In the process of sustainable development, China needs to have more exchanges with other countries. Among the ways of interacting with other countries, tourism is a very good channel for people-to-people exchanges. Although the pandemic has made it difficult for foreigners to travel to China, we can also prepare for the opening up in the future. In view of the fact that Chinese there are already so many articles, research, and even anecdotes of ordinary Chinese travelers traveling to other countries, I will not continue to follow up the dog-tailed mink - here I will talk about the various records of foreigners coming to China in reverse.
[Text/Observer Network columnist Li Pingzhang]
The hottest news in Asia in the second half of this year should be Pelosi's visit, except for Vietnam, the vast majority of ordinary netizens in Southeast Asia reacted unanimously - "Pelosi, Pelosi, what are you doing here!" We just want to live a good little life, what muddy waters are you stirring here! ”
I have to say that China's policy and image are basically quite deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, mighty and not violent, pulling everyone to do business together, and this image is also the basis for Southeast Asia's basic hostility to China.
In the process of establishing HiChinaTravel Travel Network, I have met a large number of travelers to China and in China, and I personally have a considerable number of foreign friends, so we have a lot of data and research on foreign travelers and foreigners residing in China, and we have a little understanding of these foreign groups. This time, we will start with Southeast Asian countries and try to show you what we can do for the country through tourism.
Vietnam: There are many migrant workers, and they love Guilin and Kunming the most
Take Vietnam, for example, which has always had extremely mixed feelings about China – a mixture of closeness and fear. Historically, the two countries have had friendship between the older generation of revolutionary leaders fighting side by side, and bloody wars in which they fought each other; They have both the pride of calling themselves "Little China" and the fear of worrying about the great powers of the North "since ancient times."
HiChinaTravel's overseas Facebook page was considered Vietnamese to be Vietnamese because of the Hanfu photos, so thousands of Vietnamese went to HiChinaTravel to brush bad reviews
With the rapid development of China's economy in the past decade or two, the difference in living standards between the two sides of the border has become visible to the naked eye in Yunnan and Guangxi, which border Vietnam, which has led to a large number of Vietnamese people admiring China.
However, we need to note that Vietnam, as a country with a population of nearly 100 million, is only relatively small compared to China. The internal differences between the north and the south and the difference between urban and rural areas are very large, similar to the differences between China's north, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and the western countryside, so it is impossible to simply summarize its situation.
The right bank of the river is Hekou County, China, and on the left bank is a screenshot of the up@ Donghai Cen Mountain at Station B of Lao Cai City, Vietnam
Many Vietnamese go to Yunnan and Guangxi to work in their spare time, generally from Laojie bordering China, as well as rural areas such as Taiyuan and Haiphong, and their monthly wages range from 1,200 to 2,000 yuan (2019 level). Due to insufficient funds, they rarely travel, and most of the money they earn has to exchange foreign exchange near the border to subsidize their families (the border private exchange rate is more cost-effective than the official exchange rate).
However, according to our pre-epidemic visits and surveys in Beihai, Fangchenggang and other places in Guangxi, for most Vietnamese working in border provinces, the ideal Chinese tourist destinations are Guilin and Kunming. Because I heard that the scenery of these two places is very good, and for them, the cost is acceptable. If you want to travel to these places, the main ways of travel before the epidemic were buses and trains, and there are many people who have recently traveled to Guilin and Kunming via high-speed rail.
However, finding accommodation is a problem for them, and many domestic hotels do not accept foreign guests, so they mostly choose chain hotels such as Seven Days and Home with capacity. On average, playing for three or four days, the per capita consumption of one or two thousand yuan is still acceptable.
Half of Vietnam's migrant workers come from rural areas in Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen and Hai Phong
Our company collects less statistics on Vietnamese students in China, but in terms of our own actual contact in daily life (such as observing recruited Vietnamese interns, etc.), the general study is more assiduous, not inferior to the "problem makers" in China, so scholarships are an important source of living expenses.
