North China Summer Resort to Lure Tourists with Renewed Military CampsCentury old military camps left by the Eight-Power Allied Forces at the eastern end of the Great Wall will be renewed to attract more tourists.Qinhuangdao, a coastal city close to Beijing in north China's Hebei Province, will invest some 70 million yuan (8.4 million U.S. dollars) in repairing the military camps, a hotel, and a railroad for horse-driven trains built by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in Laolongtou of Shanhaiguan Pass, the only sea pass of the Great Wall. In 1900, the allied forces made up of over 2,000 soldiers from Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy and Austria gunned their way into Beijing from here and looted the 3,000-year-old city, in the name of protecting foreign embassies. Also to be repaired are three platforms for ancient Chinese commanders to issue orders. The city's decision makers hope to lure more visitors by completing the ancient Chinese and foreign military defense systems. The city also plans for building a high-level beach, recreation facilities on the sea, stone tablets carved with poems about the Great Wall, and a 6-square-km large man-made island to increase local tourism. |
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