Families who’ve lived in old Chinese town for generations being kicked out to make way for tourists
6 billion yuan project will turn picturesque Chikan, close to World Heritage-listed Kaiping diaolous, into historical theme park
Close to 4,000 households are being forced out of a centuries-old town on the western edge of the Pearl River Delta by their local government, which has teamed up with an investment firm to turn it into a tourist attraction.
The riverfront town – known, like the diaolous, for a unique blend of Western and Chinese architectural styles – was eerily quiet last month, with seven residents telling the South China Morning Post the local government had disrupted roads and blocked bridges to encourage people to accept compensation payments and leave.
The Kaiping city government says it has signed a 6 billion yuan (US$899 million) deal with Citic Private Equity Funds Managementto redevelop the town.
The city government is eager to attract more tourists. Kaiping has a population of 670,000 but it attracted nearly 6 million tourists last year, drawn by its famous diaolous, and they contributed 6.3 billion yuan to the local economy.
It hopes 7 million people will be visiting the redeveloped Chikan old town, with its boutique shops and hotels, each year by 2020. It’s an ambitious target, given that close to 7.5 million tourists visit the Palace of Versailles, on the outskirts of Paris, each year.
