Necessity or Waste of Space?

Recently, Tongguanyao historical park held its openingceremony in Changsha. Back in 2009, the People's Governmentof Hunan invested 280 million yuan ($40 million) on building and restoring Tongguanyao historicalpark.Historical parks are usually constructed based on areas of significant historical heritage, such as atomb of a Chinese emperor or an old palace in ancient times. According to official doctrines, theseparks should be public spaces that provide educational and entertainment value to the public.Many historical parks are in construction in China now. In Luoyang, Henan Province, 5 billion yuanwill be invested in rebuilding a historical park, while in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, 500 millionyuan has been invested in Niuheliang historical park.

But some of these more established parks, like Daming Palace Park in Xi'an, the capital of ShaanxiProvince, are suffering from financial difficulties and a lack of visitors. Pei Yu, a cultural tourism researcher, finds the problem is not just the lack of tourists but also thebusiness aspects of the park. Both Western and Japanese models have proven that delegatingresponsibilities is the most efficient way to manage these projects. Pei encourages the governmentto consider handing over the operation and management of the surrounding areas to privateenterprises. "Not everything in the park is of historical heritage," Pei said, suggesting that the governmentshould focus on historical heritages and leave the rest to private companies.To generate ways to attract visitors, the park in Luoyang plans to offer discounts tickets andprovide benefits to local residents. Niuheliang historical park plans to protect the cultural heritagewhile maintaining the surrounding areas and residential environment. This will hopefully develop atourism industry while cultivating the area's agriculture. New problems may arise, but the priority should remain on the protection of historical heritage, asit is the reason for the existence of such parks.

文化链接：长沙铜官窑，始于初唐，盛于中晚唐，衰于五代。开创世界釉下多彩先河，独步一时，刻下陶瓷史上里程碑。2000年，在印尼发现的千年沉船“黑石号”，沉船中有长沙铜官窑器物5.8万余件，震惊世界。长沙铜官窑产品，开辟了一条往南亚、通北非的“海上陶瓷之路”。 长沙铜官窑遗址将再造一个“唐城”，通过此窑城，折射出大唐文化的灿烂与辉煌，让人领略一个昌盛的时代，一个国内国外多民族友好交往交融的时代，一个善于借鉴吸收并创新发展的时代，一个色彩斑斓充满激情的浪漫时代。