The Weeping Lake

2017

Erhai Lake, which means "ear-shaped sea," was once a crystal clear lake in a famous tourist city called Dali in Southern China.

Every year, it attracts tremendous tourists to have a romantic escape for vacation. It was also used to be a "utopia" that attracted young middle-class people to invest their considerable life savings to build the guesthouses (motel). With a romantic expectation for the guesthouses business in this tranquil town, which may offer a whole new way of living, they would give up their ordinary life including quitting their mundane nine-to-five jobs in the metropolis.

Due to the concern of the ecosystem of the lake, the local government shut down over 2400 local guesthouses and restaurants in a day in order to improve its water quality in the spring of 2017. By releasing the immediate notice, which says "Protecting Erhai, closing voluntarily," the owners had to shut down their property "voluntarily" in a day. In one day, the prosperous area was almost turned into a deserted "ghost town."

During the closure, the Dali government promised the guesthouses could resume the business in June of 2018. However, in April 2018, the government released a new document that stated the properties were required to be demolished within 15 meters around the lake. Following the order, which was only released in a day, and holding the hope to reopen after waiting for a year, the owners were furious about the new policy.