In this August 23, 2006 file photo, tourists look at the World Cultural Heritage city, Lijiang Old Town in Yunnan. An influx of commercial tourism has threatened to degrade the town’s cultural heritage
The 800-year-old town of Lijiang in China’s southern province of Yunnan faces a number of major challenges if it is to preserve the cultural heritage that saw the location bestowed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
After its designation, outsiders with more capital and skills moved in, sparking tensions with mostly ethnic minority residents who felt they were “losing their town.”
By the early 2000s, many streets of the old quarter were up to 90 percent in the hands of newcomers profiting by the mass influx, while today the town is considered to be one of the country’s top domestic tourist destinations.
Annual visitors swelled from some 150,000 before the heritage designation to 2.8 million three years later and some 16 million last year. Local culture has been adulterated in a complete tourism-oriented make-over.
The charming houses are actually reproductions as virtually the entire old town was razed by an earthquake in 1996. MDT/AP
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