Boatman reveals some naked ambition
By Jane Chen |
March 10, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NATIONWIDE controversy has been sparked over a political adviser's proposal to renew a local tradition of hauling a barge with naked boatmen in a tourist zone in central China's Hubei Province.
Yao Benzhi, vice secretary-general of the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, put forward the proposal last Thursday during the committee's annual meeting.
He described the tradition renewal as restoration of local culture as well as a boost to tourism, yesterday's Changjiang Times reported.
Views in the Shennongxi Stream Gorge area, a picturesque zone in the prefecture's Badong County, have been great affected after part of it was flooded for the Three Gorges Dam, he said.
To make up for this, it was urgent to enrich the area's cultural elements to make it an outstanding scenic zone, he said.
He said he would volunteer to be a nude boatman.
The proposal has received a cool reception, with most people criticizing him for pursuing economic growth at the price of boatmen's dignity.
However, it received support form Xu Peng, vice director of the Badong Tourism Bureau.
He said the practice should be protected as a culture.
Nude boat hauling was a traditional way to transport barges in remote Badong, where there were no road connections in old days and streams were too shallow to pilot boats normally.
The boatmen worked nude as clothing hindered wading, said Zhang Houfang, 44, the captain of Shennongxi's boatman team.
"For thousands of years, we worked nude and never felt shame because it was the way we were," he said.
The boatmen were still willing to work nude, provided the pay was right, he said.
Since road transport development, boat hauling has ceased as a major transport for local people.
In 1988, the hauling was launched as a local tourist event, but the cargo on the boat was replaced by throngs of visitors, Zhang said.
Yao Benzhi, vice secretary-general of the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, put forward the proposal last Thursday during the committee's annual meeting.
He described the tradition renewal as restoration of local culture as well as a boost to tourism, yesterday's Changjiang Times reported.
Views in the Shennongxi Stream Gorge area, a picturesque zone in the prefecture's Badong County, have been great affected after part of it was flooded for the Three Gorges Dam, he said.
To make up for this, it was urgent to enrich the area's cultural elements to make it an outstanding scenic zone, he said.
He said he would volunteer to be a nude boatman.
The proposal has received a cool reception, with most people criticizing him for pursuing economic growth at the price of boatmen's dignity.
However, it received support form Xu Peng, vice director of the Badong Tourism Bureau.
He said the practice should be protected as a culture.
Nude boat hauling was a traditional way to transport barges in remote Badong, where there were no road connections in old days and streams were too shallow to pilot boats normally.
The boatmen worked nude as clothing hindered wading, said Zhang Houfang, 44, the captain of Shennongxi's boatman team.
"For thousands of years, we worked nude and never felt shame because it was the way we were," he said.
The boatmen were still willing to work nude, provided the pay was right, he said.
Since road transport development, boat hauling has ceased as a major transport for local people.
In 1988, the hauling was launched as a local tourist event, but the cargo on the boat was replaced by throngs of visitors, Zhang said.
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