These so-called tribute projects are intended to show the outside world what the particular region, or country in general, are capable of achieving. They have also been publicity ornaments used by local officials to boost their standing.

My comments:

Tribute is the thing to grasp here.

Tribute projects pay tribute to something, i.e. praise something.

Or in other words, such projects are meant to be a tribute to something or someone. They make a city or region, or more likely its leader look good.

Or, in Chinese vernacular, “image projects”. In other words, a project may cost a lot of money and may not be all that useful or essential to improving the livelihood of the people but it is a big project and, supposedly, will help improve the city’s public image, whatever that is.

More importantly, it supposedly will make city officials look good when they talk about it in the newspaper, as part of their great achievement.

And don’t forget the money. Money plays a big role in tribute projects, which are usually funded by the tax payer – people love tribute projects because that’s where the easy money is.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.