February 03, 2005
tourist part of Guilin, ROC, 4
being in these tourist parts of Guang Xi, esp Yang shuo (those pics will come later) felt like being in a movie as it was so stereotypical Chinese with the pagodas but being there it just felt fake even though it looked quite pretty.
I saw a TV show on HK TV about a guy that designs traditional Chinese towns in tourist areas so I'm thinking that my guess that this is all manufactured recently is on target. But as I said, it is still pretty to see, contemporary or not though it does lose some mystique when compared to visiting ancient Japanese castles in Japan. I wish I could elaborate further but I just felt differently when I visited historical places in Kyoto and Osaka. Damn Mao and his cultural revolution :-(
Posted by Christine at February 3, 2005 08:20 PM