Mild Exoticism: Touristic Visions of the Nanyang in Republican China

Touristic visions of the Nanyang found in sources of the Republican China period reflect a variety of interests, including an attraction for the exotic and a specific curiosity with regard to the particularities of local customs. Local monuments reflective of local cultures were also an important beacon for Republican China travellers. These included sites that were easily accessible at major port towns and other urban centres, as well as remoter ones, which were also included in travel itineraries. This was the case of Borobudur, visited for instance by Liang Shaowen, the author of a Nanyang tour account published in 1924. This being so, the gaze of travellers from China seems to have been largely focused elsewhere. Their interest in places of nature seems to have largely disregarded exotic features and to have echoed a long-established tradition of scenic tourism in China or to have concentrated on adventure. The Nanyang Chinese communities and the Chinese cultural elements extant in the region also ranked high amongst the proposed and actual touristic attractions. Travel guidance material and our accounts from this era granted much importance to China-related attractions. In this context, while exoticism was indeed an element of the tourist experience, it was only mildly so. This paper aims to examine this aspect, which can partly be explained by the highly nationalist atmosphere that permeated Republican China.