0Discussion paper No.104

Ecotourism Development and the Community Structure
At West Lake in Hangzhou

November 2008

Masahiro Yabuta*
Zhang Qian**
Koki Nakamura**Faculty of Economics, Chuo University**Graduate School of Economics, Chuo University

0

Ecotourism Development and the Community Structure
At West Lake in Hangzhou
November 2008
Masahiro Yabuta*, Zhang Qian** and Koki Nakamura**Faculty of Economics, Chuo University**Graduate School of Economics, Chuo University
Abstract
Tourism is a leading sector that contributes to sustainable growth in all countries andregions. Tourism development should ideally entail an improvement of the welfare of the communityand preservation of the environment in the region. ‘Economic growth’, ‘community welfare’ and‘environment’ are the three factors that make the socio-economic system of regions sustainable.
These triple bottom lines of tourism development can lead to ‘ecotourism’. Ecotourism should betargeted by encouraging the community’s cooperative activities for the development of tourism using
a community-based approach. This is because all stakeholders in the community can benefit byparticipating in planning and enforcing tourism development. Effective and fair development can beattained through the cooperative efforts of people in the community and the local government. This
study discusses the relationship between ecotourism development and community involvement,
focusing on the structure of tourism development in Hangzhou, China, a region where there areabundant tourism resources and where tourism policy can be given the top priority. After surveying
some papers to show how important the linkage between community and tourism development is,
we shall prove that community-based ecotourism is critical for regional sustainable development. In
addition, we shall provide the results of an empirical research conducted at West Lake in Hangzhou
to elucidate the community’s stance toward tourism development and the extent of commitment
made by the community residents to abide by environmental as well as tourism policies.
Key Words: Ecotourism, CPR approach, Cooperative behaviour, Community, Hangzhou in China,
Sustainable management

JEL Classification: R11, Q56
Acknowledgement: M. Yabuta, the chief researcher, gratefully acknowledges the financial support of a
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(C), 2006–2009, from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The empirical research conducted at
Hangzhou in China during the period 1–19 September was mainly supported by this fund.
The authors also thank Professor Shen Manhong, Faculty of Economics, and Professor Zhou
Ling-Qiang and Professor Zhou Yong-Sheng, Tourism Department, Zhejiang University.
Their helpful comments are highly appreciated.

1

1. Introduction
The present study discusses the relationship between tourism development and community
involvement. We focus on tourism development and the planning and implementation process
through participation by residents in the community from the perspective of ‘ecotourism’. Tourism isa leading sector contributing to sustainable growth in all countries and regions, and its development
should entail improvement of the community welfare and preservation of the environment in theregion. ‘Economic growth’, ‘community welfare’ and ‘environment’ are the three factors that makethe socio-economic system of regions sustainable. These triple bottom lines of tourism development
can promote ecotourism. Ecotourism should be targeted by encouraging the community’s
cooperative activities for the development of tourism using a community-based approach. This isbecause all stakeholders in the community can contribute to their welfare by participating in theplanning and implementation of tourism development. Effective and fair development can beattained through the cooperative actions of people in the community. This paper

discusses therelationship between ecotourism development and community involvement, focusing on the
structure of tourism development in Hangzhou, China, a region where there are abundant tourism
resources and where tourism policy can be given the top priority. The importance ofcommunity-based ecotourism for regional sustainable development is discussed in this paper.
The composition of the paper is as follows. Section 2 surveys previous papers that mention thelinkage between community and tourism development. Section 3 gives a simple model for analyzing
the importance of planning and promoting community involvement on the part of the government inorder to maximize the community’s welfare. Section 4 gives an overview of the present situation ofsocio-economy in Hangzhou. We also investigate the features of tourism and environmental policies
in Hangzhou. Basically, tourism planning in China is undertaken by the central government, but theregional aspects of these plans are enforced by provincial or municipal governments. In this regard,
various plans for tourism development and environmental preservation are investigated from thenational as well as municipal perspectives. In Section 5, we explain the structure of our empiricalresearch at West Lake in Hangzhou. By analyzing the questionnaires that we used in a small
community (SheQu) around West Lake, we shall investigate the community’s stance toward tourism
development and the extent of commitment made by the community residents to abide byenvironmental as well as tourism policies. Finally, Section 6 outlines the main findings andconclusions.
2. An Overview of Tourism Development and Community Involvement
2.1 Ecotourism and the role of community
In this paper, we define ecotourism or ecotourism development simply as tourism

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development entailing both improvement of the community’s welfare and preservation of the natural
as well as cultural environment. Accordingly, ecotourism should also involve socio-economic andenvironmental sustainability. ‘Improvement of welfare’, ‘tourism development’ and ‘environmental
preservation’ constitute the triple bottom lines in community development. Hence, a balance among
them is important for ecotourism development. However, sometimes the region or the community
loses this balance. Excessive investment in attractions at tourist sites, such as golf courses oramusement parks, results in mass tourism, which in turn causes environmental damage in many
regions. As a result, these regions have lost their attractiveness and sustainability for future
generations. Therefore, it can be said that the balance among the triple bottom lines is fragile andthat ecotourism cannot be realized if the community or society cannot manage tourism development
adequately. We have learned much from various famous tourist sites such as Galapagos in Ecuador
or Yakushima in Japan, where this balance has collapsed. These are the typical case of
ill-management and overuse of tourism resources. Hence, we reach the conclusion that thecommunity must manage tourism resources properly and must play the role of a wise manager tocontrol them.
2.2 Research overview
A theoretical and empirical explanation of the mutual relationship between tourism
development and community involvement has been a major subject of discussion in preceding
papers. From the triple bottom line perspective, a tendency towards ill-management and overuse of
tourism resources has been proved by the common pool approach, which mainly focuses on theproperties of tourism resources, such as natural environment and cultural heritage (Ostrom, 1990 and
Ostrom et al. 1994). The common pool approach focuses on resources that can be characterized bytheir ‘excludability’ and ‘rivalry’ and categorizes them as common pool resources (CPRs). Becauseof their inherent properties, it is easy to show that CPRs tend to be overused or overexploited when
they are used to develop the tourism sector. As far as the common pool approach is concerned,
Galapagos is a prime example of a case of ill-management of CPRs. Thus, it is natural to conclude
that CPRs must be managed adequately by the community and its members. The papers related topreservation of regional resources have studied the effects of tourism development on environmental
situation as well as community structure. Recent textbooks on ecotourism have also been mainly
concerned with negative impacts of tourism and community (See Fennel, 2003 and Diamantis, 2004).
Tourism management should include basic principles such as rules on boundary, allocation andmonitoring. In addition to these rules, others such as estimation of and research on the maximum
sustainable yield of CPRs and tourist guide systems for educational purposes are required for
ecotourism management (see Stein & Edwards, 1990). Moreover, CPRs should be managed mainly
through the cooperative participation of all stakeholders in the community.

