Mountain Residents Bulldozed Out of Government’s World Heritage Vision
The Guardian reports that Chinese authorities are trying to get sacred Wutai Mountain (五台山） named as a world heritage site, and in the process they are destroying the historic homes of the region’s residents. And the residents aren’t happy about it:
Wang Yulan was particularly bitter as she crouched in a living room on Taiping Street. She said there would be no Buddhist heritage left but for her community.
“When the Japanese came to Wutai mountain, all the local villagers united to protect the temple and drove out the Japanese devils,” she said. “Then, during the cultural revolution when the Red Guards came, it was us who protected the temples again when people brought things out and destroyed them in the streets. We renovated the places.
“Now they’re getting rid of our work and our home - it’s like cutting our lifeline,” she said, drawing a hand across her throat in emphasis.
The report includes an eight-minute video.
Origin: Tania Branigan, Guardian
