Asian Ethnology Volume 76, Number 1 • 2017, 43–63 © Nanzan University Anthropological Institute Levi S. Gibbs Dartmouth College Culture Paves the Way, Economics Comes to Sing the Opera The Rhetoric of Chinese Folk Duets and Global Joint Ventures After economic decentralization policies were introduced in China during the late 1970s, the promotion of provincial cultural identities became a means to compete for comparative advantage to attract investment. Local cultural practices, often framed as uniquely Chinese, were sometimes portrayed as “windows” and “bridges” that would bring global attention to a locality. This article examines northern Shaanxi Province’s use of song and dance to facili- tate a joint project between the largest coal company in China and The Dow Chemical Company. Focusing on rhetoric surrounding a 2008 performance by the Yulin Folk Arts Troupe at a “Far East Meets West” event in Dow’s global headquarters in Midland, Michigan, and reciprocal, Dow-funded performances by the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra the following year in China, I explore the symbolic role of reciprocal performances amid the forging of rela- tionships between diferent localities in a global age. keywords: folk songs—northern Shaanxi—Chineseness—cultural exchange—guanxi—gift exchange—provincial identity