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Therefore, recent works concerning ecotourism development have focused on the relationshipbetween tourism development and community involvement. Gu and Ryan (2008) studied the impact
of tourism on local communities. Using a covariance structure model, they found that the place andclass consciousness of the residents is the most important factor in tourism development. Fan, Walland Mitchell (2008) focused on the commodification of tourism resources in small towns in China
and found that the collaboration of local planners with businesses is necessary and that more
attention should be paid to the opinions of local residents regarding the management and planning of
tourism development (see Mitchell and Coghill, 2000). As for fact-finding regarding tourist sites in
China, Ying and Zhou (2007) investigated the influence of tourism development on communities andconcluded that a definitive legal description is a premise of and is conducive to balanced tourism
development. Nyaupane, Morais and Dowler (2006) explored the role of community involvement intourism development. They asserted that tourism development could affect the community’s welfare
positively in the areas of education and sanitation. They also studied some cases of non-profit
organizations and their respective community involvement to cope with various problems likeeconomic leakage and socio-economic inequality. Although most of the literature named community
involvement as a decisive factor in the management of local tourism resources, Li (2006) considereda critical perspective toward this paradigm and found a weak participation of residents in decision
making in China. He added that such a cooperative activity in the community may be one of several
measures needed to promote ecotourism. He has accepted more flexibility of government-led
planning and management in ecotourism development.
As seen in these papers, there are diverse views on the required level of community
commitment and involvement needed for ecotourism development. However, all of them featurecommunity involvement as a basic prerequisite for managing CPRs and tourism development inlocal areas. Our attention should therefore be focused on the relationship between tourism
development and community involvement.
2.3 Community involvement and ecotourism
As Nyaupane, Morais and Dowler (2006) pointed out, there are a number of reasons why theactual community involvement towards ecotourism development might be restricted; for example,
lack of suitable capacity in the community for planning, coordinating and investing in tourism
resources and the belief held by the community’s residents that it is the government’s duty to planand enforce tourism development for their region. In particular, it is natural for people to assume thatenvironmental regulations and regional development plans should be implemented by the central
government within the network of a broad and common juristic system. Because ecotourism mustentail both regional development and environmental preservation, it is the central government’s task
to devise development plans, enact environmental protection laws and oversee their administration.

4

Accordingly, in a nation like China that relies heavily on centralized planning, the government
should play a major role in tourism development. The China National Tourism Administration(CNTA), directly regulated by the State Council, is responsible for developing, promoting andregulating Chinese tourism development. CNTA basically supervises any lower level tourism
authorities, such as provincial and municipal tourism administrations. In this regard, it should be
noted that the central government has already devised many basic laws and development plansconcerning regional economic growth as well as cultural and natural environmental preservation ineach region from the ‘civil minimum’ perspective. Hence, it is natural for a five-year development
plan to include a specific area-oriented plan and environmental standards to be applied to regional
environment characteristics such as landscape, water source and atmosphere. A basic structure of therelationship between government and local communities in China is depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1 A structure of tourism development and management

NPOs
Residents
Stakeholders

As mentioned above, governments at each level should play a key role in developing theregional economy through tourism and preserving the environment. However, there are good reasonsfor the community to participate in planning and coordinating tourism development in collaboration
with the governments. The community’s participation is required mainly because the government
has insufficient information concerning the community, leading to ‘governmental failure’.
Accordingly, the government and community should together manage a cooperative system tobridge the gap between governmental decisions and their outcome. Community involvement would
be a notable means for diminishing this gap because residents of a tourist site know best what
problems should be solved and how they should be treated. It is generally assumed that including the
local community in planning and operating tourism contributes to their well-being.
As the World Tourism Organization has mentioned, tourism with community involvement canbe termed community-based ecotourism that is managed by the local people, with the5tourism-related benefits going mainly to the community.
3. A Simple Model of Community Involvement and Ecotourism
For a theoretical perspective, we propose a model in which the government (the social
planner) makes plans and the community’s stakeholders accept and demand revisions of these plans.
It is assumed that a tourist site uses local resources such as its natural and cultural heritage, whichshould be adequately managed and conserved. These tourism resources tend to be overexploited
because they are inherent CPRs that everyone can access freely and use1. For model analysis, we
also make some additional assumptions as follows:(1) The government knows exactly what the production function is but does not know how muchnegative externality such as congestion and pollution occurs in tourism. However, thegovernment can use some incentive mechanisms, such as taxes and subsidies, to regulate local
activities.
(2) The local community knows exactly what happens in daily life and how much negative impact
results from tourism development. However, it tends to overuse local tourism resources due to alack of cooperative management.
A typical model framework is depicted in Figure 2. Two lines extending downward andrightward represent production functions; the upper line takes none, or only a part, of theexternalities into consideration, but the lower one considers all the externalities in the region. Hence,
the lower line apparently represents the community’s ‘true’ welfare, while the upper line is the‘targeted’ welfare that the government expects to achieve. The difference between the two lines
indicates the negative externalities caused by various tourism activities. Because of insufficient
information about the community’s well-being, it is hard for the government to manage and control
the level of resource use so as to maximize the community’s welfare. As far as the community’s‘true’ welfare is concerned, the most adequate plan for resource use is attained at point E in Figure 2,
where the community’s welfare is maximized. On the other hand, a policy target of the government
can be attained at point G*, where the welfare level of community is maximized only if thegovernment is unaware of the externality. In this case, the government can levy a tourism-related tax
on the unit charge of resource use, but as shown in Figure 2, the tax rate may be insufficient as aresource for promoting welfare maximization. Clearly there are two reasons why governments
mislead the community and create inefficient equilibrium: one is lack of information and the other isincompleteness of the Pigouvian tax system.

1

Common pool resources (CPRs) for local tourism are characterized by their inherent property with ‘excludability’and ‘rivalry’. For example, a beautiful landscape in a tourist site can be used by everyone, but such a practice may
lessen the attraction of the landscape because of the congestion created by hotels and the local attractions. This
constitutes Hardin’s ‘tragedy of commons’. To avoid this tragedy, the government and the community should engage
in cooperative activities entailing adequate management of CPRs.

6

Figure 2 Gaps of policy targets
Community benefits
User charge + Pigouvian Tax
G*G'Expected welfare

E
True welfare
User charge

O

R0’

R1

R2

R 3 R0Resource use

As far as an efficient outcome is concerned, it is easy for a social planner to coordinate a social
management system of resource use for maximizing the community’s welfare. Some policy
packages should be considered in order to attain a socially optimal condition, given by point E in
Figure 2. In this regard, the following points can be emphasized. First, the government should
maintain communication with the community and obtain useful information, especially concerning
the effects of regional tourism development plans on the community’s welfare. Then the government
will realize the community’s true welfare function, shape and level. Second, the community should
declare its position with regard to the regional development plans devised by the government.
Coordination between the government and the community can produce effective policy measureswith harmonious and efficient outcomes. Third, this coordination should be necessarily when
government lays taxes on tourism services. In general, everybody would like to evade tax even if an
optimal situation can be achieved through taxes. In particular, taxes for eliminating externalities in
the community impose restrictions on tourism-related businesses, and hence, it is easy to prove thatgovernments hesitate to introduce a sufficiently large tax in order to attain point G* such that it can
only reach point G' at best. Fourth, it may be much easier for people in a small community tomaintain cooperative behaviour among themselves to avoid conflicts with the stakeholders in thecommunity. Such an involvement through cooperative activities would help the community to reachthe socio-economical optimality indicated by point E in Figure 2. Last but not the least, sustainable
resource use should be considered. Maintaining resource use within the carrying capacity forms asocio-economic basis for the sustainability of regional development. This means that resource use, as
shown in Figure 2, should be less than the level at which the community cannot use the resources
continuously. If the carrying capacity is large enough, as indicated by R0, then the social planner and7

