Abstract:

Scientific knowledge is usually regarded as the basis for the management of natural environment and wildlife in ecotourism. However, recently social construction approach challenges the domination of natural science. This study aims at examining the effectiveness of social construction paradigm in ecotourism management, through conducting a content analysis of social media comments on an accident caused by a monkey in a Chinese ecotourism area, and exploring how Chinese people socially and culturally construct and response to the natural accident. The results show that people commented the accident from five aspects. First, the public expressed their compassion and mourning to the deceased. Second, people thought that the death was casual and absurd, life was full of uncertainty and we should cherish the present life. Third, people commented much on the deceased tourists’ company, which is a famous sugar brand with many Chinese people’s childhood memory. Fourth, people constructed the monkey as Monkey King, Golden Monkey (another famous sugar brand in China) and criminal. Fifth, people also expressed their explanation about the accident: caused by the mandate of heaven; caused by company competition; caused in conspiracy theory; and questioning the management. This study only seriously considers the comments about the mandate of heaven, in which, the accident was believed to happen under the mandate of heaven. This explanation is consistent with Chinese traditional construction of nature as “heaven”. The heaven is believed as the dominance of nature and human. It has its own rules and orders to arrange people’s entire life, which cannot be fully known by human, and thus cannot be changed or controlled by human beings. Therefore, most of people including the managers accepted the accident and did not explore further about the accident reasons. This construction inherits the enchantment of nature from pre-modern society, which attributes the causality to some supernatural power. In this case, social construction of nature does not benefit to effective ecotourism management.

Key words: wildlife tourism, monkey, social construction, scientific knowledge, the mandate of heaven, enchantment

摘要：

自然科学一般被视为生态旅游中管理自然环境的一块基石。社会建构论挑战科学知识的主导地位,认为环境管理还应考虑不同社会文化对自然的建构。本研究对某景区“猴子蹬石砸死游客事件”的网络评论作内容分析,并实地调研该景区,以探索国人对自然意外的文化建构。研究发现人们主要从5个方面评论此事件：对死者表示同情和哀悼;感慨死亡方式的荒诞和人生无常;联想到相关企业品牌;将猴建构为孙悟空、金丝猴和罪犯;对事件的解释和质疑,主要有天命论、阴谋论、品牌竞争论和质疑景区管理等4种观点。天命论将事件发生的原因归为天意,虽契合了我国传统的自然天命观念,但本研究认为对自然的这种社会建构,延续了前现代社会对自然的赋魅,无益于对实践问题的管理。

关键词: 野生动物旅游, 猴, 社会建构, 科学知识, 天命, 赋魅