Chinese Teen Tourist Ruined 35,000 year-old Egyptian Relic
"Ding Jao was here" was written in Chinese character on the 35,000 year-old Egyptian relic in Luxor temple. Luxor Temple is to be found on the bank of Nile. The temple was built by Amenhotep III, who lived in the 14th century BC.
Another tourist, named Shen, took photo of the vandalism and posted in Weibo (China's microblogging site) with this caption: The saddest moment in Egypt. I'm so embarrassed that I want to hide myself."
The picture went viral over Weibo with netizens expressing hostile reaction towards the then unknown culprit. Chinese people called the vandalism act a disgrace to the country and had brought shame to the entire race. Some apologized to the Egyptian people in behalf of the culprit. Those who had been in Egypt, since the issue went controversial, felt being compelled to extend their apologies to the tourist guides when they passed the relic.
As the issue went viral, finally netizens were able to track down and exposed the vandal: 15-year old Ding Jinhao from Nanjing.
Ding Jinhao was traveling in Egypt with his parents when he did the vandalism several years ago. Ding had spent nights crying in regret but the backlash from netizens did not stop until it gotten the attention of international media.
On Saturday, Ding's parents offered a public apology published in a local newspaper. The parents apologized both to the Egytian people and the Chinese people saying that their child had already contemplated his mistake.
"We want to apologize to the Egyptian people and to people who have paid attention to this case across China" as published by China Daily.
Local tourist officials had also expressed their apology as published by Xinhua newspaper, "On Monday, cultural heritage authorities in Guazhou County, northwest China's Gansu Province, made a public apology for their poor tourism management which had allowed the act."
According to China radio International, officials representing the Temple of Luxor in Egypt had already said that the damage caused by the vandalism was not permanent and in fact, the ancient relic had already been restored.
In line with the issue, the Chinese government made known to the public that there are new set of tourist guidelines targeted to encourage tourists to be civilized when visiting tourists historical spots. Xinhua News Agency said that the new guidelines prohibites spitting, littering, vandalizing, jay-walking and cutting queues.
Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21sth Century Education Research Institue, saw that the root of the problem is China's poor education system.
According to Mr. Xiong, children need to be educated on good manners, "We stress the sense of collectivism, instead of strengthening children's awareness of individual responsibilities. In this case, people are talking about the child making the whole country suffer from shame, which is not right."
Li Mingde, Vice President of Beijing Tourism Society, also shared the same opinion that it is indeed the education that posed problem, "Including more content on Chinese culture and national spirit in basic civilization education is the ultimate way to solve the problem."