A Chinese netizen recently confronted the Sichuan Daocheng Yading Scenic Area over the issue of illegally blocking off a provincial highway and imposing mandatory charges, and was eventually allowed to drive himself into the scenic area. Afterwards, the scenic area insisted on prohibiting private vehicles from entering on the grounds of ecological protection and punished the staff who let the netizen through, sparking a wave of public outcry. Sichuan Province soon intervened and required the scenic area to suspend the related charges.
According to reports from Sichuan Daily and Southern Metropolis Daily, blogger “Lü Daxia V50” posted a video on Sunday (May 24) saying he wanted to drive himself into Daocheng Yading and thought it was unreasonable that the scenic area blocked S462 provincial highway and charged fees. Staff explained that visitors must take official sightseeing buses into the area, each ticket costing 120 yuan (RMB, about 70.23 MYR).
After the blogger claimed to be a lawyer and demanded staff produce the relevant fee documents, they offered to waive his sightseeing bus fare or even reimburse his accommodation, but only if he took the sightseeing bus. After he refused, the staff had him sign a liability waiver and allowed him to drive himself into the scenic area.
That same afternoon, the scenic area issued a notice stating that allowing large numbers of private vehicles into Yading would exceed the ecological carrying capacity of the nature reserve and that there were major road safety risks, therefore private vehicles are prohibited from entering in violation of the rules.
Regarding this blogger, the scenic area stated that the business supervisor and staff involved had violated administrative regulations by letting him in without permission and were sternly reprimanded and appropriately dealt with.
Yading Scenic Area's notice stirred widespread debate online. Many believe that this 38-kilometer stretch of provincial highway—being a national public road—cannot be sectioned off by the scenic area for “revenue generation.”
The topic trended repeatedly on Weibo. As public debate intensified, some netizens questioned whether the scenic area's mature road fee system could really be shaken, let alone be completely abolished, simply because of one blogger’s confrontation.
Yading is a national 5A-level tourist attraction in China. Reportedly, the S462 road is currently maintained by the local transportation department.
Amid the public outcry, Sichuan Province launched an investigation and announced that it attaches great importance to the incident. The Sichuan provincial government said Thursday (28th) that a provincial-level investigation team composed of multiple departments had asked the Garze Prefecture government to urge the Daocheng Yading Scenic Area to suspend fees for shuttle buses and electric sightseeing vehicles, continue normal services, and quickly begin an investigation along with follow-up rectification measures.
On the same day, the special rectification work group for the scenic area apologized to visitors and the public, stating that immediate corrections would be made. Starting Friday (the 29th), the scenic area would suspend collecting transportation service fees for sightseeing buses and electric vehicles.