Some Chinese tourists 'uncivilized,' says top official

It funny, but my old parents have just come back from their first cruise - from Singapore to Vietnam, Hong Kong then China. They are both pretty tolerant, open minded people and whilst they loved the cruise, they said that their next one will be in Europe somewhere so that they don't have to endure the Chinese, whose manners they found to be absolutely abysmal.

I used to work for the ESL department in my university way back when, and trust me, it's not limited to nationality. When people are away from home, travelling, and having fun -- especially if they're young -- they are generally loud, can be obnoxious, get drunk, do crazy stuff. It is not just the Chinese by any means. I know plenty of Chinese who are courteous and quiet while the people of other nations are loud and what not. If they can create an awareness campaign to reduce being 'rude' in general, great. But that should be a commonplace thing everywhere.

gokai_wo_manekuMay. 17, 2013 - 04:53PM JST

Chinese here in Shinjuku are well behaved. Shinjuku is a no smoking district, and unlike Europeans or Americans or some Japanese, the Chinese crowd the special smoking rooms or corners and don't smoke walking around. I know a majority of Chinese smoke.

Even the Hong Kong Chinese find the mainlanders a barbaric hoarde.

smithinjapan,

Agreed!

There seems to be a phenomenon at work when brainless idiots are let loose in a place where nobody knows them, whether they are British lager louts in Spain, soccer hooligans or US servicemen.

There are, as you say extremely intelligent and well-mannered, Chinese, British, American, etc., people.

And there is the other end of the evolutionary scale.

It's not confined to any one nationality.

smithinjapanMay. 17, 2013 - 05:30PM JST When people are away from home, travelling, and having fun -- especially if they're young -- they are generally loud, >can be obnoxious, get drunk, do crazy stuff. It is not just the Chinese by any means

True. But please tell us how which other countries have had their government come out and declare that their people's behavior are atrocious and need to be corrected.

The dire manners and “uncivilized behavior” of some Chinese tourists abroad are harming the country’s image

I have been saying this for years, now this came down from their own government. I do not feel too bad. Damn!

They are the worst travelers at US airports. They probably think they own the airports. They are shouting too loud, clogging toilets, leaving trashes behind, disturbing people waiting lines, etc. It is not pleasant and I am now avoiding them totally by joining the VIP club. I pay for it, but it's worth it to keep my sanity.

Just some? They think they own everything when they visit other countries. They don't have any respect for the local cultures. Most of these are the tourist groups. I think they tour companies in China should mandate a class on etiquette and responsibility before allowing them to visit other countries.

I think this has to do with their society of selfishness. Especially that one child policy. Everything is about me me me. They don't know how to share and be cordial to others because its a survival for fittest society. Since they are brought up like that, once they become adults, they can't get rid of that unconscious behavior.

They're not stealing or cheating or anything bad but they just don't give a crap about others.

I see the newer generation of Chinese behaving a lot better than the older ones. I think with better education and interaction with other cultures, they can improve. I see those that are not travelling in group tours behave very well. So hopefully they get their acts together and stop embarrassing themselves.

Nothing to do with their going abroad -- they were just behaving in character. On a visit to one of the most sacred temples in China a couple of years ago, I was amused to see people munching on fruit as they walked, nonchalantly discarding the skins and pits on the ground. Why bother to use a lesetong (rubbish can) when you've got the whole earth to litter?

My favourite was seeing a Chinese woman clip her finger and toe nails on the public bus and brush them onto the floor and then hoark a lugie out the window! WTF, lady?!

It's universal that "bad behavior" affects everyone. If the Chinese gov't is saying something about it must really be bad.

I left Singapore because of the Chinese, they are really loud. Maybe they like the song of Jennifer Lopez...........Let´s get loud!

Chairman Mao's Little Red Book taught them everything except manners.

I foresee problems arising in the future with growing wealth particularly in Asia.

Back in the 80's and 90's countries all over the world became familiarized with the Japanese, German and American tourist, but now will come the Chinese tourist over the coming years, with a population nearly quadruple those mentioned, with vastly more wealth, but then with behavioural differences.

Considering Parisians in general abhor tourists and English, I can easily see incredible tension when the Chinese tourist roams into town.

I was in the food court the other day sitting next to a Chinese lady. She startled me when she started yelling to her child, who was on the other side of the food court. I thought there was some emergency or something but she was just telling him that his dad was going to be a little late. I guess that's not as bad as peeing at the table.

OssanAmericaMay. 17, 2013 - 06:37PM JST

True. But please tell us how which other countries have had their government come out and declare that their people's behavior are atrocious and need to be corrected.

The British government through the whole of the 80's.

Yeah, the incredibly loud talking gets me all the time, Mandarin is probably the last language I want to hear yelled out across a train or on the street or in a shop..

I've always heard of the spitting, but haven't seen that yet.

