The "Guan Gong Statue" that started construction without approval was finally named

Focus interview丨The "Guan Gong Statue" that started construction without approval was finally named

　　It has always been the practice of many places to borrow the reputation of historical celebrities and use their statues to create tourist attractions to attract tourists.

However, if such statues are not built scientifically, it may affect the good relationship with the surrounding environment, which is counterproductive.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a notice on the giant Guan Gong statue project in Jingzhou, Hubei Province. The notice stated that the giant Guan Gong statue built within the historical urban area of ​​the ancient city in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province was 57.3 meters high and violated the approved " The relevant provisions of the "Jingzhou Historic and Cultural City Protection Plan" have destroyed the style and historical context of the ancient city.

So, how was such a giant statue built?

What can it bring to the city?

　　At the end of October, the reporter came to Jingzhou. The Guan Gong Yi Garden Scenic Area where the Guan Gong statue is located is normally open to tourists, but the Guan Gong Cultural Exhibition Center integrated with the statue has been temporarily closed.

　　The 48-meter-high giant Guan Gong statue above the Cultural Exhibition Center is the statue notified by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

At first glance, this huge statue is particularly conspicuous, much higher than the 10.2 meter ancient city wall.

It was built 318 meters outside the ancient city of Jingzhou, which is an open space in the historic city area of ​​the ancient city.

　　According to the Planning Bureau, the maximum height of the building where the statue is located is 24 meters, including the base, and the total height of the statue has reached 57.3 meters.

According to the content of the report, the statue of such a size and height is built here, not only violates the relevant provisions of the "Jingzhou Historic and Cultural City Protection Plan", but also destroys the style and historical context of the ancient city. It is not only too large, but also super tall. .

　　Why does Jingzhou want to build such a huge and tall statue?

It is understood that in recent years, the Jingzhou city government wants to use tourism to promote local economic development. After investigation, they found that places with Chinese people are related to public heat, and Guan Gong has a deep relationship with Jingzhou. Therefore, the local government decided to develop tourism. Time to play the Guan Gong card.

Deng Yong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Jingzhou Tourism Investment Development Group Co., Ltd

Before E Tourism Investment invested in Jingzhou, Jingzhou had the idea of ​​building Guan Gongyi Park and Guan Gong Cultural Park, and a large statue of Guan Gong was to be built to commemorate Guan Gong.

　　Relying on tourism to boost the economy is a good thing, but it is not difficult to see from the person in charge of the company that the primary idea for inheriting the Guan Gong culture was to make the statue bigger, so how big is it?

Zhang Hong, Deputy Director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Jingzhou City, Hubei:

Maybe there were some impulses and tendencies such as the Guinness Book of Records at that time. Under such a situation, the planning and design were getting bigger and bigger.

　　Even so, the person in charge of the company admitted that the height of the statue was originally designed to be as high as 88 meters. Later, because it was too close to the ancient city, the current height was finally determined after demonstrating the spatial relationship between the city wall and the statue of Guan Gong.

　　After the statue was completed, the large size of the statue of Guan Gong has always been a publicity point for local tourists.

Regardless of whether it is on the Internet or on the signs of the Guan Gongyi Garden Scenic Area, the introduction to the Guan Gong statue says: The world's largest bronze statue.

In order to engage in gimmicks and attract tourists, the scenic spot chose to exaggerate publicity.

This Guan Gong statue has been “big” since the beginning of its design, and after it was built, it wanted to rely on “big” to attract people.

During the investigation, the reporter found that this Guan Gong statue is not only the pursuit of "big" issues.

　　In 2014, Jingzhou Tourism Investment Development Group Co., Ltd., as the contractor of the Guan Gongyi Park project, was preparing to start construction.

Before the construction of the project, the construction unit submitted an application for construction permit and planning permit to the housing construction department and planning department of Jingzhou City. At that time, the content of the application was the construction of the icon base. The application was quickly approved and the construction party began construction.

However, during the construction process, the builder added a giant Guan Gong statue on the pedestal, and this statue did not submit any permit procedures for approval.

Since the approved project is called the icon base, it is not surprising that there will be statues on it, and the planning department must be aware of it.

What is strange is that, without approval, the relevant departments have been indifferent during the two-year construction period of the statue.

Qin Jun, deputy director of the Hubei Jingzhou Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning:

Our initial knowledge and understanding were biased, and we did not have sufficient knowledge of the approval procedures related to large sculptures.

　　Large sculptures are structures. According to Article 40 of the Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People's Republic of China, planning approval must be obtained before construction.

Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, deputy director of Natural Resources and Planning Bureau

Later View Town and Country Planning, really big structures also need approval before a clear understanding.

　　Article 40 of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Urban and Rural Planning" appeared on the planning permit as the basis for the approval of the icon base. However, people in the planning department said that they did not understand the content of the law. Such an explanation is hard to convince. .

What is even more strange is that no one asked during the construction of the statue, but in June 2019, three years after its completion, the builder suddenly received a notice that the Guan Gong statue was illegally constructed. What happened?

