Now here is a piece of new which if you are Chinese would surely offend you. Turns out, the Chinese government has issued a guidebook which directs its citizens on how they should behave as tourists. In the guidebook along with a number of other instructions, it has also been directed that, as tourists every Chinese citizen should desist from nose-picking. In other words, is the Chinese government trying to insinuate that China is a nation of nose-pickers? Along with this directive, the Chinese tourist has been instructed to not pee in a swimming pool or steal lifejackets from airplanes.
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It seems that the Chinese authorities do not have a very high opinion of its people and any self-respecting Chinese would take offense upon reading such directives. Accompanying these directives are some more really hilarious ones like the one forbidding the Chinese tourist from trimming their nose hair in public. Agreed, there are certain stereotypes in all cultures, but to come out with an official directive of this sort seems like bit of an overreaction. The authorities felt the need to come out with this guidebook at this point in time because with the increase in affluence in the Chinese society more and more Chinese are vacationing abroad each year.
This guidebook not only teaches the Chinese the etiquettes of behaving abroad, but also within the country. Well to be honest, if someone really wanted to trim their nose hair in public, it seems highly unlikely that a guidebook would discourage them from doing so. It seems like the authorities really are out to change the stereotype that all Chinese tourists are uncouth, even if it is at the cost of humiliating their own citizens.
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Incidents like a Chinese woman allowing her son to pee in a bottle in the middle of a crowded street in Hong Kong because he couldn’t hold it in any longer or a young Chinese tourist carving his name in the Egyptian temple of Luxor are a few instances besides others that have prompted the authorities to publish this guidebook. Even before this guidebook was published, authorities have publicly addressed citizens asking them to be civilized wherever they are. As extreme as this step by the Chinese might seem, there is no denying the fact there are a number of nations out there that could do with publishing a similar guidebook for their citizens.
