Currently, the rapid industrialization and accelerated urbanization that have shaped the agenda of the Chinese State has led to a governmentally encouraged local revival of handicraft production in several parts of China largely oriented toward stimulation of the tourism development. In the 1980s, locally produced handicrafts were common objects of daily use and were cheaper than industrially-produced textiles such as rayon, dacron, or nylon. By contrast, the production of handicrafts today costs more per unit than industrially-produced textiles. Local toleration of this major cost discrepancy reveals a shift in attitude toward an appreciation for local traditions and a growing disdain for industrially-produced products. In this dissertation, I examine the Chinese government's initiatives of Cultural Development (wenhua fazhan ) in a Chinese context, observing how the production of batik involves the creative appropriation of materials and simultaneously renovates traditional cultural heritages, reshaping local social landscapes in Danzhai. I argue that the revival of handicraft production in China entails a paradoxical juxtaposition of developmental discourse with a concern for cultural policies, and the preservation and renovation of tradition as well as the indigenization of many of the current social transformations taking place in China.

The dissertation is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction that discusses the general research topic, methodology underlying data collection, and several theoretical constructs that inform the analysis. The following four chapters contain the substantive material of my research and are conceptualized as potentially separate articles. Chapter 2 identifies a number of ambivalent themes and muddled concepts that exert a deleterious impact on current Chinese developmental discourse. I discuss the concept of "cultural development" as used in China as well as the measures taken by the Chinese State to link cultural development with the ever-expanding domestic tourism market. Chapter 3 describes the Miao people, the traditional role batik production plays in the identity of Miao women, and the local Danzhai topography in which this all unfolds. It also explores the effects of tourism, which have attracted new interest in preserving traditions of batik production on the other hand, and disrupted traditional social relations on the other. Chapter 4 examines the advantages and pitfalls of State-led development initiatives on batik production in Miao communities. I describe two projects (including one I participated in) that, to their detriment, were launched on the basis of false generalizations and stereotyped oversimplifications on the part of policy planners. At one point I was manager of one of the projects. I will discuss the research advantages and the potential research pitfalls that such involvement generates. Chapter 5 examines the complications generated in programs that involve multiple groups of participating actors (government agents, journalists, NGOs, scholars, experts, villagers, artisans and others) with competing and contradictory agendas. Complications are intensified when such programs occur in the context of the modernization and urbanization that are now central features of the Chinese landscape. Chapter 6 summarizes the findings and suggests future research that could expand upon the findings from this research.

This research was carried out over a 25-month period in which I lived in Guizhou Province, an impoverished region in southern China that is undergoing rapid development. It entails a case study of batik production by the Miao ethnic minority group in Danzhai, a county of Guizhou province. This research will hopefully contribute to interdisciplinary endeavors by creating links among the themes of development studies, human geography, the anthropology of art, and indigenous studies. The interdisciplinary nature of my approach has, I believe, resulted in five contributions. I argue for a flexible, dynamic view of Chinese developmental discourse as well as China's developmental policies, achievements, and social transformations. Second, this research utilizes the study of an art form to contribute a critical approach to understanding China's political and economic reality. Third, this research offers possible development alternatives to contemporary China's overwhelming industrialization, urbanization, and commercialization (including the commercialization of culture) that has occurred in the context of globalization. Fourth, this research contributes a model for carrying out ethnographic research while the researcher simultaneously plays a role in an ongoing development project. Finally, this research is pioneering in its engagement in an academic dialogue between the traditional Chinese concept jianghu and western academic concepts such as rooted networks and "field" theory. I point out dimensions in the batik drama that are not fully captured in such western theoretical metaphors and that can better be analyzed with the use of an indigenous jianghu metaphor. In making this case, I hope to encourage western scholars to incorporate, as part of their theoretical toolkit, concepts derived directly from the non-western cultures that are being analyzed. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).