This video seen over 10 million times shows an archaeological site turned five-star tourist attraction having hired two women to play wildly inaccurate early humans performing excruciatingly mundane tasks.
Where other museums or theme parks may have opted for wax figures, the tourist destination in the county of Lingwu, which is in north-western China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, chose to use real humans.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
The viral attraction at the Shuidonggou Scenic Area is said to encourage realism as tourists visit the reimagined stone-age site, but the two women given leopard-print trousers – and one a matching blouse – have become the standout stars for the wrong reasons.
Footage from the Shuidonggou Site taken by tourist Mr Li shows the two women sitting at the entrance of a mud hut as visitors walk past them.
One of them operates a bow drill seemingly with as little passion as she can, while her colleague repeatedly lifts a rock and hits it against a stone slab.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
In case visitors were confused as to what exactly they were doing, in a second video a female tourist asks them directly, saying: “Aunties, what are you doing?”
The make-believe ‘cavewoman’ using the bow drill says blandly: “I’m drilling for fire.”
To the same question, her coworker answers: “I’m grinding a stone.”
Mr Li told local media: “This is a 5A scenic area! It’s main attraction is as the location of the archaeological dig that discovered an early civilisation.
“They’re still finding new things now, and many prehistoric artefacts have been found.
“They recreated a model demonstrating the lives of early humans, but I don’t know why they had these two people drilling for fire – it’s hilarious!
“One of them is hitting a stone and the other is drilling wood. It’s inaccurate – and their clothing is totally wrong.
“Besides their leopard print clothes, they also just seem to be going through the motions.”
The Shuidonggou Site is listed as a AAAAA – or 5A – attraction, the highest ranking assigned by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Other 5A sites include the Forbidden City as well as Beijing’s Badaling section of the Great Wall.
Social media users commenting on Mr Li’s video claim the pretend cavewomen have been around for several years, with images showing them in the same position since at least 2018.
Other visitors say there were more stone age-themed actors – but they were all sacked.
Netizen ‘Mar’ wrote: “Primitive humans were known for their love of leopard print clothes and caps.”
‘Xiao Fengfeng’ added: “That’s exactly what I do in the office.”
‘Dianshang’ said: “Who wants to drill for five for eight hours a day?”
The Shuidonggou Site was first excavated in 1923 and is known as the birthplace of prehistoric archaeology in China.
It opened its doors to tourists in 2006.
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Story By: Buli Liang, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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