Keywords: ethnic tourism commodities; Wamao; Symbol; Symbolic value
Wa cat is a tile component placed on the roof, named after it looks like a domestic cat. Dali Heqing Wamao is made by the traditional craft of Bai nationality and is the most representative ethnic tourist destination in Yunnan. As a tourist commodity, Wamao is a commodity consumed by tourists and a symbol in the tourism consumption system. Baudrillard, a sociologist, believes that things must become symbols before they can become objects of consumption. That is to say, tourists' consumption of tourism commodities has shifted from simple material demand to demand for meaning and symbolic value. Wacat can reflect the changes of tourists' status, role, self-expression and self-identity. According to Dimanche and Samdahl, the symbolism in tourism consumption is mainly reflected in self-expression and symbolic value. Self-expression is a manifestation of self-identity and self-communication, and its communication target is internalized social audience or private audience. Symbolic value is the expression of social identity and communication with others, and its communication object is external audience. Therefore, as a tourist commodity, Wamao also has the dual symbolic significance of self-expression and internalization of symbolic value.
1. Wamao's self-expression
Tile cats are connected end to end, which can absorb wealth, make a fortune and "swallow gold and silver". It is a supernatural god who subdues evil spirits, avoids disasters, keeps good luck and obtains auspicious signs. Wamao, as a symbol of good fortune and good luck, is a materialized symbol of the strong desire to know nature, grasp life and pursue life in national culture. It is believed that the tile cat can eat all monsters to ward off evil spirits and strengthen the body. Wamao records the experience in national life and is a materialized symbol of good luck and avoiding disaster. There is a custom that cats and tigers are of the same origin among Yunnan ethnic groups, and using Wamao Town House is a continuation of tiger totem worship. Wakat is called "auspicious tiger" and "auspicious tiger" and has the word "king" on his forehead. Vacat's prototype is a tiger, which is a symbol of tiger totem worship. Wakat is also a materialized symbol of folk natural belief. Wakat is engraved with clear pictures of the sun and the moon. People get rid of the disasters and threats brought by nature by endowing Wacat with supernatural spirituality and energy of the sun and the moon, hoping that Wacat can turn the power of "dissidents" into the power of "obeying oneself" through Wacat. A complete ceremony must be held to place the tile cat, which is called "opening the light". Wamao has formed a scene of totem worship, nature worship and secular life in the lives of residents in ethnic tourist destinations, which shows the nation's cognition and understanding of the cosmic order and supernatural existence to some extent. People endow the symbol entity with symbolic meaning through ceremonies, and activate the symbolic meaning of the tile cat through ceremonies, making it a supernatural symbol.
Second, the symbolic value of the tile cat
As a symbol of foreign exchange, the tile cat's main function is to show, and it is a disseminator between tourists and society, aiming at transmitting information such as identity change, role change, self-expression and self-identity to the outside of society.
(1) Signs of changes in the identity of tourists.
From the perspective of tourism consumption, in the process of buying a tile cat, the status of tourists is improved because of the pleasure brought by the tile cat, and their reputation is improved. The craft and production of Wamao are all for "making smiles". Buying a tile cat is the wish of the residents of the tourist destination, and it is respected and entertained by them, which makes tourists feel the joy of attaching importance to it. Therefore, tourists become economic contributors and consumption centers of tourism activities. A tourist with a low status in daily life, especially in such a tourist scene, will feel his status rising instantly. Although it is so short, it still has the beauty of "enjoyable".
(B) the symbol of tourists' "role" change
Role is the expression of identity and the symbol of society, and the relationship between people is manifested as role in daily life.
Relationship with the role. When tourists enter Wamao workshops or shopping spots, they become "new selves" in tourist scenes from their original real life. In the process of experiencing shopping consumption, I temporarily gave up my routine life and experienced the national cultural atmosphere and atmosphere inside Wamao through my senses like a "native nation". The process of buying Wa cats by tourists is not only the process of changing the role of tourists, but also the process of symbolizing Wa cats.
(C) symbols of different cultural media
As a symbol of externalization and internalization, Wamao communicates with tourists who return to the local community culture.
Media. It is the communication between "I" and "He" in local national culture and tourism community culture. Tourism commodities have become the link between "native" and "non-native" nations, people and the world. ③ Wamao is the cultural product of the national tourist destination. When tourists bring them back to the local community as tourist souvenirs, they explain the symbolic significance of their national culture to the community residents in the form of exhibitions or gifts, and their national culture begins to communicate with tourists' social culture in many dimensions.
(D) the symbol of self-expression and identity
Ego refers to an individual's consciousness and feelings about his personal characteristics and social identity. Self-development is a series of continuous communication between "subject" and "object" in the process of individual participation in social communication, and it is a process in which "subject" constantly adapts to the changing "object". Therefore, when the self can internalize the values of the group into its own values, it forms a "guest-self", that is, it forms self-identity. Wamao, a tourist commodity, is a symbol of self, and Wamao has the symbolic significance of self-externalization. In tourism consumption, as a part of tourists' social identity communication, when tourists return to their place of residence to show and give gifts to others, they present themselves to tourists, who use this as a prop to expect others' attitude towards themselves. As Costa said: "tourists buy and display souvenirs as part of their self-presentation performance, in which he presents himself to others." When tourists show themselves, they aim to show that they are both a world traveler and a person who appreciates tradition and truth. " Therefore, when tourists present themselves to others, the tile cat becomes a symbol of tourists' self-externalization. Sometimes tourists buy a tile cat just to keep it as a souvenir, so it is also a prop for self-expression, which allows tourists to determine and identify with the social identity of "guest and me" in the tourist scene. Self-external communication and internal communication are carried out simultaneously. Wamao is a symbol of tourists' self-externalization and self-internalization.
Wamao, like other tourist commodities, has the dual symbolic significance of internalization and externalization. As a symbol of internal communication, it has symbolic meanings such as auspiciousness, town house, totem and nature worship, and is a symbolic expression based on national culture; As a symbol of foreign exchange, it is a symbol of self-worth, which expresses the special tastes of tourists from different classes and shows the social identity and role of tourists. As a medium of communication between tourists and society, it produces multi-dimensional communication between national culture and tourists' social culture, and conveys the information of tourists' self-expression and identity to the outside of society.