CRI听力: Pay Tribute with Sincerity Rather than Money

Recently, central China's Wuhan City spent 10 billion yuan, or 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to restore the birthplace of the Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen in 1911. The project is said to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the historic event that toppled the Qing Dynasty and put an end to thousands of years of feudalism in China. An article in China Youth Daily cites the story and asks if it is necessary to make the amount of investment a benchmark of commemoration.(www.hXen.com)

The article says it supports a show of respect and paying tribute to the 100-year-old revolution. However, that does not mean we can show more respect simply by spending more money, it says. Marking the anniversary is expected to help more people, especially young people, learn from the revolutionary spirit and brave hearts of those warriors. To this end, the article says it doesn't have to cost so much to commemorate the revolution.

The article goes on to say that Wuhan, in fact, is developing its tourism in the name of observing the revolution. According to its plan, a huge museum, a monument and many other tourist sites will be built. The writer argues if we confuse commemoration activities with tourism development, those projects will be justified with no careful research beforehand and no collection and review of professional and public opinions.

At the same time, the seriousness of remembering those historical events and figures will be hurt if the commemoration activities are closely connected with tourism, it says.

Instead, the writer suggests we focus on expressing our sincerity and respect instead of making money by developing tourism to observe the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.