近日，河南安阳的当地官员表示，计划以曹操墓为中心建立文物主题公园。古墓在沉寂千年后骤然现世，引来大批海内外游客一探究竟，给当地的村民带来商机。然而近期新浪网组织的一次网上民意调查显示，将近一半的接受调查者反对古墓商业开发提案，而只有大约三分之一表示赞同。

    More than a year after the excavation of the tomb of Cao Cao, a politician and general from the Three Kingdoms period (220 A.D. to 280 A.D.), local authorities in Anyang, Henan, plan to designate the surrounding area a park and promote the site as a tourist destination.

    “The tomb has the potential to become a major tourist destination,” said Zhang Jianguo, director of the local tourism bureau. Yang Limeng, a cultural official from Anyang, said that “many tour agencies from greater China and abroad have shown interest in the newly-discovered tomb.”

    Onsite changes are tangible. The announcement of the tomb’s discovery last December put the quiet village of Xigaoxue in the spotlight. As many as 2,000 visitors flooded the village after initial reports about the tomb. Villagers living near the site have built stands hawking souvenirs, photo services and calligraphic reproductions of Cao Cao’s poetry. Others charge an entrance fee of five yuan to stand in their grain fields and watch the tomb’s excavation, which is still restricted to visitors.

    “An archaeological discovery helps bring economic benefits to the local community,” said Su Yang, a researcher from the Development Research Center of State Council. “Archaeological research is for both academic discovery and knowledge dissemination. Tourism is an effective means to that end,” he added.

    In a recent online poll conducted by China’s sina.com web portal, 49.5 percent of the 25,126 participants voted to fully restore the tomb in respect to the deceased. Only about one third of respondents supported the commercial development of the site.