In a rare example of honesty, Liuzhou Government has confessed to being boring. In an extremely tedious article on their website about tidying up part of the city, closing a night market and moving a "rubbish hill" they proudly state that:
Despite being boring, statistics can show that:
Quite typical. They proudly boast of removing night markets and stalls,
whereas the only people who are happy with that are they themselves. I get
the idea the entire place is turning into a giant facade - all life is
being sucked out of the city just so it looks good. They add pedestrian
areas, but the only thing you can buy there is clothes and phones. They add
lights, lampposts, statues, and fountains, but there's no reason to ever go
near them because there's nothing else to do there. The stalls and markets
is exactly what made the place feel right; you could just walk out and do
whatever it is you were intent on doing. Now, even if you want a late night
snack it's at least a 10 kuai cab ride away.
Totally agree Q. In fact it this is what I was saying 4 years ago when they
started destroying the city square. That was a start; now they are
destroying the city. It will soon get worse when they move all the
government workers and the People's Hospital out of the city centre leaving
it free for the endless phone shops and beggars.