China issues guide to ‘civilised tourism’
CHINESE tourists should not pick their noses in public, urinate in pools or steal aeroplane life jackets, the country’s image-conscious authorities have warned in their latest effort to counter unruly behaviour.
China’s National Tourism Administration publicised its 64-page Guidebook for
Civilised Tourism – with illustrations to accompany its list of dos and don’ts – on its website ahead of the “Golden Week” public holiday that began on Tuesday.
As Chinese tourists head abroad in increasing numbers, they have developed a stereotype of “uncivilised behaviour”, which Vice Premier Wang Yang said in May had “damaged the image of the Chinese people”.
Several countries, including debt-laden European nations, have eased visa restrictions to attract increasingly affluent Chinese tourists, but reports have also emerged of complaints about etiquette.
In August, Chinese tourists in North Korea were accused of insensitive behaviour, such as throwing sweets at children “like they’re feeding ducks”. And in May a 15-year-old from Nanjing sparked outrage after he carved his name into an ancient relief at a temple in Luxor, Egypt.
The government has previously issued pithy guidelines telling tourists how to behave, but the latest booklet elaborates in great detail. It warns travellers not to pick their noses in public, to keep their nose-hair neatly trimmed and, if they have to pick their teeth, never to use their fingers.
It also urges them not to occupy public toilets for long periods of time or leave footprints on the toilet seat. Nor should they urinate in swimming pools.
Travellers should not drink soup straight from the bowl or make slurping sounds when eating noodles, it warns.
And after taking a flight they must leave the life jackets underneath their seats, the rulebook said, explaining that “if a dangerous situation arises then someone else will not have a life jacket”.
A tour guide surnamed Zhang, who was in Hong Kong on Tuesday, said his company had given him a copy of the rules at the start of the October holiday.
“I feel things need to be improved,” he said, standing in the city square packed with mainland tourists. “If we bring chaos to other places, it’s our image – the Chinese image – that suffers.”
The handbook also dispenses country-specific advice: Chinese visitors to Germany should only snap their fingers to beckon dogs, not humans.
Women in Spain should always wear earrings in public – or else be considered effectively naked.
And diners in Japan were instructed not to play with their clothes or hair during a meal.