the community need not take this into consideration. On the other hand, if the carrying capacity is
too small as indicated by R0', it is vital to keep the resource use at less than R0' so as to maintainsustainability and to ensure a usual resource use. Hence, it should be noted that sustainable resource
use is also important for the planning and management of ecotourism in the community.
In conclusion, the model analysis tells us that the involvement of both governments andcommunities plays an important role in ecotourism development for improving community welfare
and maintaining socio-economic factors at a sustainable level. This means that government policies
and community involvement are necessary conditions for ecotourism development, but by
themselves, they are insufficient. Ecotourism development can be established on a solid andsustainable footing only when the government and the community cooperate.
4. Tourism Development in Hangzhou
The next step is to conduct an empirical analysis of the relationship between ecotourism
development and community involvement (See Figure 1). As far as the administrative system in
China is concerned, the principles and action plans of tourism development are structured top–downfrom the central government to the local, municipal governments. It is natural then to find that key
parts of the plans made by local governments are affected by policy principles designed by thecentral government. The question is whether the community can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the plans
devised by the local governments, or in other words, whether the local government functions
cooperatively with community members. To answer these questions, we shall focus our investigationin this paper on a typical site of advanced tourism in China, West Lake in Hangzhou. The following
sections are devoted to answering these questions.
4.1

West Lake and Hangzhou
We selected West Lake in Hangzhou as a typical Chinese tourism area because it is one of thecities chosen by the central government in China to concentrate on for tourism development. In 1999,
West Lake was ranked among the ten topmost beauty spots and designated as the national model by
CNTA. Located in Hangzhou, West Lake covers around 60 square kilometres, including 5.68 square
kilometres of water, and is one of the most famous tourist attractions in China. For centuries, West
Lake has been well known both for its picturesque landscape and its cultural heritage, which dates
back to the medieval dynasties. We also chose West Lake because it is the heart of tourism inHangzhou and its surrounding areas should be well-preserved. This lake is not large but its
environment has been so fragile that its water quality requires continuous monitoring. Many factors
contribute to water pollution and lead the lake water to become eutrophic. The natural contributors tothis problem include the inherently slow circulation of the lake water and less water influx from the
Qiantang Jiang River. As in the case of other lakes in China, farming, manufacturing and tourism are8considered the major causes of water pollution. To cope with this pollution, periodical dredging has
been undertaken in West Lake2. As the mother lake for Hangzhou, West Lake and its surroundingarea may be requisite to the community and people living there. Therefore, it is appropriate toinvestigate what plans the government has proposed, how the community is involved in the planning,and how well the cooperation between the government and the community, if any, is working.
4.2 Tourism development and plans in Hangzhou
West Lake’s landscape and atmosphere have attracted both foreign and domestic visitors. After
1949, Hangzhou first developed as a resort where receptions for international and domestic meetings
involving high government officials were held. After 1989, however, the reform and opening policy
in China advocated in 1978 penetrated into the east coast areas, and a structural change in the
tourism market in these areas occurred. Because West Lake and its surroundings had developed
earlier and was a traditional tourism destination in China, prompt action and improvement towards
tourism-oriented development were needed for a newer model of regional development in the 1990s.
Figure 3 shows figures related to the development of foreign tourism in selected areas in China. The
growth rate of the number of overseas tourists and tourism earnings in Hangzhou is less than that atother tourist sites, though this phenomenon may also reflect the age of this tourist site3.
Figure 3 Tourism developments – A comparison (2006/1995)
12.00
10.00

Earnings

8.00

Shanghai
6.00

ZhejiangHangzhou
4.00
2.00

Beijing
0.00
0

2

4

6

8

10

Visitors(Source; National Bureau of Statistics of China (http://www.stats.gov.cn/) )Tourism revenues per overseas visitor in Hangzhou are relatively high compared with otherregions, meaning that they tend to pay more for attractions, shopping and accommodation. As a top
tourist site in China, Hangzhou is still attractive with an annual influx of more than 38 million
visitors who come to see and experience something special. Tourists from abroad also have been
2

For example, it is reported that in 1089, West Lake was dredged by Su Shi, the then governor of Hangzhou. At thesame time, San Tan Yue was built along with the three symbolic stone towers that indicated the area in which people
were prohibited from planting aquatics (e.g. lotus).
3 See Butler (1980, 1997) for the explanation of a logistic growth curve for tourism sites, which shows that they
develop fast at first, but then slow.

9steadily increasing to 2 million in 2006, and come mainly from the Republic of Korea, Japan and theUSA (except for Taiwan and Hong Kong). Domestic tourists are particularly important. They tend to
spend more money than overseas tourists; for example, the average amount spent was around ¥1200
per visit in 2006, which was three times the figure in 1995 (See Figure 4).
Figure 4 Tourism developments in Hangzhou

Revenue from tourism(per visitors base)
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Domestic

Overseas

Due to a lack of data concerning tourism growth in Hangzhou, it is hard to determine if it has
undergone Butler’s type of tourism development; however, it can be found that tourism in Hangzou
seems to be still developing towards a certain level of carrying capacity. With respect toenvironmental preservation in Hangzhou, we should mention the typology of carrying capacity,
since it can be defined from both the community and the tourist ends (See Saveriades, 2000 and
Urtasun and Gutierrez, 2006). From the community end, the carrying capacity is a threshold overwhich the community residents will not endure the negative impact of tourism development. On theother hand, from the tourist end, more restrictions in the carrying capacity would lead to a
deterioration of the tourist destination. As we focus on community involvement in tourism
development, our attention is mainly on the former because it impacts the community’s welfare.
The evolution of tourism development plans in Hangzhou is summarized in Table 1. The firstdevelopment plan in Hangzhou was established in 1978. Following Deng Xiaoping’s theory ofdevelopment strategy for China, a nationwide goal for tourism development, which designated the10basic principles as well as laws for the tourism sector, was set for the 1990s. An assessment systemthat used star ratings for hotels and the topmost Chinese tourist cities nominated was implemented,
and Hangzhou was chosen as one of top tourist cities in China by CNTA.
Table 1 A brief history of development plans in Hangzhou
Tourism Development
Urban plan as a scenic city to locate sanatoriums for army,
navy and air force.
Master plan for developing scenic spots. Approved as a
1983
selected scenic city
1998
1999
Second exhibition of the West Lake, Hangzhou in China
2000(First was held in 1929)
Tourism Management Code in Hangzhou
Tourism administration of Hangzhou and the board of
2001
tourism and trade in Hangzhou.

Environmental Preservation

Community

1953

Hangzhou water protection regulations for West lake
Hangzhou heritage management provision

Doctrine of the community building (Ministry of Civil Affairs)

Master Plan for Urban Construction in Hangzhou (-2020)

2002

A report titled 'International tourism development inHangzhou' by PATA

Notice on the strengthening of community
State Environmental Protection "Ninth Five-Year" Plan
policy and its construction ( Ministry ofand the Long-Term Goals for 2010.
Public Security and Ministry of Civil Affairs)
Master Plan for West lake Scenic Area (-2020)
Hangzhou river protection management
Three complex protection operation to 2006; The West
Lake comprehensive protection project (including the
westward expansion of West Lake), ground project for
infrastructure, and reinvigoration of Grand Canal.

