The central purpose of this thesis is to explore broader issues related to Chinese environmental awareness through examining a new form of tourism - urban (eco)tourism in China. More specifically, the thesis focuses on investigating two parallel themes: Chinese (eco)tourists’ attitudes towards nature/the environment and how political-economic conditions shape environmental practices as exemplified by two selected case studies. This is undertaken through examining two very different contemporary experiences of urban (eco)tourism: Shen Zhen Wetland Park and Hong Kong Wetland Park, and by applying three different conceptual approaches: Chinese cultural/religious influences on nature (’Chinese Philosophy’), Western approaches to modernity (Disneyisation and Ecological Modernisation). Disneyisation, Ecological Modernisation and ’Chinese’ models of nature are not usually associated with research on environmental awareness. Combining these approaches suggests that research can stimulate researchers and policy professionals to explore the value of combining and comparing different conceptual models of nature and the environment, to better understand underlying forces of environment-related behaviour and practices.
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