The Shock of the New

For an aspiring tourist mecca, the Oriental Buddha Kingdom Theme Park in the lush mountains of Leshan is doing a pretty woeful job. Its main attraction, a 37-meter replica of one of the famed Bamiyan buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, is mysteriously covered by a huge cloth, with only its giant feet poking out. When tourists try to approach the statue, security guards shoo them away. Instead, would-be guides shove pictures of the park's lesser draws under the few visitors' noses—perhaps a tour of a couple of fake, mildewy buddhas or a trip to a viewing pavilion that looks out on nothing much? Asked when the Bamiyan lookalike might be open to the public, one guide says, "Maybe this year, maybe next. Who knows?"

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As it molders under its cloth cover, China's Bamiyan buddha seems almost as cursed as its Afghan predecessor. But the reasons for its condition are peculiarly Chinese. Conceived of by the grandly named Sichuan Oriental Buddha Kingdom Co., the Bamiyan replica was to have been the prime exhibit in a privately owned Buddha theme park advantageously nestled in a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes Leshan's own ancient buddha, the largest such stone statue in the world. But during the Bamiyan replica's construction, Oriental Buddha's workers allegedly destroyed dozens of the famed Mahaoya tombs, architectural marvels that date back two millennia and are also under UNESCO protection. Local residents and archaeologists are furious about Oriental Buddha's purportedly cavalier treatment of the tombs, wooden structures that had hung from the Leshan cliffs at seemingly impossible angles. "Why did they have to destroy something with so much history to build something silly and new?" asks Li Peide, an official at the tiny, underfunded Mahaoya Tombs Museum at the foot of the mountain where the Bamiyan replica now stands. "It doesn't make any sense."

As China races into the modern era, its spectacular cultural heritage is often the first casualty of the nation's fascination with all things shiny and new. Many of the Middle Kingdom's historical artifacts were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, when frenzied Red Guards chopped the heads off ancient statues and tore down thousands of temples. Today the destruction continues apace, this time in the name of modernization as local governments often choose concrete over culture. This year alone the Three Gorges Dam project will begin flooding countless archaeological sites, while hundreds of historic neighborhoods nationwide will be replaced by nondescript apartment blocks. "This is a very big country," laments Song Xinchao, a deputy director at the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in Beijing. "It's hard to keep track of all our ancient treasures, especially when modernization is one of our national goals." Indeed, last year in Leshan, a decidedly modern Oriental Buddha security guard told a visiting art historian not to worry about the tombs' destruction as nobody would miss musty, old burial sites anyway—especially when a fancy, new statue would draw hordes of Chinese package tourists.

Ironically, the man who conceived of the Bamiyan replica, Oriental Buddha's chairman Liang Enming, was once a vice manager of Leshan's Cultural Relics Bureau, charged with protecting the very tombs he has allegedly wrecked. In the mid-'90s, Liang—whose handlers said he wasn't available to answer TIME's questions—left public service to head a private company and saw his chance when the Taliban eradicated their own cultural heritage. "This replica," he said at the time, "will make it possible for those who have never seen the statue to look for themselves at its great beauty." But with so much attention now swirling around the buddha's construction, Liang and his employees are rapidly backtracking—even claiming that the replica isn't really modeled after the Afghan statue. "Yes, it is a standing buddha, maybe like the one at Bamiyan," concedes Oriental Buddha's general manager Chen Jian. "But in many ways it's quite different." Chen also asserts that no tombs were destroyed during the statue's construction. But local archaeologists say the entire hill was pockmarked with ancient burial sites, and there is no way a 37-meter buddha could have been built without displacing many tombs.

Leshan locals are angry not only at the destruction of their treasured tombs but also that Oriental Buddha was allowed to create a theme park on land their families had farmed for centuries. They criticize the local government and Leshan's Cultural Relics Bureau for handing over UNESCO-protected land to theme-park entrepreneurs and ignoring the placement of a huge buddha in an area famed for its tombs. Last week, Huang Quanchun watched in dismay as workers laden with trees marched by her ramshackle house next to the theme park. She and other locals claim that the trees are being planted to cover up evidence of destroyed tombs before high-level visitors examine the site. In the meantime, guards roam the park's perimeter, keeping unwanted visitors from peeking in. As for the Bamiyan replica itself, its stone eyes remain hidden behind a massive veil, unable to witness the brouhaha its birth has created.

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