Agreement of affiliation for tourism development in the2003 Chang Jiang delta regions, including 15 cities (e.g. Shang
Hai, Hangzhou and Nanjing) and Mount Huangshan.

Building and protection project of the west wetland
national park.
Hangzhou urban dust pollution management

Master plan for comprehensive tourism development in2004
Hangzhou (-2025)
Promotion plan for international tourism development inHangzhou (-2007)
China Leisure Economy International Forum2005 Open to visitors of the westward wetland of West Lake

Development Plan for Environmental City in Hangzhou

Law of organizing committee for urban
SheQu (community) (Ministry of Civil

The westward wetland conservation plan
Hangzhou Environmental Protection Management of theservice sector

First International Animation Festival
2006 Hangzhou Tourism Code
Second International Animation Festival (named the city foranimation in China)
New promotion plan for international tourism development in2007
Hangzhou (-2011)

State Environmental Protection "11th Five-Year" Plan,'Hangzhou Environmental Protection "11th Five-year"Plan

Development plan of community service in
Hangzhou (-2010）

Notice of national model city community
service standards (Ministry of Civil Affairs)（Source: arranged by authors from various rules and plans by Hangzhou Municipal Government (http://www. Hangzhou.gov.cn/main/fggz/) ）In 2003, the world development plan for Hangzhou was advocated. Three major targets were
included in this five-year plan: first, to develop various tourist sites in Hangzhou; second, to create
more space for inbound tourists and third, to aim at becoming a convention city, which leads to anincrease in inbound tourists and exchanges among people, products and technology. In alliance with
Shang-hi and its neighbours, Hangzhou continues to aim at sustainable growth through tourism
development. A master development plan for tourism was designed in 2004 and will continue until
2025. This comprehensive plan stresses on four strategies: ‘internationalization’, ‘being a tourism
centre’, ‘westward development’ and ‘merging of city, culture and tourism’. The final plan is to11focus on the development of the natural environment of West Lake, including tourism developmentof the urban as well as suburban areas in Hangzhou.
4.3 Environmental preservation in West Lake
Since 1979, when Deng Xiaoping’s development strategy for China was promulgated, China
has been experiencing high growth rates. It continues to grow at around 10% annually. While at the
beginning of devising strategies, major development plans were limited to the east coast areas, now
the growth strategy has turned towards the inland areas in the west-south regions. Development ofenergy and labour-intensive industries such as heavy industry and export-oriented manufacturing has
led to high growth in the Chinese economy. However, this tendency has also caused serious
environmental problems, especially in urban areas. Hangzhou is no exception, and protection of theenvironment especially around West Lake is of a high priority. As mentioned above, the major
causes of deteriorating water quality in West Lake include the discharge of contaminated anduntreated water as a result of farming, manufacturing and tourism activities, and inflow from rivers
whose water quality is poor. The water system of West Lake was improved by various measures,
including increasing the incursion of water from the Qiantang Jiang River4 and construction of asewerage system around West Lake. Part of the water drawn from river is poured into artificiallyconstructed wetlands located southward of West Lake and after treatment, the water is drained out toWest Lake (See lower images5). Moreover, periodical dredging operations were performed in 1952,
1976 and 1999–2003.

As shown in Table 1, the municipal authority in Hangzhou carried out various treatments andenvironmental preservation plans. In 2002, under the Master Plan for the West Lake Scenic Area
(until 2020), three complex protection operations began—the West Lake Comprehensive Protection
Project (including the westward expansion of West Lake), an infrastructure ground project and4

Six points of intake from the river have been operating since 1986. The rate of circulation of water in West Lake is
now estimated to be once per month.
5
The images depict the Eco-Park of Long Bridge Stream in Hangzhou.

12

reinvigoration of the Grand Canal. These projects are currently underway. At the same time, theHangzhou Environmental Protection “11th Five-Year” Plan was advocated in 2006 to accelerateindustrialization, urbanization, growing educational potential and internationalization. In the face of
new changes, this plan must be linked to environmental protection to protect the rivers, lakes andmountains of Hangzhou; make good use of its natural resources and create a people-oriented
ecological city. This plan also stressed that an environmental protection strategy will lead Hangzhou
to become an environmentally friendly as well as a historical and cultural tourist site. A strong
support for ecological construction, ecological protection and pollution prevention is expected toprovide a good foundation for sustainable economic and social development in Hangzhou.
Accordingly, these protection plans for the overall environment in Hangzhou should becentred on environmental preservation of West Lake and its surroundings. As far as the urban
construction plan is concerned, the condition of the infrastructure and greens has steadily improved.
The area to the east of the lake is intended to be used for business, that to the south will be an
upscale street, that to the north is for significant historical sites and that to the west is a new locationthat will include the widening West Lake in order to attract tourists. However, some problems persist,
basically because of urban reconstruction and tourism development.
First, there exists the problem of water quality, though an improvement in water quality has
been noted over the years and some of the improvement projects seem effective. However, theachievement rate of environmental standard for drinking water quality is 89.7%, while for the
Qiantang Jiang basin it is only 43.5% and for the Hangzhou Canal it is 0%. West Lake’s water
quality, though improving, is still in the V-class, the worst situation (See Table 2 for environmental
quality standards for surface water and Table 3 for selected and monitored urban-area lakes6). In
spite of the various efforts mentioned above, an immediate improvement in the ambient water
quality of West Lake and its surroundings is required.
Second, the increase in tourism and rapid urban redevelopment has caused various urban
environmental problems such as overcrowding, congestion, air pollution and traffic accidents. Table
4 shows selected data related to the economic, environmental and social aspects of development inHangzhou. The figures are indicated in the Development Plan for an Environmental City in
Hangzhou in 2002. It should be noted that the government has much to do to achieve its long-termgoals, especially with regard to economic and environmental efficiency, pollution control andenvironmental preservation. On the other hand, cooperative action between the government and thecommunity is needed to tackle such issues and attain these goals. An increase in population ismainly caused by influx from other regions, leading to a mixture of local people and people from6

It is easy to see that the water quality in selected urban area lakes except for Kunming Lake is below V. In general,
the water quality continues to be poor everywhere in China. There is little difference between the Chinese andJapanese standards as shown in Table 2. As far as total P and N are concerned, the difference is less than 0.1 and 1.0
respectively for type V in Japan.

