Tibet launches $4.7b tourism park construction

LHASA -- Construction has begun on a 30-billion-yuan ($4.7 billion) culture and tourism park in Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region.

The park, with a planned area of 800 hectares 2 km from downtown Lhasa, is expected to be completed in three to five years, said Ma Xinming, deputy mayor of Lhasa city, as the building project launched on Sunday.

The park is designed to improve Tibet's tourism credentials and be a landmark of its cultural industry, Ma said.

It will include attractions themed around Princess Wencheng, daughter of Emperor Li Shimin of the prosperous Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), who married Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo when she was 16. The princess, along with a dowry consisting of numerous treasures, books, golden furniture and medical equipment, traveled 3,000 km to her new home.

Visitors will be offered regular Wencheng-based outdoor performances named "Princess Wencheng" and other educational and entertainment facilities tracing the footsteps of the princess in Tibet.

The actors featuring in "Princess Wencheng" will be sent to Beijing for rehearsals and will begin touring the show in late September.

The culture and tourism park will also include an "Art City", home to displays of Tibetan handicrafts and medicine, and a "Folk City", where tourists can get a taste of local life and buy folk goods.

Cultural innovation, business and residential districts will also be incorporated into the project.