Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

15 Guidelines For Chinese Tourists Abroad

New guidelines have been published by China for Chinese tourists venturing abroad. All this to improve the nation’s image.

And no, I am not making this up, Happy October holidays!

1. Do not spit in public
2. Do not litter in public pages
3. Line up, don’t jump the queues at public venues
4. Do not make pictures when a sign says “no pictures”
5. Do not talk in loud voices
6. Do not polish your shoes with bed linen or the hotel towel
7. Do not smoke in Non-smoking areas
8. Wear proper clothes
9. Do not strip down to to the waist (for men) when it’s hot
10. Do not wear pajamas in supermarkets or on the street
11. Do not remove shoes and socks in airport terminals
12. Men, observe the “ladies first” rule
13. Flush after using the toilet
14. Do not block other pedestrians by walking side by side on sidewalks

And last but not least

15. Do not force foreigners to pose for pictures

If only these guidelines would also be issued inside China, besides wearing pajamas of course, it’s kind of nice.

Source: Shanghai Daily

The train to Lhasa, [tag]Tibet[/tag], that just a couple of weeks ago started rolling, is faced with some new challenges. It is still climbing to 5,072 metres (16,640ft) above sea level but its safety is apparently threatened.

These are the culprits (in no particular order):

• Cracks
• Shifting Sands
• Yaks

Less than a month after the opening of the line across the [tag]Himalayas[/tag] to Tibet, it has become unstable in places because the foundations are sinking into the permafrost, railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping, told the [tag]Beijing[/tag] News today.

planners have failed to cope with a far less timid and more numerous beast – the yak, thousands of which graze along the tracks and wander across them.

“These form dangers to passengers on the train,” Mr Wang said.

I am a bit saddened and hope there will be no retaliation against the yaks. The endangered Tibetan antelope already has its own tunnels, let’s give the yaks their own.

Source: The Guardian

The train to [tag]Lhasa[/tag], [tag]Tibet[/tag] is already operating for more than a week now, so not much news in that.

I just happened to run into a nice site that next to some great timetables for [tag]China[/tag] also has the [tag]Beijing – Lhasa Timetable[/tag] in English. As a [tag]foreigner[/tag] you need a permit though which will add a substantial amount to the ticket cost.

The [tag]Shanghai Daily[/tag] mentioned sometime before that

“The first [tag]Qinghai[/tag]-Tibet railway tour packages to depart from [tag]Shanghai[/tag] will be on July 16. Packages went on sale yesterday.
“An eight-day tour costs 12,000 yuan (US$1,500) for foreign passport holders.

The price includes a travel permit, meals, accommodation and all transportation. The entry permit to Tibet can only be purchased with a tour package. [tag]Chinese travelers[/tag] will pay 7,500 yuan each as they don’t have to purchase a permit to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region.”

With my limited mathematical skills that comes down to a travel permit price of 4500, which is about 563 US [tag]dollar[/tag] or about 439 [tag]Euros[/tag] .. which means a total [tag]ripoff[/tag] etc. It seems this permit is more of a nice cashcow than for any other reason.

I’ll wait till the permit prices have rationalized or rather the permit has been abolished.

Sources: Tibet-Qinghai rail packages, Beijing – Lhasa Timetable

After a month in Holland it’s good to be back in the dirty heat of Shanghai.

Being a [tag]China News[/tag] addict I wasn’t let down. [tag]Dutch Media[/tag] love items about [tag]China[/tag], from little funny tidbits about how the film MI 3 may not be released in China because there is too much laundry hanging in the street to video items about the average time a [tag]Chinese[/tag] tourist spends in [tag]Holland[/tag] while on a [tag]Europe[/tag] tour.

With a bit of luck they stay 1.5 day but for most tours Holland is a short break on the way from [tag]Belgium[/tag] to [tag]Germany[/tag] (or vice versa). On average the time in Holland is probably less than 12 hours.

