HBO's miniseries "Chernobyl" received rave reviews after its broadcast, with a sharp rise in the number of visitors to the scene of the story, including many social media celebrities who took photos naked in disasters to attract attention. The influx of tourists has led people to ponder the question: How can we commemorate a place like Chernobyl that has been a disaster without turning it into an adventure theme park?
▲ "Chernobyl" is based on real events, telling the story of what caused the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine in 1986, and how the brave people sacrificed themselves to save Europe in disaster, and the score of the drama is as high as 9.6 points on Douban.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the surge in tourists, what are they experiencing? </h1>
Sergiy Ivanchuk, head of SoloEast travel agency, told Reuters that the number of visitors to the Chernobyl region increased by 30 percent in May compared to the same month last year. According to him, since the broadcast of "Chernobyl", the number of bookings in June, July and August this year has increased by about 40%. Yaroslav Yemelianenko, head of travel agencies at Chernobyl Tour, also expects Chernobyl to bring between 30 and 40 percent increase in visitors.
Day trippers take a bus from the center of Kiev to the Chernobyl region, 75.6 miles away. There they will see the Victims Monument and the abandoned village, and use lunch at the only restaurant open in Chernobyl. After lunch, they will be taken to the site of the accident, reactor 4. In an effort to completely address the danger of nuclear leakage, the reactor has been covered since 2017 by a huge arch-shaped metal protection device up to 105 meters high. For the rest of the day, visitors can move freely in the city of Pripyat, near the nuclear power plant. The fare for an English-speaking tour is approximately USD 100 per person.
"A lot of people come here and they ask a lot of questions about the TV show and what happened. People are interested in this. "Tour guide Viktoria Brozhko said in an interview with Reuters that the area around the plant is safe for tourists." Throughout your visit to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, you'll absorb the nuclear radiation of two microsieverts, which is equivalent to the amount of radiation you spend at home for 24 hours. ”
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > take a photo punch in Chernobyl? Attitude is important</h1>
While taking pictures of attractions has long been part of tourism, when faced with a disaster site like Chernobyl, whether to take pictures and what kind of photos to take are questions worth rethinking. Recently, some "indecent" photos taken in front of the ruins of Chernobyl have sparked a lot of controversy on the internet. In one of the widely circulated photos, a woman unbuttons her chemical protection suit, revealing a body wearing only panties.
"It's amazing that HBO's Chernobyl sparked a tourist boom in quarantine." The show's screenwriter, Craig Mazin, tweeted on the morning of the 11th, "Yes, I saw the pictures that were spreading around. But if you go there, remember that there was a terrible tragedy there, and respect all those who suffered and sacrificed in the disaster. ”
According to the World Health Organization, a catastrophic explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 could have killed 4,000 people from radiation. The explosion released more than 400 times more radiation than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II, which was heavily contaminated in northern Europe, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, forced the evacuation of more than 336,000 residents, and caused a total of about $200 billion in damage, the most costly disaster in recent history.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Ivanchuk said he had a hard time understanding why some of his competitors were selling things like "refrigerator stickers, radioactive ice cream and canned air" in disaster locations. "It's disgusting and humiliating for those who are still working in Chernobyl or who come back to visit their abandoned homes." Ivanchuk said, "The 20th century was full of 'dark' events and sufferings, and like Auschwitz and Hiroshima, Chernobyl was one of them. Ivanchuk said his company left only 15 to 18 percent of its profits, with the rest handed over to Ukrainian authorities.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > a worldwide puzzle</h1>
In the wake of social media and selfies, how to get tourists to behave appropriately at disaster sites has become a worldwide problem.
In March, the Auschwitz Memorial posted on Twitter photos of tourists standing on the tracks, calling on visitors to show respect for nazi victims. "When you come to the Auschwitz Memorial, remember that more than 1 million people were killed in your place. Please respect their memories. There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than it symbolizes driving tens of thousands of people to the site of death. The memorial tweeted.
At this year's Venice Biennale, a ship that sank in the Mediterranean in 2015 caused a lot of discomfort, and there were hundreds of migrants and refugees on it when it sank. This exhibit became one of the hottest selfie locations at this year's Biennale. The Guardian's art critic Adrian Searle called it "a vile and disease-free groaning spectacle," adding, "The best thing to say about this exhibit is that it makes us face death, but visitors to the Biennale stop and take selfies in front of it." ”
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