　　The reporter's investigation found that in April 2019, the construction unit submitted an application for verification of the completion planning conditions of the construction project to the Jingzhou Branch of the Jingzhou Urban and Rural Planning Bureau. The application stated: The foundation of the Guan Gong icon was completed, and the application for the completion planning conditions Verify.

Zhou Xiaobing, Chief of the Detailed Planning and Urban Design Section of the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau of Hubei Jingzhou City:

According to the construction content of the original construction project planning permit and detailed drawings, anything that does not conform is called illegal construction.

During the verification, we strictly followed the license and found that the content of the statue was mainly based on the content of the letter.

　　According to such verification requirements, the planning department determined that the statue was illegally built.

According to the procedure, the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning sent a letter to the Jingzhou Urban Management Committee, and the Jingzhou Urban Management Committee urged the enterprise to rectify.

On August 12, 2019, the Jingzhou City Management Committee issued a letter to the project builder Jingzhou Tourism Investment Development Group Co., Ltd., stating that the statue on the pedestal of the icon of Guan Gong did not have planning permission and ordered the construction party to Rectification will be carried out before September 30

However, three days later, the construction party replied to the Jingzhou City Urban Management Committee.

　　The construction party claimed that they regarded the statue as a work of art and believed that approval was not required. However, from the reply at the time, the construction party made it clear that Guan Gong is like a structure. According to regulations, the construction of the structure must undergo planning approval. The contradiction is that: The letter immediately emphasized that the statue was not within the scope of planning permission.

This kind of self-contradictory statement is not difficult to be discovered, but it is strange that the Jingzhou City Management Committee determined that this matter does not constitute an administrative penalty for filing a case based on this questionable reply, and did not conduct any further investigations on the statue builder. Any accountability.

　　The illegal construction of statues is obvious, but the relevant functional departments have failed to perform their duties and pursue corporate responsibilities. The problem of illegal construction of statues has not been mentioned so far.

In the entire process of the construction and processing of the Guan Gong statue and pedestal, Article 40 of the Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China frequently appeared as the basis for approval or processing. However, from the reasons and results of processing, the staff of relevant departments seemed I have been ignoring the real content of this regulation, and have never put forward any rectification requirements for the construction of the statue before approval.

Why is this so?

The functional department did not answer, but the reporter inquired on the Jingzhou City Government website and found that the Guan Gongyi Park project was selected as a national preferred tourism project in 2014, and was named the fifth batch of cultural industry bases in Hubei Province in 2015 and was included in China’s cultural industry key projects Library.

Deputy director of the Hubei Jingzhou City Cultural and Tourism Bureau

To be honest, at that time everyone on the regulatory process, is also growing recognition of the discipline, coupled with the development of eager, resulting in some lessons there.

　　Today, the Guan Gong Yi Garden has been open for business for four years. The Guan Gong Statue is the core landscape of the scenic area to attract tourists, but the business situation is not very satisfactory, with a total income of less than 13 million yuan.

In the construction, the Guan Gong statue alone cost 172.9 million, which is far from the initial expectations of the local government.

　　Greed is only one aspect. After completion, in the Cultural Exhibition Center, the wealthy tree with the image of Guan Gong is inserted in the cornucopia, and the Avenue of the God of Wealth. These are placed in the most central position, taking famous historical figures like Guan Yu as the request. Caifacai's gimmick attracts tourists. The original intention of this kind of development is the inevitable result of the cold operation, and the cultural tourism unit, as the management department, does not play the role of supervision and guidance.

After the project was notified, local rectification was carried out.

　　After receiving a notification from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, this huge statue, which has been built with a lot of money, is now facing rectification.

How to coordinate protection and development, inheritance and innovation is testing the local management wisdom.

The builder Jingzhou Tourism Investment and Development Group Co., Ltd. is a state-owned enterprise. Regardless of whether the statue is demolished, moved or otherwise handled, who will pay for the state-owned assets wasted in construction and rectification? It is also the local government's lack of prior supervision and subsequent processing. The huge problem.

　　The reporter combed and found that in recent years, the construction of giant statues has occurred from time to time in various places, and the construction of these giant statues has continuously aroused people's heated discussion.

In 2004, a giant Guan Gong statue was constructed illegally on General Mountain in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. In 2009, the statue was reported by the masses and demolished in 2010.

In 2012, Liuzhou, Guangxi wanted to build the tallest bronze statue of Liu Zongyuan in China. The project was suspended in 2013 and demolished in 2014.

This time, together with the giant Guan Gong statue in Jingzhou, the Shuishi Tower in Dushan County, Guizhou Province, was notified with a height of 99.9 meters and an investment of 256 million yuan.

　　The construction of large-scale urban sculptures is related to the image of the city. Where it is built and what it is built, it must not only be in compliance with laws and regulations, but also contribute to the promotion of history and culture, and it must conform to the aesthetics.

Whether the sculptures are built big or small has nothing to do with whether the cultural industry can be big.

Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Large-scale Urban Sculpture Construction", which is to put the brakes on blindly following the construction of large-scale urban sculptures.

　　Producer丨Xuesong Liu, Huili Wang, Huang Jie