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Christopher Suderman's avatar

I’d visit China if it was easy but it’s not.

1. I can’t pay for anything because no one takes cash and I don’t have a Chinese bank account so I can’t use mobile payments. (The last time I visited my Chinese friends paid for my entire trip because I couldn’t pay for anything.)

2. I’m cut off from the outside world because I don’t have access to any non Chinese internet in China and can’t use a simple service like Google maps to find directions. I want to explore the country on my own, not through a travel agency. And there is no English support so I can’t use Chinese apps or rely on signs in Cities. (I can luckily make it because I speak Chinese but no one else can.)

Also because I can’t access the internet I can’t post anything about my trip or tell my friends back home.

3. All I hear from Chinese government officials and Chinese media is that the west is against China. This isn’t the case. But then in the western media I hear about everyone from my country or other countries like mine who has been arrested.

Both sides are saying the same thing so why bother taking the risk?

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Ed Sander's avatar

As a tour operator for business study tours I can only fully agree with Xiao Qianhui's speech. (With the exception of fully blaming worsened China sentiment on the US, I mean ... come on!).

Our business has been non-existant for 3 years and we hear how our Chinese partner agencies are struggling to get foreign tourists in. There is a lot that needs to be done to solve this and Xiao Qianhui mentions many of them.

Besides worries about possible wars over Taiwan among my potential clients, I myself experience that many people are still reluctant because of covid origins and zero-covid policies and potential lockdowns. These might be highly unlikely to the well-informed, but not to the travellers. And there is a general distrust in the information provided by the government (failing to report cremation data ... looks like somebody has something to hide, how can we trust what they say?).

Also mentioned by Xiao Qianhui is the visa process. I have lived in China and been back to China on many different types of visa but every time the application process has been the worst I have experienced when travelling to any country. Listing all my previous employers? Listing the work my parents do? Sharing the addresses where my kids live? You gotta be kidding.

But you also know that if you don't follow the instructions you might end up in situations like in that Seinfeild episode with the Soup Nazi. That's what going to the visa application center feels like. One wrong step and 'No visa for you!'.

Maybe start by making foreigners feel welcome again (put back those multi-language metro signs in Beijing!) and making the process of going to China pleasant. Allow more flights (which are still much more expensive than they used to be). Provide easy ways of mobile payment that actually work without a Chinese bank account, provide free VPNs, etc.

When you get the feeling a host doesn't really want you to come over, you won't visit.

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