Core: Most shops bore signs in International Ideogrammatic Chinese, as well as English, Maori, and Simglish. And why not? The Han were only the latest wave of nouveau moyen to suddenly discover tourism. And if they engulfed all the beaches and scenic spots within four thousand kilometres of Beijing, they also paid well for their hard-earned leisure.
Status: Confirmed
A reality in 2006.
Reality
The prediction was based, presumably, on the burgeoning wealth of the middle class, wherever they are allowed to arise. China started allowing it in the late eighties when, facing the need to compete internationally, they establishing the 'Shanghai precinct'
So, this one came true about thirty years early. It is likely by 2040, that chinese tourists will have got a little more refined...
Core: By then, the Han would have gotten used to it all. They'd be sophisticated individual travellers, like the Japanese, Malays, and Turks
I recall, when travelling in New Zealand in '94, that there were a lot of Japanese girls touring on their own.
So, who knows, maybe by 2040, we'll have run out of nations of nouveau riche bourgeosie!?
(NB: these comments are pretty loose, please feel free to correct them!)- arf
References
- (NPR report 4/3/06; nobody else called this one.)
- Chinese spending down-under surges. ABC News, May 25, 2006
- Chinese tourists getting a bad image. Wayne Arnold, NYT, October 23, 2005 (Gad! They'll be sighted in hawaiin shirts next!!)
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