Like Disney's Epcot but Totally Not

So today my Contemporary China class had a field trip. We went to the ethnic theme park. Yeah, you read that right, the ethnic theme park which was created by the Chinese government to showcase the 56 different ethnicities in China. So he wants us to really have a critical eye here and consider why the government has spent so much money to create this park and what it says about the ethnicities as well as the government.
So we get there and it's like, built into the city. You get off the subway and then you're like "oh, a totem pole."

So we get our tickets and go inside annnnd...

There's no one there... It's just like Epcot where the people are dressed up and walk around (a little) and there's an area for each ethnicity but... there's just no one there. Like, it's the saddest theme park I think I've ever been to. The people really just hang around not doing much and when we walked around it was like we made them have to work. There was one place where it was a replica of a tent or home of a Mongolian and there were two guys inside. I guess they were supposed to be doing something because the second we walked by and looked in one guy get up and started playing his instrument... Adam compared it to a cage... it was seriously their job to stay in there and play or do whatever would replicate "real" Mongolian people even though they're probably Mongolian and don't live in a tent but an apartment and yeah.

We saw maybe a few groups of two or three but nothing that warranted creating this place. Also, many of the places were closed down and locked so we couldn't even get in. There weren't people to let us in or any signs, nothing.

The place wasn't kept up nearly as well as the Forbidden City or any other place that you would visit. Everything was in a bad state and deteriorating.

 

It was an interesting experience. Clearly this place isn't on anyone's priority list and yet it's still here.