Netizens in China are busy protesting the opening of Japanese-themed tourist attractions in Dalian City. The protests forced the newly opened place to close indefinitely.
Initially, netizens on Weibo social media were angry with the construction of the tourist attraction because it was considered insensitive given the traces of Japanese colonialism in China. Even though it has been a long time, many residents there are still not happy with Japan.
Moreover, the Dalian region was occupied twice by the Japanese, where the first occupation in 1894 left a history of mass massacres. Then recently, there was tension between China and Japan over the dispute over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
"Officials who agree with the construction of this project should be investigated." "This attraction should be boycotted." "Which makes him stupid." so some critics of cyberspace citizens about this project.
There were also rumors that only businesses and companies from Japan were allowed to open there, so netizens were getting angry. Later, the rumors turned out to be untrue.
In fact, the project worth billions of dollars has already been approved by the local government. Even the mayor of Dalian came personally to Tokyo in 2019 to sign a development deal.
Its name is Tang Little Kyoto, with the building design and atmosphere of the old city of Kyoto in Japan. It is located in a strategic area of Dalian City and is already quite busy with visitors even though it is still under construction.
Some tourist attractions have been opened and there are about 29 shops operating in them. However, it has only been open for about two weeks, the city government asked Tang Little Kyoto to temporarily close due to protests from netizens and also to minimize the risk of the Corona virus that is still lurking.