Most Vietnamese students coming to China can get scholarships from the two governments and universities in China (for scholarships can choose a university is basically African students, they generally still choose a good school to apply), but generally speaking, their accommodation and tuition fees are much higher than Chinese students, so the scholarship is offset with it, after deduction, the average person can have a monthly surplus of 1500-2500 yuan, usually the family sponsors hundreds of thousands of yuan per month. As far as I know, the final figure is basically the same as the living expenses of Chinese college students in first-tier cities now. Although it is still far from Huatian Jiudi, living in China is not worrying.
They generally choose weekends + one or two days without classes, a total of three to four days of short and medium-distance travel, and car and train tours with groups are the main modes of travel.
Vietnamese students Image source: Vietnam Times
Tourists from Vietnam, if they come from the middle class or above in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, basically travel no different from ordinary Chinese. It is worth noting that Chinese culture has been exported to Southeast Asia through online platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, as well as domestic online drama platforms, making Chinese stars, Chinese dramas and Internet celebrity destinations basically well-known in Vietnam, so China can take this opportunity to export its image as a tourist destination and attract more people to travel.
When HiChinaTravel did market research in Vietnam in 2019, most of the 15-25-year-old women wanted to go to Chongqing and Fenghuang Ancient Town, and later we learned that this was because TFboys were very well-known in Vietnam at that time, and the hometowns of the three team members were Chongqing and Huaihua (close to the ancient city of Phoenix), which was also a little economic benefit brought by the export of mainland culture.
Other Vietnamese groups have a more favorable impression of China's tourism in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, the most famous economic or cultural ancient cities, indicating that there are actually many good places on the mainland that are not known to Vietnamese, even if the other party is a close neighbor. We may have in terms of cognitive output, but it is far from enough.
China-Vietnam border friendship pass, formerly known as Zhennan Pass, was taken by the author during his personal travel
Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand: naturally pro-China, mainly near border tourism
As for the four countries of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand in the Indochina Peninsula, they are naturally closer to China. They are not only highly dependent on China for trade, but also on China for security.
Because Vietnam broke out extremely aggressive after the reunification of the north and south, it swallowed Cambodia, vassal Laos, and even began to fight with Thailand on the Cambodian-Thai border. When I was chatting with the older generation of Thai businessmen, they expressed their gratitude to China for sending troops in the north to deal with Thailand's anti-aggression war. As soon as this remark came out, I was confused by the second monk at the time, and later after explanation, I learned about this "beautiful misunderstanding" - of course, if the country did take this into account when making decisions that year, it was really far-sighted.
Therefore, except for Vietnam, the friendship of the people to China is generally relatively high in the countries of the Indochina Peninsula, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, urban and rural - because of the existence of Vietnam. Those who are familiar with Southeast Asia know that there is a wonderful local metaphor: Southeast Asian villagers think that Vietnam is the big brother, and if they disobey him, they will be beaten; But because there is a big Chinese boss in the north, the eldest brother does not dare to beat people easily.
A considerable part of the people of these four countries in China, Burmese and Laos, are gathered in Mangshi, Lincang, Jinghong, Mengzi, Gejiu and other places to engage in border trade and part-time work, buying and selling jade, wood, rubber products (the most related to ordinary Chinese should be latex pillows) and so on. People from these four countries who can come to China are basically hard-working, so they are almost paid the same as Chinese for equal work.
Burmese and Laotian people generally gather in Mangshi, Lincang, Jinghong, Mengzi, Gejiu and other places
Before the epidemic, they were quite numerous in China, with hundreds of thousands stationed. In the case of tourism, it is basically a near-border tour, spending less than 2,000 yuan each time, and the time is basically within five days.
If our tourism department is more publicized and the corresponding tourism development and services are more in place, even Lijiang, Dali, Shangri-La, Tengchong and other places in Yunnan should be good travel destinations for Southeast Asian countries. In addition, the Trans-Asian Railway being laid on the Indochina Peninsula will greatly facilitate the movement of people, and we have reason to believe that more Southeast Asians will come to China after the epidemic is over, and they can also play better while making money.
