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Day trip to 'scenic' spot takes morbid turn
A tour company in China is under investigation after a group of elderly tourists promised a scenic day out were instead taken to a cemetery and delivered a sales pitch.To get more news about China scenic spots, you can visit shine news official website.
While the group believed they were being taken by bus to see some of Chongqing's most famous sights, they ended up arriving at the burial ground, state agency Xinhua reported.
One tourist told local media he was approached by the tour group to sign up to the trip and was promised a ticket price of 18 yuan (A$3.60) which included a free lunch.Attracted by the offer, the man named as Mr Zheng approached more than 10 of his friends who also agreed to join the trip.
The group's mood quickly changed when they arrived at the Longfengshan cemetery and staff promoted grave plots and funeral services to them.
Yet others suggested the group were too naive over the trip due to its cheap price."Where can you travel for 18 yuan?!" one person asked.
The Chongqing Culture and Tourism Commission ordered an investigation into the matter and it has since been revealed the tour company did not hold the required licence to operate tourism activities. Investigations are ongoing.
Authorities said they are concerned with the incident which could damage the reputation of the city, particularly as it has a rich history of tourism. The city is regarded as one of China's mega cities.
China’s Art, From Museum Exhibits to Rock Concerts
The outbreak of a novel coronavirus has caused weeks of anxiety and quarantine in China. People are staying home to limit the spread of the illness, recently named COVID-19. Venues that normally draw large crowds have shut their doors indefinitely, and events like concerts and an international art fair have been canceled.To get more china art news, you can visit shine news official website.
But the country’s ban on public gatherings hasn’t completely shuttered China’s cultural landscape. Instead, the action is increasingly moving online. From museum exhibitions to live concerts, the country’s art scene is connecting communities in the digital sphere.
In January, the Chinese government issued a letter directing museums to “enrich the people’s spiritual and cultural life during the epidemic [with] cloud exhibitions” that display previously planned gallery programming, reports Caroline Goldstein for artnet News. At that point, two museum openings in China had been postponed, and Hong Kong had closed all public institutions.
Now, sites including the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, the Chongqing Natural History Museum and the National Museum in Beijing have all opted to increase their digital offerings. Some sites, like the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum, are only accessible from mainland China, according to Maggie Hiufu Wong of CNN. But about 100 online exhibits can be accessed from anywhere via China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration website.
An extensive lineup of special exhibitions had been planned for the Forbidden City’s 600th anniversary. One of those, focused on the Spring Festival, is accessible online in Chinese, as is a 3-D tour of the Forbidden City complex. The terracotta warriors of Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an and the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall are among the other museums available for virtual visits.
Live concerts similarly shut down by measures to reduce the spread of the virus are also moving online. A legendary punk rock venue called VOX Livehouse came up with the idea of livestreaming a concert, reports Hyperallergic’s Krish Raghav. The concert hall is located in Wuhan, arguably the center of Chinese punk-rock culture—and the city where the new coronavirus was first identified.VOX’s initial “live-streamed music festival” has sparked a nationwide trend of similar events. As Hyperallergic reports, musicians, record labels, venues and clubs alike are organizing “bedroom music festivals” and livestreamed club nights featuring pop, techno, punk and experimental improvisation.
“It’s like going to a karaoke parlor or being in a mosh pit without leaving your house,” singer He Fan of Beijing band Birdstriking tells Hyperallergic.
Fan’s band performed an acoustic set for a livestream event called “Strawberry Z,” which derives its name from China’s biggest annual outdoor music festival, Strawberry. The event, called “I’m at Home, Too,” in Chinese, is a five-day music festival hosted on the short video app Bilibili. As the video plays, viewers can participate by contributing to the stream of comments floating onscreen. Bilibili has offered 100,000 free memberships to people living in quarantine in the hope of connecting people and alleviating boredom and anxiety caused by the spread of COVID-19.