Chinese Tourists Export a Mix of Cash and Brash

At a casino hotel in Malaysia's Genting Highlands last summer, 300-plus members of a Chinese tour group were issued meal coupons bearing somewhat crude illustrations indicating that they ate pork, unlike most people in that predominantly Muslim country.

The tourists, however, reportedly interpreted the drawings as a message that Chinese were pigs, leading to a lobby sit-in and an impassioned rendition of China's national anthem. The standoff was broken up only with the arrival of police canine units.

Cultural misunderstandings are just some of the possible pitfalls as millions of increasingly affluent Chinese tourists head overseas, shopping lists in hand, to see the world. Often loud, nouveaux riches and increasingly on your doorstep, the newly minted tourists show anew how the rising aspirations of China's 1.3 billion people are fundamentally reshaping the world.

For a Beijing keen to recast its global image, high-spending tourists are also an increasingly useful way to offset trade imbalances and blunt outdated perceptions of China as a nation of grim-faced cadres.

For decades after the 1949 Communist takeover, the idea of traveling overseas for pleasure was anathema, a sign you were ideologically suspect, even a possible spy. "I couldn't imagine a trip like this a couple of decades ago," said Han Yushu, 63, a retired teacher heading for Europe, his first trip outside China. "Life is really improving."

About 32 million Chinese ventured overseas last year, a sixfold increase over 1997 and a fiftyfold increase since 1985, with 100 million projected annually by 2020.

"The potential is just enormous," said Jia Yiyuan, outbound deputy general manager with China Comfort Travel, a Beijing-based travel agency. "Some people say Venice is sinking because of all the Chinese tourists."

Although most remain close to home, a growing number are venturing to Europe, Latin America and Africa. Their priorities are also different. Even as they scrimp on rooms and food, they're shopping aggressively for luxury bags, watches and designer clothes to the tune of $987 per overseas visitor, more than the Japanese, making them the world leaders, according to a survey by ACNielsen and Tax Free World Assn.