[Vox pop] ‘Not all Chinese, but always Chinese?’ How Chinese tourists are seen overseas
Chinese tourists often spark debate in global travel circles: admired for their spending power, yet frequently criticised online for behaviour such as cutting queues or littering. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina and Lu Lingming speak with foreign travellers and mainland Chinese tourists about how these images are formed and how fair they are.
Among the respondents, foreign travellers noted that social media often casts Chinese tourists in a negative light, even though personal encounters tend to be more positive. Isolated incidents are amplified online, with individual misbehaviour treated as representative of an entire nationality — captured in the viral comment: “Not all Chinese, but always Chinese.” Negative stories especially, spread faster because they attract more attention.
Mainland Chinese respondents acknowledged that some tourists behave poorly, whether from habit or cultural norms. But they stressed that these actions are magnified because they are Chinese, with individual missteps wrongly seen as national traits. Social media echo chambers and China’s large population make such incidents highly visible, while older respondents linked persistent stereotypes to fear, insecurity, or jealousy over China’s growing global influence.
Still, perceptions are slowly shifting. Some respondents observed that younger travellers, influenced by higher education, overseas exposure and improved living standards, are more mindful of local norms. But both foreign and Chinese observers agreed: real-world experiences often challenge one-dimensional online images.
