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Ârepresent the surroundings of a village of
the Dong people. A field of paddy rice and
Is it possible to walk the length and breadthducks and fish in the lake further add to the
of  China  within  a  single  day?idyllic  atmosphere  of  the  environment.
One place you could do just that is at theThe park also features live cultural
Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, south of theperformances. Every morning real lamas from
Bird's  Nest  and  within  the Olympic Green.the Tar Monastery of Qinghai province chant
Tibetan Buddhist sutras to pray for peace at
The huge park has been a labor of love andthe Tibetan monastery, while a dongba priest
precisely re-creates life in all 56 ofburns incense and says his prayers at the
China's  ethnic  groups.Naxi  village.
From some of the "mountains" or "plateaus,"Then performers of the Miao minority put on a
you can see Beijing's main Olympic venues, asshow of "walking on blades", a traditional
well as the Three Towers of Dali in YunnanMiao stunt, while singers and dancers of
province, vivid replicas of the Jokhangother ethnic groups such as the Va, Jingpo
Temple and many other ethnically significantand Tu entertain visitors with their program
buildings.in  each  village.
The park covers 45 hectares of land withinThroughout the year, festivals of various
the North Fourth Ring Road and a leisurelyethnic groups are celebrated, including the
stroll throughout will take six or sevenTibetan Shotan Festival, the Water-sprinkling
hours. It is also an anthropological museum,Festival of the Dai people and the Torches
the  China  Nationalities  Museum.Festival  of  the  Yi.
When construction started in 1992, it was"Most minority people are very good at
part of China's plan to bid for the 2000singing and dancing. Participating in their
Olympics. China lost the bid in 1993, only toactivities helps us understand and respect
win  it eight years later for the 2008 Games.their cultures more," says Lei Feng, a
47-year-old  visitor  to  the  park.
"It is actually a good thing for us, for we
had eight more years to do research work forLiu Li, a 29-year-old visitor, took part in
the museum and collect cultural relics fromthe "bamboo-pole dance" of the Dai people and
various ethnic groups," says museum curatorfound in it a long-lost joy like that of the
Wang  Ping."skipping elastic band" game in her
childhood.
It took three to five years for the park and
museum to prepare the construction of each"In the past, I had to travel a long way to
ethnic group's area. Although the first phaseexperience minority people's lives but now
of the park opened back in 1994, work hasI've found it in Beijing," she says.
been  going  on  non-stop  ever  since."Separated only by a wall from the hustle and
bustle of the North Fourth Ring Road, it is a
"I have done fieldwork in all the ethnictotally  different  world  here."
minority regions in China - I have never been
to some tourist attractions like theWang says that after the outer construction
Huangshan Mountain or Taishan Mountain but Iof the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park and China
have been to many villages around theNationalities Museum is complete, they will
Himalayan  Mountains,"  Wang  says.still have a lot of work to do, especially in
improving the presentation of ethnic culture
Every ethnic group has a "village" in theand  enriching  collections.
park to display its architecture, religion,
lifestyle and cultural relics. Various cropsThe China Nationalities Museum has so far
are also planted in accordance with differentcollected about 100,000 cultural relics of
ethnic groups, including paddy rice for thevarious ethnic groups. Especially valuable
Dong people, highland barley for the Tibetansamong them are 5,000 cultural relics of the
and  buckwheat  for  the  Yi.Qiang people, housed in a typical watch
tower. In the recent earthquake in Sichuan,
"We hope to encourage visitors to enter thethe Beichuan Qiang autonomous county was
lives of different ethnic groups," says Wang.badly hit and many cultural relics were
ruined.
Some buildings in the park are original,
taken apart at their original spots and then"Had we not collected these cultural relics,
transported to, and reassembled in, Beijing.they would probably have been lost forever,"
Others were prepared in the original placesays  Wang.
and  assembled  in  Beijing.
As an anthropological museum, China
For example, the symbol of the village of theNationalities Museum mainly collects items
Salar, a Muslim ethnic group in Northwesternthat reflect ordinary people's lives and on
China, is a minaret from the ShangbaizhuangJuly 15, the museum will open a new
village, Baizhuang township, Xunhua Salarexhibition titled Ordinary People's
autonomous county, Qinghai province. TheExhibition - Our History and Our Root,
minaret was built around 300 years ago, anddisplaying items such as needles, bowls and
was moved to the Chinese Ethnic Culture Parkpouches.
in  2003.
The preface of the exhibition states: "Most
In the southern part of the Chinese Ethnicof the production tools and daily utensils of
Culture Park, one can visit a replica of thethe common people arelost without any trace
Ermin Tower, an ancient tower in Turpan,in history. However, it is these articles
Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Standing athat give us a vivid picture of our life and
towering 44 m, it is exactly the same size asculture they tell us about our history and
the original. The grey-yellow bricks were allhelp  us  find  our  roots."
made manually in Xinjiang and assembled in
Beijing  by  Uygur  craftsmen  from Xinjiang."What should we present to the world during
the Olympic Games? It's our culture and our
In the northernmost part of the park, a drumpeople, I believe," says Wang.
tower, opera stage and "rain and wind bridge"



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