Familiarity and novelty in aesthetic appreciation: The case of intangible cultural heritage in China

International cultural heritage is of growing interest in terms of Chinese policy and as an important element of the tourist experience. This paper seeks to better understand the elements that lead to aesthetic appreciation of Chinese opera focusing on the seemingly opposite concepts of familiarity and novelty. It uses a novel mixed methods approach combining lab-based and field studies and incorporating physiological response measures and interviews.

It identifies a complex relationship between familiarity and novelty discovering that when these overlap aesthetic appreciation and liking are enhanced. We make recommendations for incorporating additional elements within traditional intangible cultural heritage to attract young tourist audiences. These include incorporating humour as surprise, building aspects of familiarity beforehand and including moments of unexpected familiarity.