GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Lonely Planet mistakenly credits the Chinese for building the Banaue Rice Terraces
Filipinos are calling out Lonely Planet for a video that the travel guide published on social media, where it credited the Chinese for building the Banaue Rice Terraces 2,000 years ago.
The text on the video read "These mud-walled terraces were first built around 2,000 years ago by the Chinese."
The video in question has already been taken down, but Filipino netizens, a diligent lot, have screen shots.
A certain Jose Ruperto Martir tweeted Lonely Planet with screenshots of their mistake, and said "Dear @lonelyplanet , the Banaue Rice Terraces were built by Filipino indigenous people, not by the Chinese. (Screengrabbed from a video posted in Lonely Planet’s facebook page)"
Lonely planet replied to his tweet saying they will further look into the incident.
"Thank you for flagging this, we’ll share this with our editors who’ll take a further look into it. We’ll share updates/action points on this thread," the Lonely Planet replied.
Thank you for flagging this, we’ll share this with our editors who’ll take a further look into it. We’ll share updates/action points on this thread.
— Lonely Planet (@lonelyplanet) March 31, 2019
What's not yet taken down, as of writing, is a similar mistake on the Lonely Planet website. The travel guide introduced Banaue:
Hemmed in on all sides by dramatic rice terraces, Banaue is directly accessible from Manila and can sometimes get overwhelmed by visitors. It's hard to blame them: the local mud-walled rice terraces are pleasingly different from the stone-walled terraces in most of the Cordillera. World Heritage listed, they're impressive not only for their chiselled beauty but because they were introduced around 2000 years ago by the Chinese.
Following the opening paragraph, Lonely Planet wrote, "The Ifugao people, once headhunters, built the terraces and were as skilled at carving wood as they were at carving terraces."
Perhaps Lonely Planet was confused?
But make on mistake about it: The Banaue Rice Terraces are definitely Filipino-made. And in case anybody needs, erm, third-party verification, check out the description on UNESCO's World Heritage List:
The Ifugao Rice Terraces are the priceless contribution of Philippine ancestors to humanity. Built 2000 years ago and passed on from generation to generation, the Ifugao Rice Terraces represent an enduring illustration of an ancient civilization that surpassed various challenges and setbacks posed by modernization.
— LA, GMA News
