Melinda Liu
|
Jul 15, 2008 07:32 PM
Preparations for the Games are bringing all kinds of changes to Beijing. Earlier this year, the Beijing Cultural
Heritage Protection Center, a China-based NGO, raised concerns about an
unexpected threat to the Forbidden City's historical integrity:
wheelchair ramps. Jennifer Conrad explains:
Additions to the 600-year-old Forbidden City complex, home of Ming
and Qing dynasty emperors and the the centerpiece of old Beijing, would
help visitors arriving for September's Paralympic Games to maneuver around the
site.
On its website, the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center expressed
concern that the plan to smooth over the paving of the Forbidden City
to make it easier for wheelchairs, to lay wooden ramps across high
entrance thresholds, and to install elevators to provide access for
those with disabilities to the major raised halls "no doubt...all stem
from a well-intentioned concern for the rights of disabled people and a
desire for China to be a good host for the Paralympics, but we feel
that these proposals, if implemented, may damage the Forbidden City
structurally, and will certainly detract from the historical
authenticity."
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