Celebs can't do for city what culture can

After a livestreamer shot to fame overnight earlier this month with a song he sang at the square of the Heze South Railway Station of Heze city, Shandong province, a large number of livestreamers, hoping to copy his success, have been gathering in the square to perform their respective talent shows in front of the camera.

Local residents complained about traffic jams and noise pollution, which led to the railway station declaring on Monday that they won't hold any more entertainment activities from that day on.

Livestreaming is an important platform to promote a place's tourism. But the way so many livestreamers put on their amateurish, if not unpleasant, shows at the same time in a public square makes the overall atmosphere mind-bogglingly grotesque.

Few viewers would associate Heze, an ancient city with time-honored cultural and historical legacies, that is renowned for its Chinese roses, with such an absurd vanity fair in pursuit of fame and fortune.

A city's cultural heritage, history, natural scenery and humane environment are what make it attractive. These require time and careful crafting. Cities cannot rely solely on the short-term boost of the internet celebrity effect.

The case of Heze should remind other cities that for sprucing up a city's image one should not put the cart before the horse.

BEIJING NEWS