Spurious stories weak way to attract tourist dollars
- Source: Global Times
- [00:07 May 19 2010]
- Comments
By Huang Xiaowei
Where on earth is the birthplace of the "Two Qiaos," the greatest beauties of the Three Kingdoms period (220-280)?
Nobody knows, but this does not prevent seven cities and counties in five provinces from laying claim to being their hometown.
Local governments have been squabbling over historical figures for years. Many famous characters appear to have been born six or seven times over, if we believe all the claims. The only topic that's as controversial at the local level right now is the selling of land for revenue.
The two topics might not seem to be related, but they actually both closely bear on economic development.
Recent government restrictions on the real estate market have left local authorities' old economic pattern, which was very dependent on land-transfer fees, unsustainable. Heavy industrialization at the cost of the local environment has also turned out to be a poor long-term move.
So local governments are forced to turn to history, conjuring up spurious connections to historical figures and exploiting them for tourism purposes.
No wonder they're fighting over who owns the hometown of figures like famous poet Li Bai (701-762) and novelist Cao Xueqin (1715-63).
Even largely mythical characters like Lao Zi, the founder of Daoism, or downright fictional figures, like Ximen Qing, the star of China's most famous erotic novel, The Plum in the Golden Vase, are up for grabs.
These disputes always run the same way. The local government invites experts to prove that their county or town is actually the true birthplace of the character.
For instance, it's claimed that the author of The Plum in the Golden Vase and the original models for the characters were all born in Huizhou prefecture, Anhui Prov-ince. Since the book was written under a pseudonym and nobody knows who the author was, this seems a bit of a stretch.
Local governments' attempts to boost the economy should not be condemned, especially in regions lacking other ways to develop. It's just exploiting local resources in a different way. And it can have impressive results. For instance, ever since Huangling county, Shaanxi Province started claiming to be the birthplace of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary founder of the Chinese nation, the average annual growth rate of their tourist industry has shot to 27.2 percent.
