You should never go back to disturb good memories with the shock of the new. Especially in China,"When I first came through that gate, it was an exhilarating experience, like finding a forgotten piece of old China," remembered James Kynge, Financial Times correspondent, of the moment he entered the walled town of Pingyao in central Shanxi province. "But it has changed so quickly. Now people seem to have lost some of their warmth, everyone is out to make a buck, and some are engaging in all sorts of tricks, like the guy who just tried to charge me 85 yuan to get in, when there isn't even an entrance ticket!"



It is a familiar, selfish lament the world over. We can't help ourselves. The fleeting traveler holds moments frozen in time, but a return visit exposes the romance of the past to the harsh light of economic progress. And what progress there has been! Even previously "off-the-beaten-track" destinations like Pingyao are on the frontline of a touristinvasionsweeping across China. With more disposable income in their pockets, and more leisure time to dispose of it, armies of domestic tourists are laying siege to their nation's sights. Officials estimate that even with the negativeimpact of the SARS epidemic, domestic tourists notched up 870 million "person times" in 2003, down just 0.9 percent on the 2002 record.



In Lijiang, back in 1988, the new town offered the only guest house. Today, every house within the old town appears to house a hotel, restaurant, shop or gallery, many of them run by Han Chinese who have displaced the native Naxi. "This is a dangerous time," admitted Zhang Hui, owner of the Sun Moon Café, whose rental payments enabled her Naxi landlord to upgrade to the new town. "We make money from tourism, but there is always a contradiction between development and preservation. More Han Chinese like me come to run businesses here, and the purity and customs of the Naxi are changing. If we develop too quickly, within a few years tourists will go elsewhere."



UNESCO, the organization that bestowed the World Heritage status on Pingyao and Lijiang and 27 other sites in China, echoed such concerns in its 2001 report criticizing tourism management in Lijiang and elsewhere. Environmentalists have decried the carving up of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain with cable cars, ski resorts and Asia's highest golf course. Yet there are others who believe that tourism does not destroy traditions but helps to preserve them.



Different answers to the development debate are on display in the tourist testbed in a number of "watertowns" south of the Yangtse River in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. In some, the speed of urbanization took everyone by surprise and the destruction of old houses was very fast, and a significant proportion of the original residents were resettled in new areas, while in others, original buildings have been retained and restored and efforts have been focused on keeping the feel of living, working places.



With predicted 150 million international arrivals a year by 2010, combined with booming domestic tourism, how does this onslaught affect the "tourist sites"and local residents?





失去的天堂？



人们永远不应该旧地重游，使新印象造成的震惊去搅乱美好的记忆。特别是在中国。"当我初次走进那个城门的时候，那是个令人激动的感受/体验/经历，就像找到一片被遗忘了的古老的中国，"詹姆斯·凯恩，《金融时报》的记者，在回忆他进入山西中部城墙环绕的平遥城时说。"但是它改变得是这样的快。现在人们似乎失去了他们的部分热情，每个人都一门心思为了挣钱，有人耍各种各样的花招，像刚才那个根本不需要门票却想要我花85元钱进门的人！"



这是在全世界都能够听到的一个熟悉的、自私的抱怨。我们也无法克制自己。匆匆而过的旅游者保存了凝固在时间中的瞬间，但是重访将过去的浪漫暴露在经济发展的刺目强光之下。而这又是怎样的进步啊！甚至过去鲜有人涉足的（去的人不多的/不出名的）、像平遥这样的目的地也成了横扫中国的旅游入侵的第一线。国内的旅游大军口袋里有了更多的可以自由支配的收入，更多的闲暇时间去花掉这些钱，便去围攻他们国家的风景名胜。官员们估计，即使在SARS流行的负面影响下，2003年国内旅游的人数也达到了8亿7千万"人次"，只比2002年的记录下降了0.9%。



1988年的时候，在丽江，只有新城里有惟一的一家宾馆。今天，老城内的每一所房子里似乎都有一家旅店、餐馆、商店或美术品店，其中许多是取代了当地的纳西人的汉族人开的。"这是一个危险的时代，"日月咖啡厅（餐厅）的主人张辉说，她的房租使纳西房东能够改善升级住到新城里去。"我们挣旅游钱，但是在发展和保护之间一直存在着矛盾。更多的像我这样的汉族人到这里来经营生意，纳西族的纯真和他们的风俗习惯正在改变。如果我们发展得太快了，几年之内旅游的人就会到别的地方去了。"



联合国教科文组织，这个授予平遥和丽江以及中国其他27个地方世界遗产地位的组织，在它2001年的报告中批评了丽江和其它地方的旅游管理，也反映出了这种关切。环境保护者强烈谴责（反对）用缆车、高山度假胜地和亚洲最高的高尔夫球场瓜分玉龙雪山。然而也有人认为，旅游业不会破坏传统，而会有助于保护传统。



在长江以南的江浙两省的一些"水乡"旅游试验地，展示出了对发展的辩论的不同回答。在有些水乡，城市化的速度使每个人都感到意外，老房子很快被拆掉了，相当比例的老住户搬迁到了新的地区；而在另外一些地方，原来的建筑被保留下来修复了，并且集中努力保留下人们在此生活和工作的气氛。



预计到2010年国际游客将达到1亿5千万人，加上兴旺发达的国内旅游业，这一冲击会对"旅游景点"和当地居民产生怎样的影响？
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