Society
Wuhan to lavish $2.9B on centenary spectacular
By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-08 16:05
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The city government of central China's historic Wuhan, birthplace of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, is going to lavish out over 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) for the upcoming centenary spectacular, Mayor Ruan Chengfa said to Eastday.com Sunday.
The Wuchang Uprising ignited the fuse of the Xinhai Revolution, led by legendary Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen, in a dash to dethrone the corrupt Qing government (1936-1911) whose feeble hands could barely fend off the invading foreign colonists. The revolution went down in history as the country's first attempt to establish a republic in China.
According to the mayor, the city government will renovate historical sites in connection with the celebrated centenary, and allocate over 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) to build new monuments and museums. The government also intends to shoot a television series and a documentary.
Improvements to public facilities could consume another 10 billion yuan at least, Ruan said, which includes an airport expressway connecting downtown district Shouyi.
To make room for a centenary museum and monument, last June the district blasted into rubble a 30-meter-high well-functioning sporting training complex, merely over ten years old, where two Olympic badminton champions - Gao Ling and Han Jingna - received their training. Next to the demised complex, a sprawling neighborhood of over 170,000 square meters scarcely escaped the same fate.
The municipal government's lavish spending for the centenary spectacular has been a lightning rod for criticism from commentators.