[tag]Dutch Hotels[/tag] are more expensive than Belgian and German ones. [tag]Chinese tourists[/tag] spend a maximum of 30 Euro to sleep so it makes sense to do it this way as long as Dutch hotels like to stay expensive.

The Dutch tourism board did some self-fulfilling research and concluded that in the future (I guess far future) the Chinese tourists will choose more for quality. With quality they probably imply paying too much for hotel rooms.

One other reason they stay a short time is the fact that Chinese will enter Europe in Germany or France. Visa procedures are more convenient there.

A friend working in the [tag]China tourism[/tag] industry once told me that Chinese tourists spend almost 300 Euro a day while on tour abroad, buying all kind of souvenirs and other brand products.

In 2005 107.000 Chinese visited Holland. A bit less than the expected and the numbers have been adjusted for the coming years. Before the estimation for 2007 was 350.000, now they hope to get 175.000 in 2010.

It would be smart to keep them a bit longer inside the borders and have them spend. Maybe it helps when the [tag]Dutch government[/tag] gets rid of the idea that all Chinese want to stay in Holland forever and improve/simplify the visa process.

Sources: Geledraak (Dutch) , Volkskrant (Dutch)

Last Friday the oldest, still [tag]sailing[/tag] [tag]cruise ship[/tag] arrived in [tag]Shanghai[/tag]. For an aspiring international city as Shanghai that should be kind of an event. The [tag]Shanghai Morning Daily[/tag] even published about it on its Saturday front page.

Friday morning we got up early to meet my uncle and aunt from the ship. The week before we had done the research about where the ship would dock, went to the place all the port officials told us to go, had a look around, saw an old custom house, had it once again confirmed and felt confident we were in the know.

We saw nothing at that place on Friday morning. We called, asked around, were on the phone with more people of the port authority and finally got to speak to a person who was rather upset that so many people were calling him about the actual docking place. Luckily he knew.

Back in the car we continued our journey into the far away Shanghai hinterlands.

After an hour driving we found ourselves in the remotest container harbor possible and saw the ship from a distance, a far distance.

We were not allowed to enter the premises, police was abundant as it were a state visit and we waited in vain for some time.

Tour Buses with patrol cars leading the way passed by, but no uncle and aunt in sight. The next best thing we could do was go home.

Luckily we were able to meet up on Saturday as a fax we sent to the ship on Friday was delivered to their cabin Saturday morning.

We had a lovely day after all, ate [tag]Xinjiang[/tag] food, visited the propaganda poster museum and the [tag]Jade Buddha[/tag].

Most cities would love to parade with the fact that they have these kind of cruises visiting. In Shanghai they flaunt it in the newspaper but deem the ship worth the same as a container.

Sources in the city’s Waigaoqiao Exit and Entry Quarantine Station say … the [tag]Queen Elizabeth II[/tag], the world’s oldest ocean liner still in service, is expected to visit [tag]Shanghai[/tag] in March.

Stop the sources and the suspense here. The ship will dock March, 10 and passengers will be setting foot on Shanghai soil around 09:00. The next day the ship will be continuing its journey to [tag]Hong Kong[/tag].

How do I know? My uncle and aunt are on it and I will show them the wonders of Shanghai that day. Any suggestions?

Sources: Xinhua Queen Elizabeth Itinerary

According to a post in zonaeuropa [063] [tag]Marketing[/tag] Ideas, traveling by train for the [tag]Chinese[/tag] [tag]New Year[/tag] makes grown-ups babies again, at least as far as the [tag]diapers[/tag] go. It’s so crowded even the toilets are booked.

One more reason to avoid leaving the house during [tag]Spring Festival[/tag], provided you have a choice of course.

It’s the time of year that all migrants return home to bring back their earnings, provided they were actually paid. As a logical consequence the railway company increases the ticket prices in this period.

They do this every year in [tag]China[/tag] and it’s a fine example of the [tag]market economy[/tag] of a monopoly.