Behave yourselves abroad, Chinese tourists told
Xinhua 2013-08-02 09:03
A tourist from China carved the characters "Ding Jinhao Dao Ci Yi You" — Ding Jinhao was here — into artwork in Egypt's Luxor Temple. (Internet photo)
Liu Qibao, head of the CPC Propaganda Department, on Wednesday ordered measures be taken to improve the behavior of Chinese tourists in foreign countries.
The Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress held a televised conference on improving Chinese outbound tourists' manners.
At the conference, Liu Qibao ordered better public education and a tightening of public supervision to raise public awareness of polite tourist behavior and public ethics.
Liu also asked the media to play a supervisory role and to create a social environment in which polite tourist behavior is advocated, in a bid to project a good image of China and to boost the country's soft power.
Yin Yungong, director of the journalism institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested the government, schools, and social groups assume responsibility for educating the public.
A spate of recent incidents involving Chinese tourists behaving badly abroad has embarrassed the nation. In May, a Chinese teenager was reported to have scratched his name into a 3,500-year-old Egyptian artwork.
In September last year, a Swiss International Airlines plane from Zurich to Beijing was also forced to turn back after two Chinese passengers fought onboard.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency carried a commentary on Wednesday, listing vulgar behavior common among Chinese tourists, such as tossing garbage, taking off shoes on sidewalk benches, speaking in loud voices and not respecting local customs.
