Development in Southwest China

In recent decades, Southwest China has been a focus of social, economic, and environmental concerns. The Chinese government has worked on improving the conditions of the area by funding several environmental programs and improving the living conditions of local ethnic minority groups. Altogether, Southwest China's environmental problems, migration, poverty, poor infrastructure, and condensed populations have significantly transformed the region's economy and lifestyle. This paper discusses governmental and non-governmental organizational approaches to development in Southwest China, focusing particularly on ethno-tourism. While ethno-tourism served as a way to modernize China, it also played a significant role in disrupting the livelihood of the ethnic minorities, population migration, social-economic dynamics, landscape reforms, and archaeological research projects in the region. This paper explores development efforts in Southwest China from the death of Mao to the 21st century. Drawing on and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data on local and global policies in development projects in Southwest China, this paper demonstrates the impact of recent transformations in development of ethno-tourism as a viable development model. The paper analyzes the effect ethno-tourism has on changes to the population and the environment through development policies since the death of Mao, highlighting effective and ineffective strategies.