Word: unesco
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...property boom has begun, focused near the island's southwest tip at the historic Dutch fort of Galle, where 17th century seawalls shelter colonial houses, picturesque churches and mosques on narrow streets. There are fewer than 200 homes inside the citadel walls, now a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site, and in the past several years foreigners have bought at least 40 of them...
...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...
...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...
...center of the frenzy is the unspoiled Galle Fort, a unesco World Heritage site in the city of Galle. Protected behind the ramparts of a 17th century Dutch citadel, the area seems like something out of a time warp, featuring homes with verandas and an array of picturesque churches and mosques. There are fewer than 200 homes inside the fort, and in the past several years adventurous foreigners have purchased more than 40 of them. In many parts of the tropics, tourists are accustomed to being accosted by cyclo-drivers hawking all sorts of illegal temptations. In the fort, though...
...There is always the possibility that the general's surrender to people power is sincere. But if not, UNESCO and other international do-gooders in the heritage field stand ready to voice their objections. Besides, Borobudur is different. It exerts a powerful influence all its own. The stupa is the closest thing this fractious archipelago nation has to a unifying emblem. I have yet to visit an island in Indonesia, from the Indian Ocean to the fringes of Oceania, that doesn't have a Borobudur Restaurant. If there is any symbol in this divided land that could bring people together...