Exploitation destroying our heritage

At a recent press conference in Beijing, I was impressed by the candid speech of a cultural heritage expert.

Immediately after a top official from Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, revealed their ambitious plan "to turn the local Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival into a carnival for tourists from home and abroad", Qi Qingfu, a researcher with Central University of Nationalities blurted out: "I would not agree with that idea!"

"We should never call the Duanwu Festival (which falls on June 16 this year) a carnival," he pointed out, adding that it is inappropriate to hold too many commercial programs during the festival.