Since it was announced on Monday that84-year-old Tu had become the first Chinese citizen to win this internationalprize, her former home in the old town of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, hasattracted visi-tors, especially parents and their children-even though it isnot open to the public.
The house, where Tu lived until she wentto university in Beijing, covers an area of 2,200 square meters and is pricedat 150 million yuan( $ 23. 6 million) . It is part of a complex of 37traditional build-ings, including several city-and-district-level culturalrelic preservation sites, that have been trans-formed into a high-end art, andcommercial zone.
"There are continually parentstaking their children, from infants in strollers to college students, to takephotos in front of Tu's former home. Security guards have been ordered to go onpatrol around the clock," said Mr.Zhao, a salesperson from Ningbo Real Estate Inc Co.
Shanghai resident Xu Lingfei, who was ona trip to Ningbo, took her 9-year-old son to walk around the complex onWednesday. "Chinese people believe in exams and awards and have a strongpreference for high performers. Taking children to visit the former dwellingplaces of celebrities(名人) is a way to inspire them to studyharder," Xu said.
Something similar happened. after Mo Yanwon the Nobel Prize for literature in 2012. Tourists started visiting Mo'sformer home in rural Caomi, Shandong Province, in an endless stream startingthe day after he won the prize. Some even pulled the radishes planted in frontof the house. and carried away some bricks.
