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Incensed netizens rap temple fairs
By Qin Zhongwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-11 10:06
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Cultural events criticized as being too commercial, crowded, unimpressive
Beijing netizens are giving a big "thumbs down" to temple fairs after authorities recently announced an unprecedented economic boost from tourism during Spring Festival.
"The temple fair, which is a typical cultural event, is now too commercial and I cannot find what I like and expect to see during these events," Zhang We, who started oldbeijing.net in 2001 to collect memories about the city, told METRO on Wednesday.
Beijing authorities from various departments last week released a list of the 10 most popular temple fairs. The events held in Ditan Park and Longtanhu Park top the list.
But Zhang and some of his colleagues have put their own twist on the holiday tally by issuing a chart of "the most terrible-looking temple fairs" during the Spring Festival break, based on voting by netizens.
Ironically, the temple fair in Longtanhu Park took first place. Ten categories, including environment, performances, cultural elements and food safety, were judged.
Although only a little more than 100 netizens voted, Zhang believes the final results are representative of the views of most people who attended the temple fairs.
The tourism revenue generated during Spring Festival reached about 2.9 billion yuan, an 11.8 percent increase, year-on-year, and about 7.65 million visitors came to the capital, according to the official statistics.
It is believed that the 63 temple fairs during the period lured a great many of those visitors.
But netizens are complaining, logging online to say that
some temple fairs are little more than hubs for vendors selling kebabs and toys.
The prices of the food and snacks at the fairs are too high, said many posters on Zhang's website.
"It looks like every temple fair is crowded, but we can hardly find one temple fair that is impressive," Zhang said. "It is supposed to be a cultural celebration. But now it looks weird."
Zhao Shu, a 69-year-old Beijing expert on culture and the city's traditions earlier told Beijing News that it is understandable that temple fairs should make progress as times change.
But all the changes should be focused on the cultural elements, rather than on the economic purpose. Otherwise, the temple fairs will become big bazaars.
"We don't want to show our picky attitude or poke fun at them, but we do wish the terrible-looking temple fairs can show us some fresh images next year," Zhang said.
