What kind of tourist is louder than an "Ugly American?"

Aiya. The New York Times has possibly offensive piece about the rapid rise in mainland Chinese tourists abroad. I can attest that Chinese tourists are often loud, gauging from what I've experienced in Thailand and Singapore, but this could be due to the fact they travel in large groups, as individual travel requires filling out loads of paperwork (one of the insights you can gleam from reading the NYT article). Being in a large group does embolden one ... on the other hand, I remember quite a few very loud, singular Anglos. One guy, in particular, was tearing away in a Bangkok hospital where my grandfather was bedridden. The hospital was next to the infamous Sathorn Soi Si (Road Four) and the guy was complaining very loudly about his newly broken leg. Perhaps he was dancing on a table and fell? Anyway, I digress ...

From what I understand, the United States does not issue tourist visas to people from mainland China yet, which was why some Chinese said the beaten-up Zhao Yan at Niagara Falls deserved her shiners. See my post on that very controversial case.

That means we here in the States may be in for a shock. Well, I guess we wouldn't be the only ones; the rich Chinese who can afford to take trips might be surprised to find they have to tip 15 percent, for example.

The Chinese people I know from Washington, D.C., however, are among the most humble and kind folk. Many of them are here doing biomedical research and are therefore very educated--they are China's elite. But because they had come from modest backgrounds, they treated me with respect and were eager to learn about Christianity. The difference between these Chinese scientists, from an officially atheist state, and our own American-bred professors impressed me immensely. I can't imagine an American cancer researcher listening to what I have to say about Jesus, but these guys were even grateful.

The bottom line, I think, is that Chinese tourists misbehave out of inexperience. And perhaps the ones that can afford to go abroad are used to bossing others around back home, and carry that attitude with them.