Development means profit, while taking care of the environment means less profit. It’s true, and that’s why China, a country seemingly wanted to outrun USA to become the strongest country in the world, chooses development and is oblivious to the declining environment condition.
Shangri-La, a place located in the Yunnan Province in China was renamed Zhongdian after the government gave concurrence for it to develop into a tourists attraction village. Shangri-La was given the name ‘heaven on Earth’ for its beautiful scenic spots and the kind reception of the local people, a long time ago. Now, however, it has become a village with more than 100 hotels, and all other kinds of retailer shops selling jewellery and souvenirs. Although the appearance of the shops and hotels tried to imitate the outlook of the old buildings in Shangri-La, the tourists who has visited the place, hoping to see a ‘heaven’, was deeply disappointed. China seems to have gone too fast and forget what had boosted tourism. Many trees were cut down to make way for those hotels and shops, and the waste water is directed straight into the rivers.
As a result, the development of the village is showing good progress and has successfully attracted millions of tourists to Shangri-La, but the basic facilities and requirements for the living of the locals is amiss.
A travelling agency remonstrated that the streets of Shangri-La is busted with big buses which fouls the environment. Tourists from the mainland like to travel in big groups of people and riding on big buses. They only like taking pictures in scenic spots or beautiful places with nice views, but little of them would come, for the purpose of understanding the culture of the people, and maybe their customs.
If I may say, even if I am a HongKonger, places visited by the Chinese are always littered with at least a few, solid waste like plastic bags. This ‘heaven’, which was seen to be the last wild place on Earth, is being driven away by the officials, whose mind is only thinking about money and development, and has since blindly turned Shangri-La into a ‘tourists trap’, as described by a tourist. Furthermore, the person who first initiated to introduce this village to the public, feels regret that he has done that.
In a nutshell, I think sustainable development is better than solely development. Many tourists are disappointed at what they see in Shangri-La, not the heaven they had expected to see, but smoke and dust emitted by the big buses and the hustle and bustle of people, showing no sign of rural life or that tranquillity. However, if the government has discerned the problem and endeavoured to clean up the place, I believe this last heaven on Earth could be rescued and saved. What it needs, to prevent this kind of development dilemma to occur again is to look at the place in a different perspective– not to perceive it as an instant-money-tree, to gain fame and money for a short amount of time, but to develop a sustainable tourist attraction, wouldn’t it be better? Wouldn’t there be more profit?
In addition, the Beijing Olympic, an event many Chinese have anticipated and looked forward to, has forced many traditional buildings, many with historical values, to be torn down to make way for the stadiums and things. While constructing these beautifully designed buildings, the preservation of historical-valued buildings should also be contemplated. A balance between development, environmental needs and preservation should be obtained.