'Uncivilised behaviour' of tourists is harming China's image, admits VP Wang Yang

The dire manners and “uncivilised behaviour” of some Chinese tourists abroad are harming the country’s image, said a top official who lamented their poor “quality and breeding”, according to state-run media.

Wang Yang, one of China’s four vice premiers, singled out for condemnation “talking loudly in public places, jay-walking, spitting and willfully carving characters on items in scenic zones”.

Such “uncivilised behaviours” were “often criticised by the media and have damaged the image of Chinese people and caused vicious impact”, he said, according to the website of the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

At a government meeting on Thursday on a new tourism law Wang said: “The quality and breeding of some tourists are not high yet.”

Chinese consumers have become increasingly affluent on the back of its economic boom and foreign holidays are ever more popular, with shopping often a key activity.

Destination countries, including debt-laden European states, have been easing visa restrictions to attract more tourists from China, but reports have also emerged of complaints about etiquette.

A mainland Chinese mother who asked her son to relieve himself in a bottle in a crowded Hong Kong restaurant sparked an outpouring of online anger in February.