Dark Tourism, Emotions, and Postexperience Visitor Effects in a Sensitive Geopolitical Context: A Chinese Case Study

Abstract

Engaging the neglected intersection between dark tourism, the visitor post-experience and geopolitics, this research reports the findings from a survey of 1,082 domestic visitors to Lushun Prison Museum in Dalian, China, a Japanese-era incarceration and punishment site that projects hegemonic anti-Japanese social representations. Most respondents reported strong emotional reactions and elevated patriotism along with worsened attitudes toward Japan, Japanese products and, to a lesser degree, Japanese people, suggesting negative implications for the increasingly tense China-Japan bilateral relationship. However, sample diversity is indicated by the revelation of small Japan-neutral clusters whose members are more likely to express contemplation and pity as dominant emotions rather than the anger and hate of the majority, and who qualify the dominant social representations accordingly. Communist Party membership, age, lack of student affiliation, and not having Japanese friends or knowing any Japanese people were all associated with Japan-negative perceptions and intentions.

The Experience of Novelty and the Novelty of Experience

“…Participants also shared negatively remembered tourism experiences involving novelty, as a result of unexpected illness, injury and other losses, or heightened periods of emotional stress. As a result of unpleasant travel experiences, participants feel disappointment, unexpectedness, fear, horror (Petzer et al, 2012;Weaver et al, 2018).…”

Dark tourism and affect: framing places of death and disaster

“…Its relevance originates from the fact that dark tourism sites can elicit strong and complex reactions by their nature (Buda, 2015a;Seaton, 2009). In many cases, indeed, places are consciously constructed to enhance such reactions (Weaver et al, 2018). What is 'unique' about these places is their power to engage with representations of death.…”

Transitional justice and the political ‘work’ of domestic tourism

“…Others intended to bring their children to the museum to educate them about the communist past. Another response was a sense of duty to tell friends and other people about the museum and encourage them to visit for themselves (similar findings are reported by Weaver et al, 2018). One stated: 'the message, I don't want to keep it just for me, I want to tell people, I want to spread the word further' (I42, female, aged 19).…”

“…The findings of this study highlight several directions for future research. First, there is scope to examine the longer-term impacts of visits to memorial museums which could be achieved through follow-up studies with visitors (see Weaver et al, 2018). This would indicate if the strong impressions created by a memorial museum lead to longer-term moral change and commitment.…”

“…While these issues are relevant to TJ, these studies have not specifically framed their analysis with reference to TJ. A related research strand has focused on memorial sites that interpret violence or human rights abuses, often (although not always) using the lens of dark tourism (for example, Dalton, 2014;Friedrich & Johnston, 2013;Isaac & Çakmak, 2016;Weaver et al, 2018). However, while some studies have briefly considered issues of healing or reconciliation at such memorials, they have rarely embraced the broader social and political processes of TJ.…”