| On China's Pre-Packaged Tourism by Tom Carter | | | | waiting indefinitely for train tickets back to Beijing, |
| "What could possibly compel them to do | | | | often resulting in missed return flights home. The |
| something so… wrong?" | | | | blame for this calamity lies with the tour group |
| This was the question posed by a group of | | | | companies themselves, who purchase large blocks |
| expats sitting around a youth hostel in scenic | | | | of tickets (often in advance through personal |
| Huangshan Mountain, China's beloved mountain | | | | connection with train station officials), leaving nary |
| range in Anhui Province, discussing the legions of | | | | a hard seat available for the independent traveler. |
| tourists who had disrupted their 72-peak | | | | And what of the more noticeable effects of |
| excursion. | | | | those traveling en masse to China's wonderland |
| As the foreign travelers retell it, what was | | | | attractions. To be sure, Jiuzhaigou National Park in |
| supposed to have been a heavenly respite turned | | | | Sichuan is a site not to be missed, where emerald |
| into an out-and-out circus replete with | | | | lakes reflecting a vertical alpine forest blazing in |
| megaphones, flags and the congestion of untold | | | | the autumn with crimson and gold make this |
| numbers of tourists with the inopportune desire | | | | protected region the country's premier travel |
| to see the same thing at the same time. | | | | destination. |
| "We could barely walk up the narrow steps | | | | Unfortunately, what visitors will dauntingly meet |
| because there were too many tour groups, we | | | | with at the park's entrance is a concert of tour |
| couldn't see the view past their florescent hats | | | | buses piercing the surroundings with deafening |
| and we couldn't even hear the birds because of all | | | | blasts of their horns and vomiting black exhaust |
| the noise," complained the foreign travelers. | | | | (contributing to Jiuzhaigou's own environmental |
| Such a scene is of course commonplace in China, | | | | downfall), while streams of red and yellow |
| where 1.3 billion people must contend with both | | | | hat-wearing, litter-tossing tourists noisily follow a |
| limited time and space during the country's few | | | | flag-waving guide shouting instructions into a |
| and far between national holidays. | | | | loudspeaker. |
| But where Western travelers, not unlike their | | | | When pressed for an elucidation of the social and |
| world-exploring forefathers, pride themselves on | | | | ecological consequences of collective traveling, a |
| independence, requiring little more than a | | | | local tour operator rejoins fiscally, "I provide |
| backpack and a point in the right direction to | | | | guaranteed transportation, accommodations and |
| circumnavigate exotic new countries, the | | | | discounted entrance tickets, all in one package. |
| historically communal Chinese tend to have quite a | | | | Without tour group companies like mine, traveling |
| different perspective on travel. | | | | in China would be impossible!" |
| "We like to go where everybody goes," said one | | | | To the foreign observer, such logic is the bane of |
| Chinese tourist when prompted to explain the | | | | China's heritage, with intrusive tour groups |
| disorder of collective travel. "If there are no | | | | appreciating neither the splendor nor history of |
| crowds it means it's not a good place to visit." | | | | the site but rather in a seeming rush to take a |
| An alternative explanation of the chaos that orbits | | | | snapshot in front of a character-engraved stone |
| China's favorite attractions is the government's | | | | before dashing back on their buses to the next |
| authoritative instruction of where and when the | | | | site. |
| populace may travel, preferring brief, intensive | | | | But for the Chinese, the constipation and the |
| bursts during the national holidays rather than a | | | | urgency are indicative of a culture categorically |
| steady flow. | | | | limited in both time and space, where itinerary |
| This quarterly policy may make for impressive | | | | replaces independence and processed convenience |
| economic reports (though Xinhua News Agency | | | | is preferred over pleasure. |
| reports a growing disfavor with the eight-year-old | | | | "The national holidays are my only chance to |
| Golden Week holiday system), but it creates a | | | | spend with my family and see my country," |
| havoc that is all of dissuading foreigners from | | | | exclaims a Chinese businessman from Beijing on |
| extensive travel in China. | | | | his way to the Yunnan old town of Lijiang, China's |
| Indeed, every summer scores of Western | | | | third most popular holiday destination. "With a tour |
| backpackers are stranded in Shaanxi's provincial | | | | group, I don't have to plan, I don't have to worry, |
| capital city of Xi'an, home of terracotta warriors, | | | | I don't have to think. |