If the root cause of their behaviour is an inherent sense of entitlement like in the US, what exactly are Chinese tourists going to be like when they become a part of the developed world?

smithinjapanMay. 17, 2013 - 05:30PM JST

it's not limited to nationality. When people are away from home, travelling, and having fun -- especially if they're young -- they are generally loud, can be obnoxious, get drunk, do crazy stuff. It is not just the Chinese by any means. I know plenty of Chinese who are courteous and quiet while the people of other nations are loud and what not.

You qualified a pretty accurate comment with a very accurate variable, especially if they're young.

Unfortunately Chinese boorishness has no age qualification. However I do agree that Chinese boorishness is more a lack of ignorance of how to behave, when a guest of others and could be quickly remedied with a few national educational campaigns, unlike Anglo-Saxon boorishness, which is definitely fueled by racial/cultural arrogance

you know the old saying 'you can take the horse to water but you can't make it drink' It is a nightmare having Chinese in a normal society. BTW I'm not Japanese so this is not the anti Chinese sentiment reflected by a Japanese and I live in London

spitting, shouting -( that language really sound terrible), queue jumping!!!! Badly dressed, bad hair

sorry I know this sound terrible but it is true!

Whew. I saw the headline and thought it was a Japanese official saying that.

I haven't encountered many Chinese tourists but there were a few students at my university. When you walked into the lounge the volume was a bit shocking at times.

If they have bad manners overseas, it means they have bad manners at home. Your average person isn't going to change the way they behave just because they've crossed a border into another country. There's an old saying: You can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger.

Traveling on a plane full of Chinese is just the worst. There were loud conversations between people 5 rows apart, smelly food appearing out of pockets everywhere, standing up and walking around when the seatbelt signs were on. The male flight attendant was so pissed off that at one point he just yelled "sit down!" to one especially unruly Chinese woman.

Chinese here in Shinjuku are well behaved. Shinjuku is a no smoking district, and unlike Europeans or Americans or some Japanese, the Chinese crowd the special smoking rooms or corners and don't smoke walking around. I know a majority of Chinese smoke.

give 'em 10yrs, i mean you didn't learn everything right away

and cultural differences shaped their norm, which so happens to differ from yours, so long as you don't take it personally, its alright

It wasn't that long ago when people in Hawaii said pretty much the same thing about the horde of Japanese tourists that were swarming their islands.

toshiko May. 18, 2013 - 08:36AM JST

Loud tourists? Americans.

You have to remember that a lot of Americans operate under the assumption that everybody understands and speaks English; just like them.

So if someone doesn’t seem to understand what they are saying it must be because that person is hard of hearing. When they start talking louder, and in many cases slower, it’s not that they are being rude; they are just trying to be sensitive to the other person’s handicap. =)

Personally, I think German and Canadian tourists are the worst.

Poor manners are hard to overcome when they are ingrained and are acceptable norms in the society. Spitting in public, picking nose, speaking loudly or yelling across a distance, cutting queue, etc. are behavioural norms in the Chinese society. I’ve been to China a number of times and I saw those kinds of behaviours first hand. One time I jumped and missed being spit on only a few inches away. At first I also had the negative idea about their uncivilized manners. But later I came to realize that it was the way they lived over there, the Chinese people were forced to or in another word, conditioned by the environment to behave that way. They saw etiquettes and manners to be the least of their worries because of the overcrowding, poor environment, and dog-eat-dog world. You know that when you are in China you have to spit very so often because of the dust and smog. What they don’t understand is it is a big deal when they display those kinds of behaviours in the outside world. So now I find their ill manners to be very funny rather than infuriating.

Las Vegas Nevada is the top tourist destination in USA. Chinese and other Asian are not loud. Loud tourists? Americans. They are comfortable to use American Freedom of Speech out of their states. Many Americans are shouting loud on their i-Phones.

I just quoted myself ha. I was addressing SuperLIb with my question: Why do you say that? I am a Canadian and quite proud of most of the encounters I've had with Canadian tourists. I at least pride myself in trying to help others when they ask and try to be as courteous as possible wherever I am.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1542438/China-launches-bid-to-teach-good-manners.html

It's been over 5 years but old habits are hard to break.

I don't like generalizations for any nationality. There may be some slight links between people from the same country but there are many more differences! I do however believe people do change based on if they are in a foreign country, especially if they are there for only a short time. So I agree with smithinJapan.

Personally, I think German and Canadian tourists are the worst. Why do you say that? I am a Canadian and quite proud of most of the encounters I've had with Canadian tourists. I at least pride myself in trying to help others when they ask and try to be as courteous as possible wherever I am.

Kuya 306: Majority of them are yelling to i-Phones, not to other tourists. They stay away from non-American tourists. They have nothing to explain to Asian tourists, when they themselves are tourists. They just yell to their i-phones. There were beautiful water fountains along many casinos. We have never heard Asian people tried to swim.

Loud Americans, loud Chinese. They will be able to shout at each other across the Pacific. Better than war, I suppose.