Dying Lijiang
May 19, 2009
Lijiang is a well-preserved historic town where the old houses and cobbled-stone paved streets are still retained from over 800 years ago. But over the years, the impact of tourism has affected the growth of this old town in all sorts of ways. It's fast deteriorating and losing its identity I wonder if UNESCO will strip off its title soon.
In recent years, there has been increased attention on environmental impact assessment in Lijiang. Ning & He (2007) reported that water quality at the southern entrance of the town deteriorated to inferior Grade V in 2006. More tourists means more activities, which means more waste. It was discovered that the drainage system is not well-developed enough to meet current needs. We saw people dumped their waste directly into the water where fishes were swimming in. Now I know why they were struggling so hard to swim upstream.
The number of local residents have declined while shops, restaurants and guesthouses have almost swarmed the entire town. Many local Naxi people have moved out due to rising costs and it was more profitable to rent their houses to businesses. I would move too, if I were them. Imagine Ang Mo Kio Street 77 or Yew Tee Estate becomes a tourist attraction. Suddenly, there're thousands of people walking around in your HDB precinct everyday and polluting the environment. Every 20 steps you take, someone stops you and asks for directions. How annoying.
Stores are not allowed to sell other things except tourist goods. Cultural commoditization is everywhere. You can bring home postcards made of Dongba paper. Or paintings of Naxi women. Tourism has enabled us to capture and possess bits and pieces of their culture. Colourful bags and handicrafts. Dresses and scarves. T-shirts with possibly fake Dongba prints. You walk on the street and everybody wears the same thing. That's because all the shops sell the same things. Is this all to Lijiang? Shopping and merchandising? What happened to its history and stories from the past?
Departmental stores have mushroomed at the periphery of the old and new town. KFC has found its way into the town. There you go, first sign of globalisation. Not that we mind, 'cause most of the restaurants have flies flying around your food. There's air-con, soap to wash your hands, no smoking in here, and you'll be surprised to hear the latest Chinese and Canto pop songs in Lijiang's KFC. Cool place to get away from the suffocating touristy environment where tourists and shop owners try to undercut each other without fail.
What is it like at night? Lively, it sure is. There's this whole stretch of pubs and discos blasting techno music. When you peer inside, you don't see a mass of skimpily dressed bodies shaking to the music but a few youngsters dressed in traditional costumes dancing to traditional Chinese music played in their heads. Exotic? No, it was degrading. Distorting their own culture that has lived for thousands of years. The dance at the main square? It's crap. Staged performance. They were told to dress up in their traditional clothes for us to see. You can't see a smile on their faces.
Lijiang is a beautiful ancient town without a soul, without a spirit. The making of a place is not just about beautiful scenery but participation and engagement from the locals. It's losing its character, just like what urbanization did to our Chinatown. Behind all the praise and status as a world heritage site, it's a sad story about a town that's turning into another money-spinning machine.
In recent years, there has been increased attention on environmental impact assessment in Lijiang. Ning & He (2007) reported that water quality at the southern entrance of the town deteriorated to inferior Grade V in 2006. More tourists means more activities, which means more waste. It was discovered that the drainage system is not well-developed enough to meet current needs. We saw people dumped their waste directly into the water where fishes were swimming in. Now I know why they were struggling so hard to swim upstream.
The number of local residents have declined while shops, restaurants and guesthouses have almost swarmed the entire town. Many local Naxi people have moved out due to rising costs and it was more profitable to rent their houses to businesses. I would move too, if I were them. Imagine Ang Mo Kio Street 77 or Yew Tee Estate becomes a tourist attraction. Suddenly, there're thousands of people walking around in your HDB precinct everyday and polluting the environment. Every 20 steps you take, someone stops you and asks for directions. How annoying.
Stores are not allowed to sell other things except tourist goods. Cultural commoditization is everywhere. You can bring home postcards made of Dongba paper. Or paintings of Naxi women. Tourism has enabled us to capture and possess bits and pieces of their culture. Colourful bags and handicrafts. Dresses and scarves. T-shirts with possibly fake Dongba prints. You walk on the street and everybody wears the same thing. That's because all the shops sell the same things. Is this all to Lijiang? Shopping and merchandising? What happened to its history and stories from the past?
Departmental stores have mushroomed at the periphery of the old and new town. KFC has found its way into the town. There you go, first sign of globalisation. Not that we mind, 'cause most of the restaurants have flies flying around your food. There's air-con, soap to wash your hands, no smoking in here, and you'll be surprised to hear the latest Chinese and Canto pop songs in Lijiang's KFC. Cool place to get away from the suffocating touristy environment where tourists and shop owners try to undercut each other without fail.
What is it like at night? Lively, it sure is. There's this whole stretch of pubs and discos blasting techno music. When you peer inside, you don't see a mass of skimpily dressed bodies shaking to the music but a few youngsters dressed in traditional costumes dancing to traditional Chinese music played in their heads. Exotic? No, it was degrading. Distorting their own culture that has lived for thousands of years. The dance at the main square? It's crap. Staged performance. They were told to dress up in their traditional clothes for us to see. You can't see a smile on their faces.
Lijiang is a beautiful ancient town without a soul, without a spirit. The making of a place is not just about beautiful scenery but participation and engagement from the locals. It's losing its character, just like what urbanization did to our Chinatown. Behind all the praise and status as a world heritage site, it's a sad story about a town that's turning into another money-spinning machine.
1 comments
this sounds very like venice... venice is dying also. it was sinking due to rising sea levels. now their 1st levels all cannot use liao. we saw water flowing into the house from the inside of the first level. and plus its so filled with tourists, there's hardly any locals in venice. the gondolas charging sky-high prices for tourists, the pubs and restaurants all got english menu and swarmed with rich americans. they are also losing their identity. maybe the river is their only identity left - and its sinking the town :(
ReplyDelete