Introduction

On 10 January 2009, China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast headline news on ‘United Nation Sponsors Plan to Promote Cultural Preservation in China’. It reported a two-year joint program called ‘Culture-Based Development Goodwill Action for Ethnic Minorities in China’. The project was designed to work with government agencies dealing with ethnic minority issues and relevant partners, including ethnic artists, cultural enterprises and the media, in an effort to protect and revitalize minority cultures and arts performances. The focus of the project will be on ethnic music and handicrafts. Tourism is set to be a pillar for the project since it showcases ‘cultural richness of ethnic minorities in the midst of development and enhance communication between ethnic minority regions and the world’ (Beijing Review, 2009). Ethnic artists, dancers and singers from Yunnan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia were carefully chosen and convened in Beijing to celebrate this program. During the celebration, a singer named Zhu Zheqin was nominated as National Goodwill Ambassador to promote ethnic music and culture. Zhu is a Han Chinese, and is famous for her best-selling album ‘Sister Drum’, which borrowed heavily from traditional Tibetan music. In many musical videos, Zhu Zheqin dressed in a Chuba, a Tibetan long coat made of thick wool, is pictured standing on the top of the rugged mountains, surrounded by herds of yak and tents. In order to be an ‘authentic’ Tibetan musician, she even gave herself a Tibetan name, ‘Dadawa’. According to officials, the main reason for Zhu being chosen as the Ambassador was that she has traveled and lived with the minorities over the past 10 years and she won the BBC World Music Award in 2007. She is sometimes referred as the ‘Chinese Enya’ owing to her style and music exoticism.