Chinese tourists in foreign countries

[ZhangKaiRong]

I've been reading a lot of bad things about Chinese tourists travelling in foreign countries, especially in Asian countries, however I always thought that this kind of bad reputation was exaggareted mainly due to the infamously bad relationships between China and its neighbours. I spent the last two weeks in Japan as a tourist, and I found out that I had been too naiive about this issue. So far I haven't judged anybody based on nationality, but based on my experience, Chinese tourists are the most uncultural and uneducated bunch I have ever met. Seriously, I had no days spent without some particular bad experience with different Chinese tourists. I know that only wealthy Chinese could afford travelling to foreign lands, but their rude behaviour just add fuel to the existing crappy reputation. I saw some other foreign tourists who behaved like complete jerks, but even they could not be compared to the Chinese. Maybe my memories of spending a year in China getting blurrier, but I hadn't found them this bad in the mainland.

[Hofmann]

So how about sharing how you perceived their average age, income, and educational level?

[abcdefg]

And what behavior did you notice that seemed uncouth?

[ZhangKaiRong]

排队 was a non-existent expression for them, let it be queuing for the subway or for a restaurant table. In front of a restaurant, a group of Chinese people started to yell at the waitress who let the Japanese customers in first (who were actually there before this Chinese group). Hilarious/pathetic addition is, that they were using Chinese, and it seemed that the waitress obviously didn't speak. They were freaked out and reasoned that they couldn't go in because they were Chinese, continuing with all the harm the Japanese caused to the Chinese. I didn't want to believe my own ears, and I really felt for the poor Japanese lady who just stood there silently. Same goes for the subway/shinkansen, the Chinese, packed with big luggages were the first ones who would like to get on, despite the fact that everybody else were queuing patiently. They were the ones who didn't want to walk 5 minutes to get to the entrance of the shrine, so they went in using the exit. Chinese tourists were the ones who couldn't understand that they couldn't enter the Imperial Palace inner gardens, as they hadn't registered online for it before, and they expressed their negative feelings for the palace guards in broken English. They were the ones who thought it would be a good idea to shake the hell out of a freshly blossomed little cherry tree at a park in order to shoot a nice picture with the falling petals. They were the ones who tramped on the grass despite of the clear sign saying keep off the grass (which saying this even in Japanese/Chinese/Korean/English). They were the loudest bunch inside the shinto shrines and Buddhist temples (even during ceremonies), and also in the Hiroshima Peace Museum. And there was the constant 老外, 老外 ,老外 mantra which annoyed me to hell after three days. And also they were the ones who were littering in parks and in the street (yes, dustbins are a rare sight in Japan, however streets and public areas are extra clean because people keep the litter with themselves and throw them away at home).

 

Yes, I know that these kind of acts were conducted by Chinese individuals, and not Chinese people collectively, however I saw too much of these individual acts in the two weeks, so I can understand why a lot of people have negative feelings for Chinese tourists.

 

Hofmann: wealth is not hard to measure, buses packed with Chinese tourists stopping in front of the 4/5 star hotels and shopping centres of Ginza gave me some hints about their income status. The problem is not their wealth, but their behaviour.

[geraldc]

Queue jumping, complaining about food/service, littering and generally being noisy are the standard complaints. Toilet habits are a flashpoint issue. If children behaved like that on holiday their parents would hit them. Seeing Mainland tourists squatting at tourist sites around the world is also seen as uncouth. 

[abcdefg]

Yes, I know that these kind of acts were conducted by Chinese individuals, and not Chinese people collectively, however I saw too much of these individual acts in the two weeks, so I can understand why a lot of people have negative feelings for Chinese tourists.

 

Chinese tourists definitely do have lots of room for improvement. I've seen similar "first time off the farm" behavior throughout Asia.

 

I get kind of blind to it living here on the mainland, but when I see Chinese tourists abroad it does stand out. And an unpleasant corollary is that I have become uncouth too. When I return to the US it gets noticed and pointed out by my family and friends.

[889]

"When I return to the US it gets noticed and pointed out by my family and friends."

 

So you don't say "Excuse me" when crossing in front of other shoppers at the supermarket?

 

(This topic -- re-adjusting your own conduct back when you return home -- deserves its own thread.)

[abcdefg]

So you don't say "Excuse me" when crossing in front of other shoppers at the supermarket?

 

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

 

I live in Smalltown American South where most people in my social stratum are overly polite. It's expected. In a matter of days I readjust to the cultural norms, but during the transition period, my behavior can come across as a bit ill-mannered and rough.

[ChTTay]

For smaller things, sometimes I think it can just be some Chinese tourists just don't think like "wait, I'm not in China... Things might work differently here, let's take not of my surroundings".

My friend went to Japan recently where, like England, you often have one single line for many checkout tills. They were in 7/11 and went up to a free till to pay, then as they paid, they realised there was a queue of 20 people all waiting that they cut infront of. No one said anything to them and they didn't know until it was too late.

stuff like that is an easy mistake to make if you've never travelled or not much. I think a lot of these tours to Japan aren't actually upper class people or even upper middle. You can go there quite cheaply on a tour - my friend paid 3000 for flight and accommodation for 6 days or so.

[Lu]

I once saw a tourguide at the airport explain the boarding pass to her group. Many Chinese abroad are definitely first-time tourists. And a lot of this behaviour (queue-jumping, pushing onto trains/metros, littering etc) is completely normal in China. Probably only exacerbated abroad because foreigners are not really people, they're just part of the scenery (see also: pointing at 老外). Still, it gives such a bad impression of Chinese people, it's a pity.