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outside. Hence, there is no doubt that the community structure in Hangzhou has been changing
steadily with the fluidity of population. Accordingly, this brings about difficulties in the traditional
system of managing the community.
Table 2 Environmental quality standards

Table 3 Lakes in urban areasof dams and lakes in China(monitored sites)Type Ｉ

Type II

Standards
Type III

Type IV

Type V

Dam/Lake

Total P(mg/l)

0.002

0.01

0.025

0.06

0.12

Kunming Lake

44

Total N(mg/l)

0.04

0.15

0.3

0.7

1.2

East Lake

65

West Lake

56

Xuanwu Lake

0.5
for

Chlorophyll a(mg/l)

0.001

Transparancy(m)

15

0.004

0.01

4

2.5

(Source: Environmental

0.03

Water Quality

Nutritional Nutrition
Status Index Status

2006

2005

Major pollution
indicators

Ⅲ

Ⅴ

－

below V

below V

Total P

low-grade

below V

below V

Total N56

low-grade

below VⅤ

Total N

Daemyeong Lake58

low-grade

below V

below V

Total Nsurfaceinmedium grade
medium grade

0.065

1.5

quality standard

water

2001 (http://www.sepa.gov.cn/japan/env_info/3_3.htm) and Public Report of Environmental Statistics in China, 2006 (http:// www. sepa.
gov.cn/japan /env_info/3_0.htm))

Table 4 Summary of selected index of policy target in Hangzhou
Index

EconomyEnvironment

Society≧33000≧11000

2005
36500
6420

2020
＞120000＞14000urban area
2005
2020
48000
＞200000
7850＞18000≧24000
≦1.4
≦150
≧70

14500
0.8
95
92

>35000
＜0.6
＜88
＞94

15000
0.7
110
30

unit

criterion

per capita GDP
farmer's per capita income￥/person￥/personper capita DI
energy efficiency
water efficiency
share of woodland（mountain area)
share of environmental protection
areawater quality￥/persont/￥10000

urban air quality (days over 2-class
air standards)
environmental efficiency(upper SO2 lower COD)3m /￥10000％

city>35000
＜0.6
＜100
＞30

％

≧17

21

＞25

15

＞17

％

100,IV->95,-V

100,IV->95,-V

100,IV-

days

≧330

near 300>330

near 300>330

1000l/
1000l/

＜5.0
＜5.0

5
11.4

<4.0
<5.0

4.8
7

<4.5
<4.5

life drainage treatment rate

％

≧70

55

>70

60

>75

recycle rate of industrial water

％

≧50

65

>70

70

>75

achievement rate of environment
standards in tourist district

％

100

95

100

95

100

％

≧2.5

2.5

>3.5

2.5

>4.0

％

＞85

75

>85

88

>95

％

＞90

85

>95

85

>95

share of investment forenvironmental preservation
penetration rate of environmental
education
public environmental satisfaction(Source: Development Plan for Environmental City in Hangzhou, 2002)

4.4 Role of community (SheQu) and tourism development
The governance structure in Zhejiang Province is as follows. There are 11 cities in Zhejiang

14

Province, and the capital is Hangzhou (population: about 7.86 million in 2007). The capital has 8
districts, 3 prefecture-level cities and 2 prefectures. West Lake District (about 0.71 million) is 1 of
the 8 districts under Hangzhou municipality. In West Lake (Xihu) District, there are 10 street
bureaus and 2 towns. The community that we surveyed in this paper is Jing Si SheQu (population:
about 9290) located in West Lake Street Bureau, which has 121 SheQu and 64 villages.

（Source: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/map.htm）

Here, we focus our attention on the following: first, how the rapid increase in population andurbanization has influenced the community structure in Hangzhou, and second, the extent to which
residents in the community, especially in the vicinity of West Lake, are committed to various
authorized plans and projects for environmental conservation and tourism development. As
mentioned above, the governance system in China consists of country or province, city and others. A
district or community in a city (or ‘SheQu’ in Chinese) is organized by a basic organization called a‘resident’s commission’. In a huge urban area, centralized decision making is difficult. Projects
planned by the central or municipal government can be governed effectively by small units ofmanagement like the SheQu. Apart from its administrative structure, the SheQu plays a very
important role in ruling a socialist society and its people. After 1978, when the new constitution wasestablished, an organization system similar to resident’s commission or street bureaus wasconstructed. In the 1990s, they were systematically transformed into the SheQu. It is stated in the
Doctrine of Community Building, 2001, that the major aim of SheQu construction is to raise thewelfare of the community by developing community services and utilizing local human resources(see Table 1). Under government restriction, the SheQu has certain powers to develop SheQu-related
projects and organize plans. Community services in the SheQu include economic, political,

15

integrated and environmental activities7. Although the role of the SheQu as a governance system
may be reinforced in order to govern people and society effectively, it may be also true that the
SheQu is now in a critical position to tackle problems of overpopulation, deterioration of
employment and security, and environmental preservation. As described in the model, cooperation
between the government and the community is necessary for diminishing the gap between theirwelfare targets. Accordingly, spontaneous and voluntary expression of community opinion isnecessary, and coordination between the government and the community must be considered aneffective mechanism. Our next task is to observe and analyze community involvement and problemsof coordination between the government and the community in Hangzhou.
5. An Empirical Research on Ecotourism Development in Hangzhou
5.1 Framework of empirical research
To make our analysis efficient, we selected a typical community site named Jing Si SheQu,
located to the south of and adjacent to West Lake. It had a population of 9,290, with 1,486 families
living in 7 square kilometres. Almost 4,200 people originally came from outside the community. The
resident’s commission of Jing Si SheQu is composed of several officials specified for eachsection—general, party, social security, life assistance, birth plan, sanitary control, environmental
preservation and so on. The head of the office is a secretary of the party committee and there are 8
staff members in total. Incidentally, 124 members of the party reside in Jing Si SheQu. Althoughwaste management, street cleaning and tree planting are entrusted to a management company, some
jobs related to sanitation control and environmental preservation are exclusively supervised by thecommission. An estimated 200 people in Jing Si SheQu belong to a volunteer service centre and are
involved in caring for the elderly, street cleaning and bicycle maintenance. There are many
attractions for tourists in Jing Si SheQu, but tourism development has been little developed as amajor community policy. However, the development of tourism in this region is affecting the daily
lives of residents in the community.
To make an effective empirical study, we held hearings of the residents’ committee of Jing Si
SheQu and conducted a questionnaire survey of the residents. The following points are expected tobe revealed through the survey: what do residents think about the development plans for Hangzhou,
how they evaluate them and how measures to ensure that their opinions can be reflected in theplanning are adopted in the administrative system. The research was conducted during 1–19
September 2008. We interviewed 104 residents for the study. The questionnaire was composed of
7

The scope of community services and organization frameworks of SheQu was established in 2004 (See Table 1).
Services by the SheQu mainly consist of the welfare of the elderly, minimum life security, job placement andpopulation control. Although environmental management is also included, the commission’s aims are primarily
centred on welfare and employment.

16

three parts. The first part asks questions about the general stance of the residents regarding
development in China and Hangzhou from the environmental and economic perspectives. The
second constitutes the main part of the survey, which involves the residents’ evaluation of specificaspects of environmental and tourism development and planning. This part also includes questions
that assess the nature of community involvement in regional policy measures and plans. The thirdpart is related to the characteristics of the sample structure, including age, sex, years of residence andincome (See Figure 5 below). Moreover, many individual opinions were added to the responses by
the respondents in their own handwriting.
Among the 104 samples, the number of males was 48, the average age was 34.8, the average
number of years as a resident was 20.5 and family size was 3.68. A large number of people in thesample (65%) was engaged in tourism-related occupations like accommodation, shops andrestaurants. This may be because the area around Jing Si SheQu is near West Lake. In this sense, theresidents in Jing Si SheQu should have a strong interest in tourism development and related regional
plans. Almost 79% of people had a high school or university level of education and the estimatedannual income was around ¥30,000, almost double the per capita disposable income in Hangzhou(see Table 4). Therefore, it may be assumed that the residents in Jing Si SheQu are relatively welleducated and have a high income.
Except for some questions, statements were elicited through the use of a five- (or four-) point
Likert-type scale, with 1 being the lowest (very strongly disagree) and 5 the highest (very strongly
agree).
Figure 5 Structure of samples (persons)(a) Vocational(b) tourism related occupation (total=68)

