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Why would anyone vacation in China? There are so many better options in Asia.
by jaimex2 7y ago
Why would anyone vacation in China? There are so many better options in Asia.
- AimForTheBushes 7y agoI am extremely critical of their government but China has beautiful nature and culture. I would love to visit if it wasn't so Orwellian.
- jaimex2 7y agoIt is a shame. I've done China, Cambodia and Vietnam. Highly recommend Vietnam, especially trekking in Sapa. The Chinese government loves offering students here in Australia free brainwashing trips, all expenses paid. It's was actually a good trip minus the sermons about why Huawei should have built the national broadband network.
- solotronics 7y agoAre you serious about the Huawei talks?
- jaimex2 7y agoYep
- 0xdeadb00f 7y ago> The Chinese government loves offering students here in Australia free brainwashing trips I'm curious about this. Can you elaborate a little? How does this work?
- jaimex2 7y agoThey call it seeds of the future: https://www.huawei.com/au/press-events/news/au/2019/huawei-australia-opens-doors-to-seeds-for-the-future-2019-program https://www.huawei.com/au/press-events/news/au/2019/huawei-a...
- justinzollars 7y agoIt's not the people's fault the government sucks. And the Chinese culture is very interesting.
- throwaway1997 7y agoChina has done a very good job of destroying its own culture since the cultural revolution. Hong Kong and Taiwan have preserved more of the traditional culture while continuing to move forward.
- Wellrowed 7y agoI've been. Sure, its Orwellian, I'm in their "system" now. But it was absolutely fascinating, I'd say go while you still can.
- AimForTheBushes 7y agoI would not go in their current state. It's only one rung above visiting N. Korea in my opinion.
- solstice 7y agoI'm sorry, but that second sentence is just ridiculous. Conflating NK and PRC does no one any good. Sure, the space for civil society has tightened a lot since 2011, you've got the trade war and a ton of other simmering conflicts, but on the whole (with the exception of Xinjiang) it's fine.
- kick 7y agoYou're forgetting what they're doing to Tibet.
- AimForTheBushes 7y agoI don't mean that as a matter of fact but a matter of personal opinion. I am as likely to go there as N. Korea.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoIs XJ really that bad now? When I visited in 2006, it was pretty tame with the exception of the area immediately near the border. It doesn’t even require a travel permit/full time tour guide like Tibet does.
- solstice 7y agoAfaik it is now well on its way towards a full-on techno-police state dystopia aimed at the uyghurs (ai, big data, facial recognition, ideological reeducation camps, politically reliable Han Chinese as forced live-ins in uyghur families tempting them to drink alcohol and reporting on them, forced installation of surveillance apps....)
- arcticbull 7y agoThere's tons of gorgeous places on the mainland, and Hainan, and the Hong Kong and Macau SARs (although they've gotta do some more leg-work to exfil you from one of the latter two).
- Analemma_ 7y agoJust go to Taiwan: it’s Chinese culture without the Chinese government (or the air pollution, or the visa process, etc.)
- nostrademons 7y agoThere's a long cultural history to China. Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Terra Cotta Army, Hutongs, Yangtze River, Three Gorges, authentic Chinese cuisine that will probably make you sick to your stomach, Guilin, Pearl River, Hong Kong, and many other places. I'm really glad I went back in 2006 before national governments started getting snippy with each other and their citizens. I wouldn't go now because I don't really like the idea of being imprisoned without trial, but if you ignore the politics there's a lot to experience in China.
- chrischen 7y agoAmong the developed country tourist spots China has always been down on the list. The top spots are Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan. But probably the biggest hurdle to China tourism is that you have to apply for a Visa whereas all those places offer Visa-waivers to most developed countries.
- yomly 7y agoSpeak for yourself some of the landscape in China is truly one of a kind
- derrick_jensen 7y agoBy definition all landscapes are one of a kind
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y agoI believe chrischen was referring to actual visitor counts, not personal opinions: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2019/09/04/the-worlds-most-visited-city-is-bangkok/#4f487fabcd26 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2019/09/04/the-worlds...
- chrischen 7y agoIf I were speaking for myself then I would be talking about how I've visited China more than all those other countries I've listed combined ;). But having been to all those countries, China is still the one place where a foreigner still gets ogled at whereas in those other countries no one bats an eye.
- justinzollars 7y agoI vacationed in China! I was so curious to see the country whose GPD will overtake the USA. Also I was politically curious. The food is amazing and the culture is very different. It was a great - and mind opening trip. That said it made me very proud to be an American!
- outworlder 7y ago> GDP will overtake Will?
- justinzollars 7y agoby ppp, have.
- arcticbull 7y ago$16,800 for China and $59,000 for the US. Not by a country mile. Even Hong Kong is in the high 50s. It’s only Macau in with a clear win at $112,000 thanks to the high number of casinos per capita. It may well overtake in the future but it has yet to.
- justinzollars 7y agoYou are talking about per capita. Yes, it will take a long time. But if the Chinese are half as productive as you and I their economy will be double our size. Remember there are at least 4 Chinese people per 1 person in the USA. That changes the math a lot.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoPpp measures are incredibly inaccurate, especially if you want to compare similar lifestyles. Having a western-leave middle class lifestyle is just as expensive (for many things more so) than many places in the west.
- justinzollars 7y ago
- mc32 7y agoIt’s right up there with Russia and authoritarian destinations in the Middle East for me in terms of places I’m not gonna go to to vacation.
- wensheng 7y agoI've been to about 20 national parks each in US and China. I'd say on the whole China has better natural scenes. The problem with China is the crowd. Every where you go, there's huge crowd, which ruin the experience.
- rantwasp 7y agofor me, China and all countries that have 0 respect for basic human right are a hard no. Yes, some places are gorgeous. No, it’s not worth losing your life/freedom over
- CapricornNoble 7y agoI thought about spending 1-3 months studying Bajiquan (a kinda-rare martial art) near Beijing.[1] It would be a great immersive Chinese cultural experience. When all the Huawei stuff kicked into high gear, and they ramped up detaining Canadians and Americans for BS reasons, I completely canx'd the idea. And I'm an ex-military officer, too? Easy to paint me as a spy. Not worth the risk. [1]https://www.studymartialarts.org/school/an-wushu-international-martial-arts-school/54.html https://www.studymartialarts.org/school/an-wushu-internation...
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoChina is a huge country with lots to see. Not just old stuff, but natural scenery as well. It is also quite affordable. Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal...all have their own appeal, but even together don’t cover completely what you can do in China. (They all have better internet, however)