15-yr-old tourist vandalizes ancient Egyptian carving
Staff Reporter 2013-05-26 16:50
The characters, supposedly etched over the wall relief with a rock. (Internet photo)
A Chinese tourist named Ding Jinhao allegedly carved seven Chinese characters into the carved artwork in the Luxor Temple, built in 1400BCE in Egypt. A fellow tourist found the characters and posted photos online, prompting many internet users who have the same name to deny they have ever visited the country.
The characters "Ding Jinhao Dao Ci Yi You," which means Ding Jinhao visited here, were spotted on the ancient wall carving inside the popular tourist attraction located 675km south of Cairo. A person who goes by the internet alias Kong You Wu Yi found them when visiting the temple on May 3. He judged that the person who did this used a rock to stratch over the carving. He tried to wipe it off with tissues but to no avail. He was hesitant to use water in order to avoid damaging the ancient temple, according to Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.
The internet user apologized to his Egyptian tour guide who tried to console him by saying it was not the fault of the person who carved it but the person's guide, who is responsible to prevent vandalism.
The photos taken by Kong You Wu Yi have been reposted more than 75,000 times as of Saturday. Many internet users blasted the person for making Chinese people "lose face," a Chinese term for damaging someone's image or reputation. Some planned to conduct a human flesh search on the Ding Jinhao, prompting netizens using the same name to clarify they have nothing to do with the characters or they have never been to Egypt.
Another internet user Sweetness and Light posted two photos on Weibo to refute Kong You Wu Yi's story. His photo points out that the relief is 2.5m above the ground, making it very difficult for a visitor to reach it. Kong You Wu Yi insisted that his photos are real. On Sunday, a netizen said he matched the writing with seven people who have the name in China and identified the writer as a 15-year-old junior high school student living in Nanjing.
The teenager's parents have reportedly called Modern Express, a Jiangsu-based metro daily, to apologize formally. The mother said her son vandalized the image when he was a lot younger while they were traveling in Egypt. They had seen many similar writings before and the child was just copying what he saw. The parents apologized again for not telling him it was wrong in time and called on the public to forgive him.
China's vice premier Wang Yang had previously said some Chinese tourists are not well-mannered when they travel abroad and are often raucous in public, vandalizing tourist attractions, jaywalking and spitting. Such behavior has drawn criticism and tainted China's image. Kong You Wu Yi called on his fellow travelers to remeber, "don't forget that when you go abroad, you are China!"