othersothersretiredtraffic

farmers

attractions

engineersshop
teachers

tour company
teacher

resrtaulant

civil servants
company employee

café

selfemployment

accomodations
0

10

20

30

40

0

(d) education

5

10

15

20

(d) average monthly income(yuan)
8001-

others

7001-8000
graduate

6001-7000
5001-6000

university

4001-5000
high

3001-4000
2001-3000

middle-2000
primary
none
0

20

40

60

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

17

5.2 Overall results
The overall results of the research are shown in Table 5. Before analysing statistically theempirical data on community involvement, we shall make some heuristic observations.
First we shall focus on what residents think about and how they behave with regard toenvironmental improvement in Hangzhou (Question Nos. 1–9 and 12). In general, theirenvironmental consciousness seems to be high. It should be noted that they think the environmental
situation in Hangzhou is much better than in the rest of China8. The scores on preservation of thenatural and cultural heritage, water quality and environment around West Lake were generally high.
These scores express that the government’s environmental conservation activities of West Lake arehighly valued by residents and that residents do something good for preserving environment of West
Lake. It seems natural that a community near West Lake should care about environmental protection,
since more than half of the sample population is engaged in tourism and living in a scenic area ofWest Lake9. Second, the questionnaire asked about the residents’ stances on tourism development(Question Nos. 10–12). The places that the residents recommend are sites of ‘cultural and historical
heritage’, ‘scenic landscape’, and ‘shopping centre’. They think that the environmental issues in
Hangzhou are related to economic development, including industry, agriculture and tourism, but
believe that community activities should have less influence on the environment in Hangzhou.
Moreover, 48.1% residents think environmental protection should be given a priority over tourism
development, while 29.8% want to prioritize tourism development. As far as the benefit fromtourism development is concerned, 67% residents think tourism development is very beneficial forthe society and 61% think it is beneficial for the individual. Third is with regard to community
involvement towards development and its planning (Question Nos. 12–19). As mentioned above,
many residents approve the development and environmental preservation plans by the government.
This means that the plans and their enforcement in China, if well-designed and well-executed, canresult in coordination between national and local targets so as to optimize community welfare.
Although residents think the SheQu should play an important role in tourism development andenvironmental preservation, the levels of commitment and cooperation in the SheQu are still low.
Under some instructions by the SheQu or government, around 25% residents take part in voluntary
activities such as ‘cleaning up waste’, ‘cleaning up roads’ and ‘tourism information’ in order to
8

In the “11th five-year-plan” of 2006, the central government of China expressed an urgent need for environmental
policies to tackle various pollution problems and natural disasters. Local people are probably well acquainted withthese issues and can judge the current environmental situation in Hangzhou in comparison to various other regions in
China. The scores of No. 2 and No. 3 show a statistically significant difference of less than 1% (t = 6.74).
991.4% of residents give 4 or 5 points for No. 9. There is little difference between the scores of residents who are
engaged in the tourism-related sector and residents who are not. They are close to each other but only show astatistically significant difference in Nos. 11-1, 11-4, 12-3, 18-1 and 18-2. More residents engaged in the tourism
sector tend to think that tourism development and community activity affect the environment in Hangzhou. Every
resident understands the severity of safety and traffic in Hangzhou, and especially, those who are engaged in the
tourism sector take the issue of traffic congestion more seriously. Surprisingly, there is no difference in the awarenessof ‘ecotourism’ between the two samples.

18

improve the hospitality10.
Table 5 Questions and answers
No.

Question
How much do you care about the environment ?

4.31

2

What do you think about the environmental conditions in China ?

3.01

3

What do you think about the current state of environment in Hangzhou ?

3.84

4

5

Do you agree that government cares about the environmental situation inWest Lake ?
1 environmental protection
oriented
What do you think about how future 2 tourism development oriented
development of West Lake should
3 bothbe ?
4 other

4.03
17.31%No.

Question26.92%

2 cleanup of waste

28.85%

3 traffic control
For better hospitality to visitors,
have you ever done each of the
4 tourism information
13
following activities under instruction
5 urban governanceof SheQu or government ?

9.62%

Score

1 cleanup of the road

18.27%
23.08%
6.73%

6 environemental volunteer

6.73%

73.08%

7 others

29.81%

0.00%

8 none9.62%
10.58%

6

Are you familiar with 'ecotourism'?

3.18

1 cleanup of the road7

Do you do any actions to tackle with 'global warming' issue ?

3.84

2 cleanup of waste

19.23%

8

You live in the West Lake scenic spots. Do you understand the meaning of
scenic spots here ?

3.54

3 traffic control

11.54%

9

Do you care about environmental protection in daily life in the West Lake
scenic spots ?

4.36

10

What do you recommend to visitors
to Hangzhou ?

4 tourism information

29.81%

75.00%

5 urban governance

6.73%

2 foods

18.27%

6 environmental volunteer

9.62%

3 souvenir

29.81%

7 others

39.42%

8 none8.65%

4 cultural and historical heritage89.42%

5 boating and walking

27.88%

15 How frequent do you participate in SheQu activity ?

1.875

6 shopping center

49.04%

1 Drum corps

0.96%

7 attractions

8.65%

2 Relay race

2.88%

3.57

3 Tai Chi

0.96%

3.55

4 mountain crimbing competition

16.35%

3.75

5 planting trees

16.35%

6 athletic game

11.54%

7 citizen's school

1.92%

Do you think economy is1booming ?

Question of various situations in
Hangzhou

3.14
2.80

Have you ever participated in the
16 following activities managed by
SheQu ?

4.28

8 School for elderly

1.92%

2

Do you think employment isincreasing ?

3.48

9 celebration for golden week

5.77%

3

Do you think traffic congestion
is mitigated ?

2.32# celebration for women's day

9.62%

4

Do you think asset price isincreasing ?

4.29# none57.69%

5

Do you think the crime is
reducing ?

2.73

6

Do you think natural and cultural
heritages are well-preserved?

4.01

7

Do you think water quality ofWest Lake is improving ?

3.63

8

Do you think environment
around West Lake is improving ?

4.21

Do you think visitors become9
eco-friendly ?
12For better hospitality to visitors,
14 have you ever done each of thefollowing activities voluntarily ?

1 landscape

tourism development in
1 Hangzhou affects theenvironment in Hangzhou
industry and agriculture take2
impact on the environment in
What do you think about the relation
Hangzhou policy affects thegovernment
3
11 between environmental protection
environment in Hangzhou
and tourism development ?
community activities affect the4environment in Hangzhou
In general tourism development
5 should be given priority toenvironmental protection

3.56
3.70

Do you think there is positive11
effect for you through tourism?

3.49

Do you think local government
12 should promote tourism
development plans ?

4.01

Do you think identity of13
residents is growing ?

3.52

Do you think residents become
more cooperative ?

Do you think life standards is
15
improving ?
Do you think over all
16 environment for daily life isimproving ?
Do you think as a community
17 SheQu should do action for
tourism development ?
Do you think as a community
18 SheQu should do action forenvironmental preservation ?

