Xi’an: Another Must See on the List of Must Sees (i)

There seems to be some invisible authority in China that determines which sites are required attractions for tour groups. A few weeks ago, I was in Anji, a county between Hangzhou and Shanghai known for its bamboo. If you want to book a one-day tour of Anji, regardless of what tour company you use, and regardless of what your interests are, pretty much every tour will offer the same itinerary. Do not question the invisible tour authority. “What, you don’t want to visit the ‘Bamboo Sea’? How can you visit Anji and not visit the Bamboo Sea?”

 Frankly, some of these must-see sites are boring, and I think they bore both domestic and international tourists, but the tour itineraries still do not change. Nixon saw an Chinese acrobatic performance when he visited China in 1972, and it seems now that every Western tour group to China goes to an acrobatic show. I rarely meet locals who even mention Chinese acrobatic performances, and many have not even seen one, but it is a mandatory activity for all Western visitors. At the performance I saw in Beijing during my first trip to China, I would guess about 90% of the audience was from overseas, and all announcements throughout the show were in English. Hangzhou is similar: it may be 40 degrees Celsius outside, but you cannot skip over “Lingering Snow at Broken Bridge,” and you may have no interest in tea, but you cannot miss going to “Inquire about Tea at Longjing;” these sites are both parts of the “Ten Scenes of the West Lake” and are not optional.

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Posted at 01:30PM Dec 26, 2008 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[2]