China’s government has released a 64-page “Guidebook for Civilised Tourism”, which urges Chinese people travelling abroad to restrain themselves from limp handshakes, picking their noses, urinating in public pools, and other habits that are frowned upon in Western culture.
Hopes are that the guidebook, which was launched last week to coincide with the start of a week-long public holiday commemorating the 1949 Communist take-over, will improve the behaviour of these tourists overseas.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Wang Yang, the number of Chinese tourists going on holiday on foreign soil is increasing alongside their quality of life, while many European countries have cut down on bureaucracy in order to facilitate the granting of a temporary visa for Chinese tourists. However, their behaviour in these countries has been “damaging the image of Chinese people and causing vicious impact on the country’s reputation”, he said.
An example of this took place in February, when a Chinese mother on holiday shocked dozens of people when she allowed her son to urinate into a bottle in a restaurant in Hong Kong.
