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Culture concern over holiday resort plan
Print Edition
PLANS for a holiday resort in an ancient town in southwest China’s Yunnan Province have sparked concerns over the potential impact on the local environment and culture.
Eyebrows were raised when an online article claimed a “French Mediterranean Lijiang holiday town” was to be built in Baisha Township, an 800-year-old area that preserves the culture of the indigenous Naxi ethnic minority and is a water source for the city of Lijiang.
The Naxi people boast an impressive history, including inventing one of the world’s few pictographic writing systems still in use. Dongba script was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2003.
Work on the 3-billion-yuan (US$450 million) Lijiang Derun Real Estate Development project will not start until it passes a series of environmental assessment tests, said Wu Zhenjun, deputy head of Lijiang’s Yulong County, which administers Baisha.
According to Yulong’s website, nearly 70 hectares of land is to become home to a hotel, entertainment facility and cultural center, as well as a wetland park, forest park, arboretum and ecological village.
Liu Xiaotian, the developer’s general manager, said the resort’s style would not be French, despite the name.
“The words French and Mediterranean simply refer to the French resort operator Club Mediterranee, and the official name of the project has not been decided yet,” Liu said.
According to the plan, elements of traditional Naxi architecture will be adopted in the new buildings, and the landscape of the ancient village would feature in the project. “There is no planned western-style architecture,” Wu said.
As part of the resort, an exhibition hall will be set up to promote Naxi culture, Liu said.
However, some people worry the resort may damage local culture.
“There are not many places like Baisha that preserve a complete Naxi village,” said Yang Fuquan, head of a Naxi study society in Yunnan. “We don’t think such a sensitive location should be chosen for the resort.”
However, Xinshan village, where the project will be situated, is welcoming. “The land has been idle for many years. We hope construction can start as soon as possible,” said He Shigang, 63, a former head of the village of over 400 people.
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