The possibility that the
Beijing Zoo, located in downtown
Beijing and built almost a hundred years ago, may be moved 35 kilometers away to the suburbs has aroused heated discussion among the public.
"The
Beijing Zoo has become a part of
Beijing residents' ordinary life, so whether to move it or not is related to the public interest and must be discussed by the public," said Lei Yi,a researcher with the Institute of Modern History of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The zoo, one of China's largest with tens of thousands of animals living in it, was built in 1906 in the Qing Dynasty as China's first public zoo.
Early this year, Guo Baodong, deputy to the
Beijing Municipal People's Congress and Chen Ruijun, member of the CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference)
Beijing Municipal Committee, first made a proposal to move the
Beijing Zoo from the downtown to the suburbs.
The current location of the zoo will cause cross-infections between humans and animals, pollute the urban environment and cause more traffic jams, they said, adding that if it is moved to the suburbs where land prices are cheaper, animals will enjoy wider living spaces.
Relevant municipal departments have asked the
Beijing engineering consulting company to organize experts for further consultations and debate, said Wang Fenglin, chief economist of the company.
Experts have reached consensus that whether the zoo is moved or not, the urban grassland that has existed for a century will not vanish and a good educational base will not be lost, Wang said.
It is unnecessary for the public to worry, Wang said.
But the public is worrying. Lei Yi questioned the true incentives of the removal, saying that the public has the right toknow who will use the land where the zoo is currently located and for what purposes.
Chen Yueqin, mother of a three-year-old child, is a lawyer working at a Beijing-based law firm. She said she usually took herchild to the zoo once or twice a month, but if the zoo is moved tothe suburbs, it will be much more difficult for them to go there.
"The removal of the zoo ignores the right of the public to participate in decision making," she said.
If the zoo is moved out of the downtown area, its function to educate will be weakened, said Wu Qing, deputy to the
Beijing Municipal People's Congress. "So I firmly object to the zoo removal."
It is not convenient for the youth and children to go to suburbs, so the removal of the zoo will make it more difficult for them to watch animals, said Meng Zhaozhen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