[OneEye]

Yeah, it gets quite bad here in Tokyo sometimes. Fortunately not in my neighborhood, but Ginza can be downright overrun with Chinese tourists, buying toilets and suitcases and gaudy luxury brand clothing. It's amazing how they don't even bother to look around and notice how much they're annoying everyone. A friend of mine from HK came to visit a while back, and we went to get him an extra suitcase at some store he had read about. We were the only non-Mainland Chinese people in the store apart from the staff, and everyone was yelling so loudly and throwing pieces of luggage back and forth, that my friend asked me not to speak Chinese to him (we met in Taiwan and usually speak a mix of Mandarin and English) because he didn't want to be lumped in with them. I know a few long-term residents of Tokyo from China, and they're perfectly nice, well-mannered people. The tourists, however, are almost unbearable.

 

Then again, they were really annoying in Taiwan too. Shouting out loud about how "this is all a part of China" and stuff like that. Once I was on vacation in Kenting 墾丁, and a bunch of Chinese tourists waiting at a bus stop charged out into the street when the bus came. It couldn't pull over to where it was supposed to be, so it just stopped in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. Then when paying to get on, they couldn't figure out who owed what, so they took good 15 minutes getting boarded, still blocking traffic. It got so bad that the police came. Then there's the National Palace Museum, always overrun with shouting Chinese people crowding people out, shoving in front of you while you're looking at something, loud tour guides, etc.

 

And it's even worse in Hong Kong, in my experience (which was pre-Umbrella). Lots of first-time travelers. My Taiwanese friends try to avoid speaking Mandarin when in HK so they don't get mistaken for Chinese tourists, opting for English instead.

[geraldc]

Flights around Asia have also become more combative when there are a lot of mainland passengers on a flight. Standing up and talking to each other across rows on flights, standing up before the plane is ready to disembark etc etc.

[Shelley]

I remember when it was - no offense intended - it was American tourist who did pretty much the same things. Over the years they have become model tourists and welcome all over.

 

Maybe it will happen with Chinese tourists.

 

I understand American tourists were "educated" as to how they appeared and learnt to tone things down.

[langxia]

Most of them are first time tourists and don´t know yet how to behave and they will probably change in time.

 

Americans used to have a bad name.

 

Heck did you ever hear about Germans and English on the Spanish island of Majorca ?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2375095/Majorca-says-adios-binge-drinking-British-tourists-turns-attention-better-behaved-richer-crowd.html

 

So if you think that not queuing is bad behaviour, just think about what European tourists are capable off

[geraldc]

The behaviour of mainland tourists is much like our progress in Chinese. It goes up, it plateaus, it gets a bit worse, it goes up again.

 

I used to hate going to touristy places on the mainland pre SARS. There was spit and chewed up sugar cane all over the floor. Then SARS came, and all that stuff got banned. So the environment got better, but somehow peoples' behaviour overseas got worse.

[Meng Lelan]

 

My Taiwanese friends try to avoid speaking Mandarin when in HK so they don't get mistaken for Chinese tourists, opting for English instead

 

 

Wow...thanks for letting me know - have a lot of Taiwan friends so I try to stay tuned to what they think and feel but can't always ask for very specific info like this. 

[abcdefg]

#11 -- @OneEye --

 

My Taiwanese friends try to avoid speaking Mandarin when in HK so they don't get mistaken for Chinese tourists, opting for English instead.

 

I do this too when visiting Hong Kong. Trotting out my flawed Mandarin definitely does not win me any "Oh, he's almost one of us" points there, nor even any "Oh, at least he's trying" ones. Much better to let them think I'm a clueless American tourist, brand new to East Asia. If I could speak Cantonese, it might be different.

[emmanuel]

 My Taiwanese friends try to avoid speaking Mandarin when in HK so they don't get mistaken for Chinese tourists, opting for English instead.

The dumbest thing ever.

[ChTTay]

I spoke a bit of Mandarin in HK and found it well received. It depends where you are and who you are talkin to ... might not be so well received in a mall or mainstream restaurant - somewhere that sees a lot of mainland tourists anyway. I was in some tiny laundrette down a backstreet and speaking to a cleaner in my hostel. Both were pretty elderly and both times they had a chat in limited Mandarin with me, asking the usual questions. It was nice.

 

And yes, British people in Spain can be horrendous. Also, young British people in Australia can be very bad, so i've heard anway ...

[stapler]

To add to the list: Chinese tourists often don't let old people board the bus first, they walk in between people taking a photo rather than going around them, smoke outside doors, some even spit. But I think that's just a minority. Most Chinese, particularly younger ones seem to be more aware of the different manners. Chinese who are actually immigrants rather than just tourists are often much better than the locals too. Younger Chinese especially will now do small stuff like say goodbye/thanks to a the bus driver, almost as much as wealthy white people do. I guess they're more aware of the bad stereotypes associated with them and want to help fix that image. I know I did the same thing in Japan. I constantly made sure I spoke super quietly, always was the first person to offer my seat to old people on the trains etc.

 

Speaking of Japan I had the total opposite experience to what people here have reported. In Japan the Chinese were super friendly and polite. Not only did they match the Japanese' nearly autistic level of politeness, whenever I looked lost or looked like I wanted to take a photo it was always a Chinese tourist who would come up to be and offer help without me even asking.

 

The 'bad' Chinese tourists don't bother me too much. I realise most of their behaviour is just innocent or a product of the cut-throat society they live in. But maybe I have a higher tolerance because of my deeper sympathies with the people/culture than others (by virtue of learning the language).