Drifters detained for graffiti on monuments in Hangzhou

Two men were detained during the seven-day National Day holiday for writing graffiti on famous historical and cultural sites in the West Lake scenic area, according to local police.

Ping Wentao, from Handan, Hebei province, had been a vagrant wandering around Hangzhou, sleeping on the streets and in the gardens at night, police said.

On the morning of Oct 1, sanitation workers found that Ping had written seven red Chinese characters, including his name, on a famous stone stele in a favorite photo-taking site beside the West Lake.

Ping was also found to have scribbled on two other steles in the area and was detained on Sunday morning while doodling on a monument in King Qian's Temple, a 900-year-old historical building in memory of King Qian Liu, who founded the Wuyue kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960).

"We found the graffiti during our daily routine patrols and reported it to the local police authorities immediately," said Xu Zhijun, an official with the area's management office.

On Monday, another vagrant, surnamed Geng, from Linyi, Shandong province, was detained while writing on the wooden pillars of a pavilion in the Garden of Yue Fei, built in memory of Yue Fei, a famous national hero and patriotic military commander during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

Both cases are under further investigation, Hangzhou Daily reported.
They stirred up heated indignation online, with netizens decrying graffiti on urban tourist attractions and historical sites, and urging public apologies from the suspects.

"Aside from arrests, people like Ping should be severely punished and blacklisted from visits to historical sites," Wang Tianyuan, a local resident, commented. "We should never tolerate visitors like this."