Schematic diagram of the China-Laos Railway and the Trans-Asian Railway
New and Ma: Prefer root-seeking journeys
Singapore and Malaysia, as typical Chinese countries, people there have been very familiar with working, living and studying in China, their use of Chinese social networks, media and entertainment platforms is almost exactly the same as ordinary Chinese, language understanding is almost unimpeded, and the process of planting grass and clocking in with Chinese tourists in terms of travel can almost completely coincide, so in terms of travel consumption, these two countries are almost no different from ordinary Chinese people.
Like various domestic travel reports, if the word "China" is replaced by Singapore/Malaysia, the report is also valid. As long as they are stationed in China, they can basically use their native driver's license and take subject one to obtain a Chinese driver's license, which is not difficult.
For them, the only restrictions are that they must apply for a letter of entry and travel with a group in advance to travel to Tibet, and that a considerable number of hotels in the country do not accept foreign travelers. These two places are the most important feedback we receive from Singaporean and Malaysian travelers, which are slightly troublesome, and the strength of China's tourism industry cannot solve this problem for the time being.
In addition, as far as travel destinations in China are concerned, Singaporean and Malaysian travelers have one characteristic: they like to travel in search of roots.
Given that the Chinese in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, are basically from the three regions of Chaoshan and Minnan in China, many Malaysian Chinese basically have distant relatives in China, and some can also find their names on the family tree, so Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan have become must-visit destinations for new and Malaysian travelers.
Malaysian Chinese, who are second-class citizens in the legal sense in the local sense, have never given up their identity with Chinese identity and culture, which is very valuable. During the War of Resistance, a large number of Nanyang people returned to China to participate in the war, and countless donations were made to the Nanyang War of Resistance; Later, the Malaysian government directly refused to recognize and fund Chinese schools, and local Chinese also gritted their teeth to set up many independent schools and insisted on Chinese cultural education. They live up to China, and we should not turn them away.
Zun Kong Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, photographed by the author during his personal travels
In Southeast Asia, domestic tourism has great potential
Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines, I personally have limited understanding, and I dare not say too much. For example, the vast majority of Filipinos traveling and expatriates in China are in Shanghai, which may be related to the service trade agreement signed between China and the Philippines, and so on.
Southeast Asia is actually a very large concept, and it is impossible to fully summarize it in three words. After all, the ten ASEAN countries add up to one billion people, and the population size is at the same level as China's; There are many commercial and political activities in China going abroad, but if we do not actively or passively understand our objects, we are completely unaware of the local social operating norms. Without a deep understanding of the local culture and history, many things are rootless.
What are the nationalities of Southeast Asian countries? What are the political and economic relations between countries and between factions? How do ordinary people see each other (and China)? If China does something A, the reaction of ordinary people in a certain country may be B or C? This point requires the initiation of the Southeast Asian language departments of the university, the cooperation of the business and political circles, systematic study of them, and really deal with fellow villagers from all over the world, rather than sitting in the room to engage in translation, so that we can really pull this vote of countries to the front of China.
In addition, as a tourist worker, I have been "spitting" that tourist visas on the mainland are too difficult to obtain and too expensive. In Southeast Asia, only Singapore and Brunei can enter China visa-free, which is really not enough under the framework of the next booming APEC and RCEP, and the tourism industry has also been promoting the simplification of tourist visas at the private and official levels, and even visa-free tourism.
Since China's goal is to integrate in East Asia and Southeast Asia, it is inevitable that there must not only be exchanges between governments, but also exchanges between ordinary people. As long as a Southeast Asian brother has been to China, personally come to China, understand China's beauty and food, experience the folk customs and customs of all over China, and talk more with Chinese, talk about the world - then the British and American media's smear of China will basically become nonsense, after all, seeing is believing.
On the upper floor of Beijing's Tiananmen Square, in addition to the phrase "Long live the People's Republic of China", there is also a sentence "Long live the great unity of the people of the world." We recognize tourism as a good way for people from all over the world to communicate and strive to contribute to the great ideals of the Republic in this direction.
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