A south-western Chinese town has spent nearly $2-million on a replica of the country’s most famous monument, the Great Wall, in a bid to draw more tourist dollars, state press said on Friday.
The 1 680m wall erected near Chengdu city in China’s Sichuan province is a fraction of the mammoth structure first built in the Qin Dynasty more than 2 000 years ago.
Officials, however, are betting the investment of 15-million yuan ($1,8-million) will yield greater tourist revenues, the Shanghai Youth Daily said.
The real Great Wall, one of the world’s most important heritage sites, courses through more than 2 500km of China’s north.
Experts criticised the Chengdu project for its lack of scientific planning as well as its cultural irrelevancy to the country’s south-west, the newspaper said. — Sapa-AFP