The thought was the park would be a great means for cultural exchange between China and the United States. The park had huge success, having over 3. It took two years to negotiate an agreement with the CTS. Under the agreement, Chen would provide the land and management services for the park, while CTS supplied the building materials, architects, and the personnel. Expert masons were brought in, laying down more than six million miniature bricks to build the miniature Great Wall.
They molded foot high replicas of giant Buddhas and set up an entire lumber mill to manufacture the delicate beams and planks needed to build hundreds of miniature towns, palaces, and temples.
One of the ironies of the park was a large number of Buddhist shrines, given that China has attempted to uproot religion by destroying temples and mosques, as well as the killing of monks and nuns. In the replica of the Longmen Grottoes , two of the Buddhist figures were reproduced with smashed faces.
Chen disagreed with the decision since they were smashed during the Cultural Revolution , but CTS wanted to reproduce them as they are to avoid any political discussions. Though the most controversial exhibit in the park was the inclusion of the Potala Palace. The palace was the seat of the Tibetan government and home of the Dalai Lama since , up until when the Dalai Lama was exiled by the Chinese government, fleeing to India with 80, of his people.
After his exile, Chairman Mao ordered his army to attack the centers of Tibetan Buddhism, as the Dalai Lama had become a symbol for Tibetan resistance.
According to accounts, the Chinese government forced monks and nuns to copulate in the streets of Lhasa. The number of functioning monasteries and temples in Tibet had dropped from 2, in to just 70 in , in the same time that the number of monks and nuns dropped from , to 18,, an action which would be described as mass murder.
By , only eight monasteries and nunneries remained in Tibet. In December , one week before the park was to open to the public, CTS bought out Chen and assuming full control. She saw it was clear they intended the park was to serve as a vehicle for Communist propaganda. For a bit of background, we start with the opening of the Splendid China theme park in Shenzhen in For this is not a tale of two cultures coming together to enjoy a day out at the park. This is a tale of two kinds of stupidity.
One type involves the operators, who in their zeal to bring Chinese culture to America, proved to be inept operators, alienating park staff and the local community.
The other type involves American reactions to the park, which veered between hysterical xenophobia, righteous anger, and absurd fetishism. Rhys Asplundh. Splendid China opened in December It would endure for 10 tumultuous years before being shut down following a sustained press campaign by outraged activists. After an ignominious closure in , the park lingered on, its facilities falling into decay. A decades later, when new owners finally began to dismantle it for good, vandals had already pillaged its valuables like a cut-price re-enactment of the sacking of the Old Summer Palace years earlier.
This was, perhaps, a fitting end to yet another failed attempt at foreign engagement, a dismal coda to a performance nobody wanted. The tale begins with a bright-eyed educator named Josephine Chen, who toured the original Splendid China as it was then known near Shenzhen, during , its prototype year. After seeing the miniature array of reproductions of famous Chinese historical sites, Chen made an agreement with the operators to bring versions of all these attractions to America.
Along with all the scale replicas, it would seem that a microcosm of all Sino-US conflicts came with the deal. If you think that ties today are riddled with misunderstandings and suspicion, cast your mind back to the 90s and every trendy progressive discussing Tibet on campus. Then imagine what would happen if the Chinese government helped build a miniature version of the Potala Palace in Florida.
Most protesters were aggrieved over human rights issues. Others took a less measured approach. Nevertheless, and with financial support from the Beijing-backed China Travel Service of Hong Kong, plus a Taiwanese-American conglomerate, the park opened on December 19, Amid the controversy, beleaguered park spokesman Carl Reynolds told media that the park was not political, and was just trying to make a cultural statement.
Not boundless. Did we mention the Beastie Boys got in on the act? And despite Tibet outrage continuing at full steam, the park was reported to have attracted about to 1, visitors each day in comparison to about 33, at the Magic Kingdom part of nearby Disneyland, which was roughly the same size. Amid this tense standoff, hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys repeatedly spoke out against the park and announced a protest concert to protest it. It got canceled due to bad weather.
Following this small setback, protesters decided to refocus their attention on local schools, which finally paid off.
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