Do you have usually any concern for 1 tourims aepects
17 the environmental and tourism planor policy of West Lake ?
2 environmental aspects

18

Do you think there are over all
positive effects through tourism?

10

14

10

Score

1

19

Have you ever made comments or suggestions on the environmental andtourism plan or policy of West Lake ?

2.97
3.16
19.23%

If any, have your comments or suggestions been discussed by SheQu or
local government ?

9.62%

Hove you ever received information or education about environment or
tourism through SheQu ?

50.00%

3.38
3.90
3.94
3.88

4.15

In case of no indication by organization, around 10 to 20% residents take part in various activities. However, incase of some indications, participation rate is clearly lower. Incidentally, in Japan, the participation rate in volunteer
activity is around 25% (See Survey of structures of social living (1996), Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications). In general, the participation rate is higher in the USA and UK.

19

While the residents tend to think that the SheQu should engage in positive activities withrespect to tourism development and environmental preservation, their concern with policy andcommunity building seems to be relatively high. To compare their concerns on policy and planning,
about 20% residents answered that they have tried to make comments or suggestions on plans andpolicies of West Lake. Accordingly, it may be said that people in the community participate actively
to resolve local issues. This is partly because the resident’s commission in the SheQu operates under
the leadership of the Communist Party, and in fact, many members of the party play an active role on
all fronts (124 members of the party live in Jing Si SheQu).
As far as a roadmap of regional development in Hangzhou is concerned, the triple bottom lines
for sustainable development, namely sound development of tourism, a well-preserved environmentand steady growth of per capita income has been attained under the strong leadership of the central
and local governments. The SheQu in Hangzhou has also played an important role in sustainability.
Although it is still on its way to meeting its long-term target, it seems to be steadily progressing
along the road to success. However, it should be noted that people are still worried about excessive
tourism development, an ill-preserved environment and the weakening of community building. For
example, 10% residents do not think the natural and cultural heritage is well-preserved and 16% do
not agree that there has been improvement in the water quality of West Lake. Moreover, almost 25%
residents tend to deny that there has been strengthening of identity development and cooperation in
the community. They believe that too much reliance on the government will lead people to lose sightof the essence of the community.
5.3 How much are people in the community committed to government?
Here we shall focus on community involvement. Although the samples are limited, we canclarify the residents’ responses to plans and actions undertaken by the Hangzhou government. To
estimate the residents’ behaviour with regard to petitions or commitments to plans and actions
undertaken by the Hangzhou government, we shall employ a logit model analysis.
In the logit model employed here, the dependent variable should be a discrete variable that
represents a choice; for example, if a resident in the community makes a commitment to government
or not. Accordingly, we can inquire into various factors that determine the residents’ behaviour withregard to community involvement. Let Yi = 1 when people have actually proposed opinions or
petitions on environment or tourism development plans or policies in West Lake, and let Yi = 0 whenpeople have not. In the logit model, the probability of choice for each category is given as

Prov(Yi = 0 | xi ) =exp(b j xi )1
, Prov(Yi = 1 | xi ) =,1 + å exp(bk xi )1 + å exp(bk xi )where bj is a vector of estimated parameters and xi is a vector of explanatory variables.
As for the dependent variables, we adopt two variables that indicate how residents have

20

responded to plans and actions undertaken by the Hangzhou government. One is the claims rate ofpeople who have actually proposed petitions or commitments to development plans or actions forWest Lake implemented by the Hangzhou government (see Question No. 18 in which the answers
are either Yes or No). The other variable is the participation rate of people who have actually taken
part in some activity of the SheQu (see Question No. 13 or 14, where the answers are either Yes orNo) 11 . Moreover, we adopt explanatory variables that seem to be characteristic of concerns,
evaluation, dependence and confidence with respect to the plans and policies implemented by thegovernment or resident’s commission in a SheQu as the community authority. The estimatedoutcome is shown in Table 6 for the claims rate and in Table 7 for the participation rate. In each table,
a complete model with all variables is in the first column and the outcome of diminished variables isin the second column.
Table 6 Logit estimation (dependent variable = claims rate (Q18))
CategoryNo.

knowledge & concerns

Evaluation of the situation

Evaluation of the governmental policy

Behavior
Participation
Q20
Q21
Q22
Individual attribute

Q23
Q24
Q25
Q26

Q1
Q8
Q2
Q3
Q11-1
Q11-2
Q12-3
Q12-7
Q12-13
Q4
Q11-3
Q11-4
Q12-18
Q7
Q9
Q14
Q15
sex
age
years ofresidence
household size
education
engaged in
tourism
earnings

constant
Hosmer & Lemeshow test
-2 Log likelihood
2
Cox & Snell R
Nagelkerke R2

kai-square
degree of freedom
significance probability

Full model
parameter p-value
0.589
0.760
-3.443
0.122
1.455
0.362
9.16
0.145
-2.213
0.169
2.204
0.185
0.34
0.655
-1.883
0.077
1.936
0.255
-9.5320.097-2.593
0.143
0.286
0.744
-1.094
0.450
1.624
0.578
3.492
0.103
-0.631
0.833
3.512
0.161
-8.4130.161-0.5140.154

Model selectedparameter p-value-1.696

0.047

5.552
-1.436
1.642

0.036
0.039
0.055

-1.0260.048-5.273-1.222

0.035
0.092

1.739

0.078

2.142
-2.912-0.186

0.071
0.089
0.089

0.475

0.110

0.211

0.015

-2.514-0.338

0.185
0.870

-1.171

0.059

1.322

0.750

1.196
2.439

0.216
0.843

0.686
2.358

0.027
0.634

0.785
8
0.999
29.260
0.452
0.727

1.33
8
0.995
34.617
0.414
0.665

As far as Q18 in Table 5 is concerned, it is clear that people who petition or commit directly to
the government are conscious of social and political issues. Accordingly, if people regard theenvironmental and economic situation in Hangzhou as good and think that the government functions

11

We have also examined No. 15 as a dependent variable, indicating the frequency of participation in community
activities. However, we could not reach a statistical outcome because a problem was reported by the SPSS software.

21

well, they take little action against the government. This may be a reason why parameters withrespect to Q11-1, Q12-7, Q4 and Q11-3 are significantly negative. It is hard to interpret a significant
correlation with Q3. Even if people approve of environmental conditions in Hangzhou (see Q3),
those who think that the environment is negatively affected by industry and agriculture in Hangzhou
tend to have a higher claims rate (see Q11-2). Moreover, people who normally work on behalf of theenvironment in West Lake may be so eco-conscious that they tend to be sensitive to thegovernment’s behaviour (see Q9). As for individual attributes, the points that should be noted are as
follows: first, male rather than female and younger rather than older people tend to have a larger
claims rate; second, people who have lived longer in SheQu tend to claim more; third, people whoare relatively wealthy in the community also tend to claim more with respect to plans or policies inWest Lake and finally, there is no significant correlation with respect to occupations.
Unlike Table 6 for Q18, Table 7 for Q13 or Q14 shows the day-to-day activities of people inthe community.
Table 7 Logit estimation (dependent variable = participation rate (Q13, Q14))
No.

