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Cross-Straits flights an opportunity to city tourism

By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-11-08 09:58

In heavy rain, visitors pay homage to Dr Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, November 7, 2008. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Dr Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and its surrounding scenic areas in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, will attract more Taiwanese tourists in the wake of the expansion of direct passenger flights between the mainland and Taiwan.

"It will also foster understanding and communication between people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits in the fields of culture and tourism," said Shi Ailing, vice director of the Administrative Bureau of Dr Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum Friday.

The deal, which was signed on Tuesday between the two sides, will shorten the traveling time between Nanjing and Taipei by an hour to 100 minutes, said Shi.

The mausoleum of Dr Sun is situated at the foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing. Sun, the pioneer of China's democratic revolution and founder of Kuomintang (KMT) died in 1925 in Beijing. His coffin resided at the Biyun Temple in the northwest of Beijing, before it was moved and buried in Nanjing in 1929, the former seat of the KMT regime that ruled China until 1949.

Sun is considered to be the "Father of Modern China" in the mainland and in Taiwan as the two sides both share with Sun's ideas of "tian xia wei gong", said Shi, adding that "the mausoleum has become a must-see tourist destination for all visitors to Nanjing."

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"Tian xia wei gong", which means "The State belongs to the people", is what on the autographic inscription of Dr Sun on a tablet of the mausoleum.

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung paid homage to the Mausoleum on May 28, 2008, saying both the mainland and Taiwan belong to the Chinese nation, and are "closely tied by blood".

Wu expressed his thankfulness to the Nanjing city government for keeping the mausoleum in such a "good" and "sublime" status. And he has promised to lead an even larger delegation to pay homage again next year to mark the 90th anniversary of Sun's burial in the city, Shi told chinadaily.com.cn.

Other Taiwan leaders including then-KMT Chairman Lien Chan, People First Party leader James Soong and New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming also paid tributes to the mausoleum when visiting the mainland in 2005.

Nearly 300,000 Taiwanese, including businessmen and students, visited the mausoleum last year, accounting for around 70 percent of overseas tourists and more than 10 percent of the total during the same period of time, said Shi.

Dr Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and its surrounding scenic areas earned more than 200 million yuan ($29.28 million) last year in tourism revenue as each ticket cost 70 yuan, according to Shi.

Over the past several years, the administrative bureau have spent lots of money and exerted great efforts in keeping the mausoleum, which covers 2,000 mu and is rich in fauna, in a good status and has turn more and more of its surrounding areas into parks, open to local residents and visitors free of charge.

The mausoleum and its surrounding scenic areas now has an 80 percent forest coverage and is praised as a natural oxygen bar by local residents, a man surnamed Fang said.