Controversy surrounds China's latest tourism boom -- visiting the ruins in Sichuan Province caused by the May quake which claimed tens of thousands of lives.

"I've never expected so many people here," said a local citizen surnamed Zhang, who drove his family to the Donghekou quake park in Qingchuan County of Guangyuan City, the first of its kind to open to the public after the massive earthquake.

He was stuck in a traffic jam on his way to the park. Zhang finally arrived at his destination, only to find that there's no parking room.

The park attracted thousands of people after its opening, and the cars parking outside covered over 10 kilometers on the most crowded day.

It is the same situation in other quake-hit areas. Beichuan County relics received nearly 100, 000 people during the Spring Festival, and Xiaoyudong Bridge site in Pengzhou City attracted more then 5,000 people just on the first day of the lunar New Year. Over 1,000 tourists visited Hanwang Town of the heavily hit Mianzhu City every day.

More than seven million tourists traveled to the Sichuan quake-hit zone during the Spring Festival in 2009, according to the Sichuan Tourism Bureau. The revenue brought by the quake relics tourism reached 1.87 billion yuan, taking up 40 percent of the total.

As the relics tourism became hot, however, a fierce debate began.

"The sadness is still there, why do people get so numb?" said a netizen. "Were those sad tears fake?"

Some other netizens did not think so. "It's nothing wrong to rejuvenate the local economy and make the living happy," another netizen said. "And the victims would understand it."

Likewise, a Counter Strike battlefield which covered an area of 6.7 hectares was established with the background of Huilonggou relics site of Longmenshan Town in quake-hit Pengzhou, which caused many doubts.

"How ridiculous it is to build a CS base on the quake relics! To take the disaster zone as the recreation center is not only an insult to the dead but also a hurt to their families," some netizens argued.

"There's no mistake in games, but it's a huge mistake to step on the spirit of the dead," some contended.

Many experts advised building a museum on the quake relics, which could give the tourists a psychical baptism.

"The typical collection for popular science education and the battle against the quake should become important tourism resources when we promote the tourism by way of Wenchuan earthquake," said Wang Tingzhi, dean of Tourism School of Sichuan University.

"For the opening of the relics, we should first consider the feelings of the families of the dead and the social influence, and conduct orderly and strict management," he added. "Only in this way could the quake relics not be merchandised."

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2009)