Categoryknowledge & concerns

Evaluation of the situation

Evaluation of the governmental policy

Behavior
Q20
Q21
Q22
Individual attribute

Q23
Q24
Q25
Q26

Q1
Q8
Q2
Q3
Q11-1
Q11-2
Q12-3
Q12-7
Q12-13
Q4
Q11-3
Q11-4
Q12-18
Q7
Q9
sex
age
years ofresidence
household size
education
engaged in
tourism
earnings

Q14 (voluntary)
Q13 (instructed)
Full model
Model selected
Full model
Model selectedparameter p-value parameter p-value parameter p-value parameter p-value
1.546
0.206
1.220
0.137
0.372
0.725
-0.6470.221-0.5050.171-1.5620.018-0.599
0.096
0.478
0.438
0.472
0.435
-1.6230.112-1.3020.021-2.2100.026-1.847
0.003
1.747
0.003
1.600
0.000
1.444
0.004
1.139
0.002
0.039
0.946
-1.7840.010-1.218
0.007
0.194
0.646
-1.257
0.010
0.516
0.221
0.544
0.067
-0.5460.315-0.577
0.197
0.315
0.540
1.172
0.038
0.736
0.049
1.089
0.212
0.718
0.219
-0.0040.996-1.4490.015-0.9470.011-0.385
0.355
0.383
0.434
-0.0710.866-0.1500.842-0.4190.418-0.498
0.537
1.384
0.067
1.545
0.009
-0.029
0.971
0.027
0.973
-4.4630.001-4.4720.000-2.3540.039-2.000
0.019
0.017
0.806
-0.042
0.519
0.080

0.075

-1.338
0.230

0.039
0.773

1.982

0.103

0.084
0.798
constant-2.1560.699
kai-square
15.026Hosmer & Lemeshow test
degree of freedom
80.059
significance probability-2 Log likelihood
51.912
2
Cox & Snell R
0.505
2
Nagelkerke R
0.676

0.074

2.180

0.006

0.031

1.373
0.722
6.533
8
0.588
57.637
0.467
0.625

0.098

0.018

-0.344-0.388

0.480
0.624

1.707

0.121

-0.188
0.576
3.536
0.516
7.573
8
0.476
55.680
0.436
0.600

0.073

0.003

1.407

0.108

-0.526
0.853
7.132
8
0.522
67.182
0.345
0.475First, we shall compare the outcomes of Q18 with those of Q13 or Q14. As for Q8, Q20 and
Q22, the coefficients have the same signs. However, Q3 and Q11-1 have opposite signs. This meansthat people who do not appreciate the environmental situation in Hangzhou and/or people who think

22

tourism development affects the environment tend to participate in community activities. It wasobserved that people tend to join the community activities when they think the environmental
situation in Hangzhou to be well-preserved. As far as the policy evaluation is concerned, people who
believe that policies could affect the environmental situation in Hangzhou tend not to participate incommunity activities (Q11-3). Moreover, the fact that people engaged in the tourism sector tend to
be positive with regard to community activities is notable. This is because they have sufficientincentive to join various community activities, both to provide hospitality to visitors and to support
tourism development (Q25). Second, we shall look at the difference in outcomes between Q13 andQ14. As mentioned before, more people tend to participate in community activities directed by thecommunity’s committee (Q13) as compared with those that are self-motivated (Q14).
5.4 Situation of community involvement in China
Two points in Table 7 are notable. First, no coefficient related to people’s evaluation of policy
is statistically significant, except for Q11-3 with respect to Q14. Second, people who participate
more actively in community activities tend to believe that their activities will promote a sense ofcommunity identity (Q12-13). However, this is only true in cases where the government or local
committee directs various community activities. As far as volunteer activity is concerned, there is no
relationship between identity development and people’s voluntary intention with regard tocommunity activities. Accordingly, it can be assumed that people in the SheQu participate incommunity activities irrespective of their assessment of plans and policies undertaken by thegovernment and that they feel that activities implemented by the government will lead to thedevelopment of communal identity. Hence, it is natural to find these two results concerning
community building and its development in China.
As mentioned in section 3, to make ecotourism development sustainable, it is necessary forthe government to involve the community properly in the management and evaluation of policies.
The rights and incentives of the people in the community should be preserved adequately, not only
for the sake of accurate estimation of social (community) welfare but also for accomplishment ofoverall policy targets. The development plan for an environmental city in Hangzhou in 2004 is agood example of this. This long-term plan involves cooperative and joint works on the part of theHangzhou government and the local community. In this plan, it is stressed that a system of enforced
participation by the residents and adequate social monitoring is indispensable for the exchange of
information between government and the community. Accordingly, it seems to be a basic policy
stance in China that government advances community involvement as a strategic measure formaintaining sustainable socio-economic development. In this regard, we recall the outcomes related
to Q11-3 and Q12-13. Together these lead to the finding that community identity can be developed
through government-instructed activities, but that community activities have no relation to people’s

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assessment of government plans and policies. It is also notable that regarding community activities,
the frequency of participation was very low (Q15) and the voluntary nature was not absolute (Q13compared with Q14). Considering all these points, the following can be concluded. The government
in Hangzhou has promoted community involvement in a way that its development plans and policies
have been designed to be consistent with what people in the community have claimed. However, itremains debatable if the SheQu system and government-instructed activities could lead to better
management of local resources, and if government could share information about environmental andsocio-economic outcomes with people in the community.
6. Final Remarks
In this paper, we studied community involvement and its structure in China by focusing on
environmental and tourism development plans and policies around West Lake in Hangzhou. From atheoretical perspective, it has been shown that involving the community is indispensable for thegovernment in maintaining sustainable tourism development. By obtaining precise information about
what people in the community care about, the government can make its policy targets consistent withthe community’s welfare. In this regard, a sufficient degree of freedom to react to the plans andpolicies proposed by the government should be assured to the people in the community. Accordingly,
ecotourism development in the region should entail cooperative actions by government with thecommunity. Using a questionnaire survey of residents in a small community in Hangzhou (Jing Si
SheQu near West Lake), cooperative behaviour in the community related to tourism andenvironmental development was investigated.
The major findings of the paper are as follows. Tourism in Hangzou has been developing
rapidly and the environment around West Lake, a major destination in Hangzou, has been wellpreserved compared to other regions in China. In this sense, the government has apparently
advanced a scheme of ecotourism development in Hangzou, focusing on a well-preserved
environment, adequate marketing of tourism and maximized local welfare. Moreover, the Hangzhou
government has advocated the need for community involvement to promote its plans and policies.
The promotion of community involvement by the government will lead to well-organizedcooperation and participation in community activities for better circumstances of tourism
development in the region. Our findings, however, indicate that community involvement by thegovernment is not sufficient to fill the information gap between the government and the community.
In addition to the bottom-up reactions by people in the community to plans and policies, there should
exist government procedures that inspire people in the community to react more to plans and policies.
It remains debatable if the SheQu system and government-directed activities can lead to better
management of local resources and if government can share adequate information about
environmental and socio-economic outcomes with people in the community.

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Last but not the least, from a theoretical standpoint, it can be easily proven that community
involvement should be dependent on the various activities of people in the community, including
participation in activities related to tourism development and reactions against government-oriented
plans and policies. However, from an empirical viewpoint, we cannot make robust estimates of theeffects of the relationship between community involvement and the behaviour of people in thecommunity. Further research is warranted to accomplish such objectives.
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