Ma’anshan, Anhui
The government has canceled a plan to turn the city of Ma’anshan, Anhui: into a center for bathing following disparaging comments from Internet users.
The tourism bureau has issued a statement saying it now has no plans to market Ma’anshan as China’s ‘bath city’, although it claimed it does have a healthy bathing industry.
The government said on the bureau’s website, ‘We have never asked any department or organization to develop such a plan.’
It said tourism authorities had contracted a consulting firm from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to work out a tourism development plan, which suggested the city promote its bathing sector.
The tourism bureau put the proposal on its website on Wednesday to garner public opinion.
With its rapidly developing bathing industry, the tourism bureau and tourism professionals have suggested turning Ma’anshan into ‘the city of bathing’.
A survey conducted by sohu.com found that 31% of the 40,000 respondents opposed the idea, while 35% said local bathhouses, if not properly regulated, could become havens for the sex trade and pornographers.
Source: China Daily