Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past studies the impact of heritage policies and discourses on the Chinese state and Chinese society. It sheds light on the way Chinese heritage policies have transformed the narratives and cultural practices of the past to serve the interests of the present.

Yujie Zhu is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, the Australian National University. He is the author of Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China and the co-editor of Politics of Scale: New Directions in Critical Heritage Studies.

Christina Maags is Lecturer in Chinese Politics at the Politics Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Christina's research interests focus on the politics around cultural heritage in the People's Republic of China.

1. Introduction: The Power of the Past; 2. Heritage: A Cultural History; 3.Institutions and Discourse; 4. Xi'an: Urban Heritage; 5. Nanjing: Living Heritage; 6. Lijiang: Ethnic Heritage; 7. Heritage-making: Value Appropriation and Responses; 8. Conclusion: Past, Present and Future