Recently, a tourist released a video claiming that when traveling to Shennongjia, Hubei, they found that the landmark building of Shennong Altar had changed from dark green to pink. After the video was posted online, it triggered a lot of criticisms from internet users.
According to a report by Upstream News on January 30th, Mr. Wang (pseudonym) who posted the video, said that he visited Shennongjia on January 20th and saw that the Shennong Altar was pink, which he found very interesting, so he took a video of it. Mr. Wang emphasized that the photos he took were not edited for color.
A staff member of the scenic area responded that the Shennong Altar had indeed been painted pink: “It was redecorated because the previous color had faded completely, so we repainted it at the end of last year (2024).”
The staff member also mentioned that the statue of Shennong Altar was built in 1997. After years of exposure to wind and sun, the primer of the statue had faded and discolored in many places, some even had moss growing on them, so the scenic area decided to repaint it.
Regarding the choice of pink color for the Shennong Altar, the staff member explained, “There were several colors to choose from at that time, but after comparing, we felt that this color (pink) looked better. Other colors didn’t work, so we went for the best effect.”
The actions of the scenic area drew criticism from netizens: “It was originally quaint and charming, now it has become like this, speechless about this move.” “It’s like scrubbing a bronze artifact with a wire brush and then painting it.” “The antiquity is all gone.”
“It has finally become worthless in appearance.” “The sense of mystery is gone.” “Let it blend with nature naturally, too much interference.”
Some also said, “If the staff of Shennong Altar really think that the effect after painting is the best, then it can only indicate that our aesthetic education still has a long way to go and needs to be strengthened.”
In response to the public criticism, the scenic area stated that they would reconsider the choice of color for the Shennong Altar and take into account the feedback from visitors to restore the historical and cultural significance of the site.