JIANGYOU, China, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Two Chinese towns squabbling over the rights to call themselves home of a famed poet are under pressure to increase local revenues, a town official said.
The poet is Li Bai, known as Li Po outside of China, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Rights to advertise themselves as Li Bai's hometown is a matter that could swing tourist dollars either way. The town of Jiangyou was where Li Bai was raised, but the town of Anlu was where he spent his adult years and most of his years writing, Beijing Normal University professor Kang Zhen said.
The legal and political squabbling is on the order of two towns fighting to call themselves the home of Mark Twain or William Shakespeare. But the pressure is on for all towns to raise revenues, and with the middle class in China spending more on tourism each year, the race is on for towns to establish themselves in the public's eye.
"We used to be one of the Top 10 economies in Hubei province. Now we've slipped to 36th or 37th place. The pressure is unbearably intense," said Chen Zuoyi, communications manager spokesman for Anlu.
Anlu recently began advertising itself as Li Bai's hometown, which caused a furor in Jiangyou.
"A man cannot have two, three hometowns. This is where Li Bai grew up, where his inner character was formed. That doesn't change just because another city wishes it to be so," said Guo Xinglong, director of the Li Bai Memorial Hall in Jiangyou.
