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Tacky tourist traps cash in on legendary tales
By Tseng Tan |
September 21, 2012, Friday
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IN April 2007, it was spring and I was with a group of 12 golfers to Kunming and Lijiang in Yunnan Province for a golfing holiday.
A tourist guide recommended that we take a short trip, over mountain roads for about three hours, to Shangri-La.
She extolled the great mountain peaks, floating mists and spring flowers of multi-hues in a great valley.
As I had read the book by James Hilton, "Lost Horizon" (1933) as a text book in secondary school, I explained to the group what the real utopia was like in the text. It was a place where time stood still and where you had time to study the arts, religion and philosophy of life. Anyone who entered this mystical land would never grow old. They would look perpetually the same as the first time they entered.
As it was written in 1933, it was the author's (a pacifist) hope that the world should have eternal peace - that was the message. After my short presentation of the novel in the tour bus, our group decided to skip this place - which is basically a contrived effort just for the tourist dollars.
Failed attempt
So it was with some amusement that I read of the failed attempt in Runan County, Henan Province, to popularize a place supposedly the birth and burial grounds of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, protagonists in the legend "Butterfly Lovers," a Romeo and Juliet tale of lost love (Shanghai Daily, August 30, 2012, quoting Xinhua).
In the 1970s, the Shaw Brothers movie of the same story with huang mei music filled the cinemas from Hong Kong to Southeast Asia with red-eyed patrons after the show, providing catharsis to the audience.
It starred the actress Ling Po (cross-dressing as Liang Shanbo) and Lo Ti (as Zhu Yingtai) as the lovers. On that fateful day of Zhu's arranged marriage to the son of the Ma family, the procession passed the grave of Shanbo (who had died of "lovesickness").
Since the heavens were in sympathy with the lovers, there was rain and thunder. Upon reaching the tomb, Yingtai discarded her wedding gown to reveal a white mourning dress. To the accompaniment of lighting and thunder, the tomb cracked open and the poor wailing heroine plunged into the crevice and entombed the lovers. Then the sunshine appeared with a rainbow in the sky, and then two butterflies fluttered away from the tomb - hence the "Butterfly Lovers," as they are called.
Waste of time
Hopefully, the public is spared a waste of time and money for such a contrived public attraction (in Hunan) in order to improve the tourist dollar.
When my three kids were young, we decided to celebrate our Filipino maid's birthday at the Theme Park island of Sentosa, south of Singapore.
It was to be at the musical fountain in the evening and on the way we decided to see another attraction in the park. It was a make-believe volcano.
Upon paying a hefty fee, we entered an enclosure and could see a small mound of earth representing a volcano. Smoke was spouting from the peak and as the light dimmed, an announcement was made telling us to hold on to railings. We were standing on a platform and soon it began to vibrate. That lasted for a few minutes.
When we exited, I asked the maid for her opinion. Smiling sheepishly and try to suppress her giggles, she said, "Sir, they make, you believe.
The author is a senior HR consultant in Singapore.
A tourist guide recommended that we take a short trip, over mountain roads for about three hours, to Shangri-La.
She extolled the great mountain peaks, floating mists and spring flowers of multi-hues in a great valley.
As I had read the book by James Hilton, "Lost Horizon" (1933) as a text book in secondary school, I explained to the group what the real utopia was like in the text. It was a place where time stood still and where you had time to study the arts, religion and philosophy of life. Anyone who entered this mystical land would never grow old. They would look perpetually the same as the first time they entered.
As it was written in 1933, it was the author's (a pacifist) hope that the world should have eternal peace - that was the message. After my short presentation of the novel in the tour bus, our group decided to skip this place - which is basically a contrived effort just for the tourist dollars.
Failed attempt
So it was with some amusement that I read of the failed attempt in Runan County, Henan Province, to popularize a place supposedly the birth and burial grounds of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, protagonists in the legend "Butterfly Lovers," a Romeo and Juliet tale of lost love (Shanghai Daily, August 30, 2012, quoting Xinhua).
In the 1970s, the Shaw Brothers movie of the same story with huang mei music filled the cinemas from Hong Kong to Southeast Asia with red-eyed patrons after the show, providing catharsis to the audience.
It starred the actress Ling Po (cross-dressing as Liang Shanbo) and Lo Ti (as Zhu Yingtai) as the lovers. On that fateful day of Zhu's arranged marriage to the son of the Ma family, the procession passed the grave of Shanbo (who had died of "lovesickness").
Since the heavens were in sympathy with the lovers, there was rain and thunder. Upon reaching the tomb, Yingtai discarded her wedding gown to reveal a white mourning dress. To the accompaniment of lighting and thunder, the tomb cracked open and the poor wailing heroine plunged into the crevice and entombed the lovers. Then the sunshine appeared with a rainbow in the sky, and then two butterflies fluttered away from the tomb - hence the "Butterfly Lovers," as they are called.
Waste of time
Hopefully, the public is spared a waste of time and money for such a contrived public attraction (in Hunan) in order to improve the tourist dollar.
When my three kids were young, we decided to celebrate our Filipino maid's birthday at the Theme Park island of Sentosa, south of Singapore.
It was to be at the musical fountain in the evening and on the way we decided to see another attraction in the park. It was a make-believe volcano.
Upon paying a hefty fee, we entered an enclosure and could see a small mound of earth representing a volcano. Smoke was spouting from the peak and as the light dimmed, an announcement was made telling us to hold on to railings. We were standing on a platform and soon it began to vibrate. That lasted for a few minutes.
When we exited, I asked the maid for her opinion. Smiling sheepishly and try to suppress her giggles, she said, "Sir, they make, you believe.
The author is a senior HR consultant in Singapore.
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