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Before the smoke and dust surrounding the South China tiger photos taken in
Shaanxi province settled, someone claimed to have successfully photographed the
big cat - widely believed to be extinct in China - in Hunan province. This time,
unlike the still images from Shaanxi, it was a 20-second video clip with a very
mobile animal.
Shortly afterwards, the local authorities, after an investigation, revealed
that the whole thing was a hoax. It turned out that a television reporter had
conspired with a circus manager to execute the better-than-Shaanxi idea. The
circus has a Northeastern tiger. The two moved it to a patch of woods where they
shot the clip. You have to admit that it was a giant leap up in the echelon of
make-believe from the previous poster blowup - at least that's what most people
believe it to be.
And unlike the Shaanxi authorities whose investigations are still on, the
Hunan leaders were decisive. Yes, it was a fake even though this one involved a
genuine tiger.
But there are similarities as well. In both cases, some local experts were
quick to confirm the authenticity of the tiger!
The most brilliant bon mot came up during the investigation. A developer of
local tourism who was found to have masterminded the ruse, nonchalantly
justified the hoax. He told reporters that tourism is all about make-believe.
"Now that you guys have killed the tiger concept, we'll have to create new ones,
maybe the South China leopard."
He went on to argue that the local county is mountainous, unfit for
farming. Tourism is a way out of poverty. County officials have designated it as
a strategy to "feed and enliven" the people. "Tourism needs capital. But it
needs creativity even more. The tiger could have been a spark."
Before I could laugh him off as insane, I walked down the memory lane to
think of all the places I had visited. In one place near an old town in Yunnan,
I - and a group of tourism scholars - were led to a mountainside with many totem
poles that looked like 3,000 years old. We were told of the ancient
civilizations that once flourished there.
Honestly, we were impressed. The whole place had some primitive power and
beauty. Then, I turned to the Australian professor in our group: "Forgive my
ignorance, but I've never heard of this place. It looks at least as impressive
as Stonehenge."
"Well, I have to be honest, too. I haven't heard of it either, and I'm
supposed to be an expert on this area," he whispered to me.
Our eyes were locked in a moment of epiphany as we burst out in one voice:
"This is a theme park!"
There is nothing wrong with building a theme park that resembles a
prehistoric monument, imaginary or real. But you have to inform the public.
On the contrary, the public has to play the sleuth. Another incident I
remember involved a consumer who bought a terra-cotta soldier in a Beijing
department store, priced 8,000 yuan. She sued the store when she found it was
just an imitation. The store owner retorted: "Of course it's fake. Would a real
one sell for only thousands? It would be priceless and it's against the law to
trade relics of such importance."
The trouble could have easily been avoided if the item included "imitation"
in its description.
I cannot but admire those who went to such lengths to get their hometowns
into hot destinations of tourism. With this kind of imagination, they could have
come up with ideas that hook both reporters and tourists - ideas not grounded in
reality but built in castles in the air. People go and visit places of historic
significance, but they may also like to be taken sometimes on rides of pure
fantasy. |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:48:02