A 16 (CoxA16) viral shedding in stool samples of children with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) infected with EV71 and CoxA16 and to explore the relationship between the duration of intestinal virus shedding and the severity of illness of children with HFMD.Totally 113 laboratory-confirmed cases of children with HFMD infected with EV71 and CoxA16 were followed up. The stool samples were collected with the interval of 4 to7 days and the viral nucleic acids were detected by fluorescent PCR until the stool viral nucleic acids of infected children turned to be negative. The cases in EV71 group were further divided into "ordinary EV71 group" and "severe EV71 group" according to the severity of the illness. The positive rates of viral nucleic acid and the differences of distribution among different groups were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis during the follow-up period.The 113 cases of infected children were grouped as follows: 65 cases of EV71 positive children, 44 cases of CoxA16 positive children, 4 cases of EV71/CoxA16 mixed infection. The median duration of the stool viral nucleic acids turning to negative was 26 (18.25-32.50) days in EV71 group and 27 (14.50-33.75) days in CoxA16 group (Z = 1.51, P0.05). At 1, 4, 6 and 10 weeks, the positive rates of stool viral nucleic acid of children with HFMD in EV71 group were 100%, 48.1%, 17.2% and 0 respectively. At 1, 4 and 6 weeks, the positive rates of stool viral nucleic acid of children with HFMD in CoxA16 group were 95.5%, 53.8% and 0 respectively (χ(2) = 0.18, P0.05). At 1, 4 and 6 weeks, the positive rates of stool viral nucleic acid of children with HFMD in ordinary EV71 group were 100%, 23.5% and 0 respectively, while at 1, 4, 6 and 10 weeks, the positive rates of stool viral nucleic acid of children with HFMD in severe EV71 group were 100%, 62.4%, 26.0% and 0 respectively (χ(2) = 5.689, P0.05).The duration of enterovirus shedding in stool samples of children with HFMD lasted for a long period. The maximum duration of EV71 and CoxA16 in stool of children with HFMD was 10 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively. The duration of intestinal virus shedding of children with HFMD infected with EV71 was related with the severity of the illness.