Photo: olliradtke.de

An article in a Korean magazine on 7th May openly accused China of charging first rate prices to some tourist attractions, whilst at the same time providing third rate service. “Why the hell are Chinese entrance fees so high?!” said a Korean tourist standing outside the entrance to the Forbidden City.

If you look at the entrance price for the Forbidden City, Great Wall and other sites, then you can expect to pay RMB 60 during summer months, meaning a total cost for sightseeing in Beijing of some RMB 100-200. Other famous places outside of Beijing charge around RMB 40-60, a price that would put a certain amount of pressure on ordinary people.

Places like the Forbidden City were the domains of royalty and were no place for ordinary folk. It would appear that not much has changed. Even Chinese tourists have complained at how high the entrance fee is for the Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Great Wall. Miss Yu from Gansu province who has lived in Beijing for the past six years said that when she finally found the time to go to see the sights she couldn’t get it, it was too expensive. Apparently, when peasants come into Beijing they just head to parks or cheaper places like Fragrant Mountain.

Even though average earnings have been going up, the majority of ordinary Chinese people, like Miss Yu: they live next door to world class tourist attractions but can’t get it.

So the price is really high, therefore at least you could expect the service and management to be top-notch. However, when wandering around a tourist site you can’t even find a spare chair, and the toilets never look cleaned.

Photo: orchiddesigns.net

Despite constant reminders to stay off the grass and not litter, the authorities seem to be failing to keep their end of the bargain and try and keep the place clean and running properly. Often members of staff seem to take a police style attitude to bossing visitors around.

In the past few years the number of foreign visitors to China has increased dramatically and yet Chinese tourist attractions don’t seem to have improved. When I asked the ticket assistant at the Forbidden City why ticketing was so expensive he just said: “If you don’t want to pay then don’t come and visit.”

See this article in its original form at Huanqiu Huawang

If you have any bad (or good) experiences of sightseeing in China, please leave a comment here, along with any classic Chinglish signs spotted on the way.

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