Ugly side of beauty viewed on campus

CHERRY BLOSSOMS are blooming in Central China's Hubei province. However, in Wuhan University, which is known for its cherry blossom festival, some tourists reportedly behaved badly while on campus sightseeing. Thepaper.cn comments:

A photo was widely spread online showing a visitor shaking a cherry tree violently to make the blossoms fall. There are so many uncivilized tourists every year that Wuhan University publishes photos of them via its official micro blog account.

Further reports show that an illegal trade in prebooked tickets to the university has emerged, which makes it hard for people to book tickets. Many visitors who failed to book tickets had to buy them from the illegal traders at extremely high prices.

Every year, there are always large numbers of complaints from both students disturbed by the cherry blossom viewers and those tourists who fail to get tickets. Every year, Wuhan University vows to solve such problems, but the problems remain unsolved.

That brings us to a long-existing debate: Is it really proper for Wuhan University to hold the annual cherry blossom festival?

Those supporting it say the university can promote its brand by holding the cherry blossom festival and allowing tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenes on the campus.

However, those opposing it say the university receives about 200,000 visitors at the peak period, four times the number of its students. The chief job of a university is to teach and conduct research. If too many tourists visit the campus, that will interrupt its normal activities.

The university also has to recruit all kinds of resources such as security guards and cleaners for the festival. That money comes from taxpayers.

If the problems cannot be solved, maybe it is time for the university to consider suspending the cherry blossom festival for a year or two.