Purpose: The study aims to understand how cultural route heritage is conceptualized and managed in China by systematically reviewing the research literature on Chinese cultural route heritage (CRH). The study intends to inspire further discussion on the theoretical and practical development of cultural routes since the development is still at a liminal stage in China.Design/methodology/approach: A total of 253 research articles related to Chinese cultural rote heritage from major Chinese and English research databases China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus have been comprehensively identified and reviewed for the purpose of the study.Findings: Four major themes of research on Chinese CRH have been identified: conceptual evaluation, list of the routes and characteristics of the routes, conservation and utilization. The results revealed that China has very rich resources in CRH, many of which were formed a long time ago, which exist across vast geographic regions and have assumed multiple functions and undergone dynamic reciprocal exchanges among diverse cultures and ethnicities.Practical implications: The paper summarizes some major obstacles faced by CRH in China and proposes a strategic model to address the need for a more sustainable development of CRH in the Chinese context.Originality/value: The paper offers a comprehensive overview of CRH in China and discusses practical issues in management and development of heritage great in size, number and complexity.

This study identifies the main dimensions and attributes that shape the experience of the Camino de Santiago for Chinese travelers as a tourism product. By exploring the similarities and differences between their experiences and that of Western pilgrims, it also reflects on the sustainable marketing strategies of the Camino among Chinese travelers. The research adopts a phenomenological approach and gathers data from 112 online travel journals posted by Chinese Camino pilgrims, and from in-depth interviews with twelve Chinese pilgrims. The results reveal that the Camino is experienced by Chinese pilgrims as a personal journey of well-being and growth, as well as a cross-cultural experience. Authenticity and harmony are observed to be the key elements that contribute to a satisfying and transformative experience for Chinese pilgrims, where they find a cultural-spiritual center close to their traditional values, yet distant from their everyday social practices. Both Chinese and Western pilgrims undergo similar external and internal journeys, although each group travels in its respective sociocultural framework. The study is based on Cohen’s (1979) five travel-mode theory and enriches the discussion from a cross-cultural point of view. The implications for the sustainable management of the Camino as a global cultural heritage route, and for effectively marketing it among Chinese tourists, are also discussed.

The objective of this paper is to offer unpublished archival material with an account of the nascent relations between the Hispanic Monarchy and the Ming Empire at the dawn of the 17th century.These are three letters from Diego de Pantoja, the Spanish-speaking pioneer in China, with a series of religious-political conceptions whose character is alternative to other Ibero-American testimonies of the time in the East Indies. This study uses a method based on three steps: the transcription of the letters, their historiographical contextualization, and the explanation of their geopolitically relevant elements. As a result of this process, this study highlights the importance of the figure of Pantoja for international relations in the Pacific area, both in the past and the present. The main contribution is to bring to light a testimony from the origins of the cultural exchange between the Chinese and Spanish-speaking world that serves as a basis for diplomatic understanding, political dialogue, and economic development of the present. El objetivo del presente artículo es presentar un material de archivo inédito que da cuenta de las relaciones incipientes entre la Monarquía Hispánica y el Imperio Ming en los albores del siglo XVII. Se trata de tres cartas de Diego de Pantoja, el pionero de habla hispana en China, en las que se despliegan concepciones religioso-políticas alternativas a otros testimonios iberoamericanos de la época en las Indias Orientales. Este estudio emplea un método basado en tres pasos: la transcripción de las cartas, su contextualización historiográfica y la explicación de sus elementos geopolíticamente relevantes. El estudio tiene como resultado destacar la importancia de la figura de Pantoja para las relaciones internacionales en el ámbito del Pacífico, tanto en el pasado como en la actualidad. El aporte principal es traer a la luz un testimonio perteneciente a los orígenes del intercambio cultural acontecido entre el mundo chino y el hispanohablante que sirve como base para el entendimiento diplomático, el diálogo político y el desarrollo económico del presente.

Diego de Pantoja (1571-1618), jesuita español, contribuyó decisivamente al desarrollo de la transcripción de los caracteres chinos en letras latinas, junto con su indicación de los tonos. Se trata de una versión primitiva del pinyin, un método actual que es clave para el aprendizaje del chino. Su original contribución reside en el uso que hizo del pentagrama musical para facilitar el correcto aprendizaje de los tonos chinos. A pesar de la importancia de su invención, este aspecto de la obra de Pantoja no ha podido ser claramente dilucidado hasta la fecha, tal vez debido a la escasez de fuentes históricas y a su deficiente interpretación. Nuestro estudio analiza meticulosamente fuentes primarias de los periodos Ming y Qing para explorar e interpretar los perfiles básicos del método de transcripción musical creado por Pantoja, y de su relevancia en la historia del diálogo intercultural Oriente-Occidente.

El Tratado de las siete victorias (1614) de Diego de Pantoja (1571-1618), abreviado Qike, es la primera exposición sistemática escrita en lengua china de la tradición moral de Occidente dirigida a las élites intelectuales confucianas, y en general una obra magna de la literatura intercultural. El presente estudio traduce los prefacios preparados tanto por Pantoja como por una serie de eruditos chinos y comenta textos nunca antes vertidos a otra lengua. Estos textos constituyen un testimonio inédito de diálogo filosófico y humanístico en el tiempo de la primera globalización de corte iberoamericano.