Foshan Thrills and Spills: Adventures in Tourism

vacationlands There are many cultural relics in Chancheng District, of which Zumiao Temple was founded during Yuanfeng period of North Song Dynasty (1078-1085). This Temple is a state key protection unit of historical and cultural relics, and is recognized as the "Oriental Art's Palace" integrating pottery statue, woodcarving, brickcarving, foundry, architecture and Yue Opera. Nearly 1 million Sino-overseas tourists are attracted to travel there every year. Recently, Foshan has developed a series of high profile and high grade tourist sites and vacationlands, such as Nanhai Kwan-yin Culture Park, Wang Daxian Fairyland, Baolin Temple in Shunde, Forest Park in Sanshui, Water Lily World, Southland Peach Park in Nanhai, CCTV's Screen and Video Town in Nanhai and Aiwen Education Farm in Gaoming, etc. Thus, Chancheng District has become a tourist attraction for the visitors from Zhujiang Delta, Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia.
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Bribery and graft “Foshan, or "Buddha Mountain," is the ancestral home of martial arts star Bruce Lee, the place where severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, was first observed, and the source of some of the worst air pollution in the Pearl River delta industrial heartland. Factories produce ceramics, furniture, toys and household appliances, including items sold by Wal-Mart, Kmart, Avon and Home Depot. But if you spend time in Foshan, a city of 5.9 million residents and 2.3 million migrant workers, you find it's also a place where bridges and houses collapse; where half-finished skyscrapers sit empty and tilting dangerously.”
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Sex trade as a consequence of the tourism strategy "With the sharp growth of tourism over the last decade. the entertainment sector has also grown, becoming increasingly important in countries that have adopted tourism as a strategy for development. In many places. the sex trade is part of the entertainment industry, and the two have grown in tandem. Indeed, the sex trade itself has become a development strategy in some areas where unemployment and poverty are widespread, and where governments are desperate for revenue and hard currency. When local manufacturing and agriculture no longer provide jobs, profits. or government revenue, a once marginal economic wellspring becomes a far more important one. The IMF and the World Bank sometimes recommend tourism as a solution to the troubles of poor countries, but when they provide loans for its development or expansion, they may well inadvertently contribute to the expansion of the entertainment industry and, indirectly, of the sex trade." Download Sassen's contribution to "Global Woman."

Sex trade in Foshan More than 100 million rural Chinese have now migrated to cities, and a government survey recently estimated that more than half have ended up here in the southern province of Guangdong, forming a vast new urban underclass. Seldom able to become legal residents, they are limited to menial jobs, have few rights and are blamed for every social ill, from crime to pornography. Their cheap labor is the fuel that powers Guangdong's thriving economy, which accounts for half of China's gross domestic product. Their remittances home provide a lifeline to poor rural families throughout the interior -- but especially in Sichuan, where such gifts typically outstrip local incomes many times over.
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Sources:
"Tourism Attractions of Foshan," www.foshan.gov.cn
"Bribery and graft taint every facet of life in China," LA Times, December 29, 2008
"Global Woman" (Barbara Ehrenreich, ed., 2002)
"Migrants to Chinese Boom Town Find Hard Lives," NY Times, July 2, 2002