Boli Club, the first post-quake village hotel chain in Sichuan province, opens in Chaping Village of Dujiangyan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on May 1, 2009. [Xinhua]

Controversy on tourism reconstruction

Despite Sichuan's ambition to revitalize tourism and the progress it has already made, several programs have sparked public debate about the proper use of reconstruction funds.

Beichuan, a county which suffered mass destruction in the earthquake, is reportedly building a quake museum at a cost of 2.3 billion yuan (US$336 million).The is compared to the county's 2007 fiscal revenue of 114 million yuan (US$16.7 million).

Wu Chuangfu, an expert who led the expert panel planning the museum's reconstruction, said that only 135 million yuan will go into the museum's construction, while the remaining investments are being used to protect ruins, construct roads and strengthen the mountain areas, etc., according to an earlier China Daily report.

The museum is being regarded as a unique tourist destination featuring quake relics, with construction to be completed in four years. Museum visitors will be able to access the Tangjiashan Earthquake Lake by cable car. Other exhibits will include the ruins of Beichuan High School and the Beichuan county seat.

The Counter Strike (CS) playground, a simulated tactical games entertainment park built near the quake relics in the province's Pengzhou City, is regarded by many people as disrespectful to those killed in the earthquake.

Inspired by the popular military-based video game CS, participants play tactical games with laser guns in an imagined realm of modern warfare.

Dai Jun, manager of the entertainment park, has made it clear that the area where the playground is located is an open field with a collapsed pavilion, blocked water channel and other barriers, and there are no deceased buried under the park.

A survey by sina.com showed that 54.3 percent of 22,793 people polled supported building such an entertainment park.

(chinadaily.com.cn May 8, 2009)