China’s fake tourism sites continue to come to light. During the Chinese New Year period, the “Snow Village” in the Nanshan Resort Area in Qionglai, Chengdu, was exposed for using cotton as snow and creating “snowfall” with soap bubbles. After receiving criticism, the scenic spot issued an apology letter and temporarily closed the park.
On February 8th, the Nanshan Resort Area in Qionglai, Chengdu, issued an apology letter stating that due to warm weather this year, it was unable to produce real snow in the Snow Village. In order to create a “snowy” atmosphere, they used cotton as a decoration, which did not achieve the desired effect. As it resulted in a negative experience for visitors, refunds are being offered to them. Currently, the park has been temporarily closed.
The “Snow Village” in Chengdu is located in Jingshan Village, Datong Town, Qionglai, Chengdu, Sichuan. It is a small attraction within the Nanshan Resort Area. During the recent Chinese New Year holiday, the “Snow Village” attracted a large number of tourists with its “beautiful snowy scenes” of forests and small cottages depicted in promotional photos. The ticket price on the platform was 49.9 yuan per person for a group of three.
However, visitors discovered that the snow was made of artificial cotton, and even the snow on the trees was fake. With not a speck of real snow in sight, how can it be called a Snow Village? Some visitors expressed feeling insulted in conversations with local media outlets.
A travel blogger on social media shared a video expressing feeling “ripped off” because almost everything on-site, from tree branches to props, was made of cotton, and the snow effect was created using soap bubbles, a far cry from the scenes of heavy snow and dancing snowflakes depicted in promotional photos.
In recent years, fake practices in Chinese tourism sites abound.
In December of last year, the “Altay Wind Taihang Snow Village” in Baquan Scenic Area in Henan Province was accused by multiple visitors of using artificial materials such as white sand and cotton to fake real snow. Some parents said, “It’s all deceiving children.”
During this year’s Chinese New Year, a video from Shandong Zibo Niushan Amusement Park showing a donkey disguised as a zebra went viral on the internet. Netizens mocked this as a modern version of “calling a donkey a horse.” Park staff admitted to the media that indeed it was a donkey painted to look like a zebra, and it was a result of “the boss playing around.”
On October 29th last year, a netizen exposed that the “First Peak of Pengcheng” on top of Wutong Mountain in Shenzhen, Guangdong, was made of artificial rocks, which had deteriorated, revealing internal bricks and steel reinforcement. The management office of Wutong Mountain Scenic Area responded, acknowledging that the giant plastic rocks were indeed man-made. Subsequently, another tourist spot in Shenzhen, the Phoenix Mountain Forest Park, was also exposed for having fake landscape rocks.
Some commentators have long believed that the prevalence of fakery in China is related to the society’s loss of basic moral standards under the atheist indoctrination of the Chinese Communist Party.