High-end tourists tame Taiwan's fears
By Cindy Sui
TAIPEI - The strongest impression Chinese college student Chen Jiawei received
as he toured Taiwan for the first time last week was the relatively unblemished
quality of certain scenic spots.
"The water in the coastal areas is so blue. It's different from China's," said
Chen, 21, from Guangdong province.
Chen was one of 762 tourists who arrived on July 4 via the first regular direct
flights between mainland China and Taiwan since the two sides separated at the
end of a civil war in 1949. Over the course of his 10-day trip, he said he
found not just natural beauty, but a way of life he didn't expect in Taiwan.
"Here, they don't build a lot of man-made things in the natural
environment. For instance, [they don't] chop down trees, develop the land and
construct a house for forestry workers, like we see in the mainland. In the
mainland, they would plant the trees in the parks and then put the animals in
them," Chen said.
While Taiwan's government is focusing on the economic benefits of regular
flights from China and the 3,000 or so Chinese tourists they'll bring each day,
some analysts feel there may be potentially more significant consequences.
"The bigger impact is in cultural exchanges," said Kou Chien-wen, a political
scientist and cross-strait relations expert at Taipei's Chengchi University.
Tours like Chen's are the first time large numbers of ordinary Chinese have
been able to visit Taiwan. It's obviously an experience Chinese people could
never get from textbooks and movies, not to mention the state-controlled media.
While the two sides are separated only by a 160-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait,
they have never signed a peace treaty since civil war ended in 1949 with the
nationalists - today's Kuomintang (KMT) party - fleeing to Taiwan after the
communists took over the mainland. Up until July 4, direct flights were only
allowed on several major holidays each year, and almost exclusively for
Taiwanese business people and their families living in the mainland.
Only some 300,000 Chinese people have visited Taiwan annually, mostly on
business trips. The travelers had to transit through a third location - usually
Hong Kong or Macau - making the trips time consuming and costly. In the recent
past, flying from Taipei to Beijing took an entire day.
Now, with 36 direct weekday flights between cities on the two sides, and flight
times as short as 30 minutes, many more Chinese are clearly set to arrive.
And what are their impressions of Taiwan beyond Beijing's control? While China
has opened up in many ways, Taiwanese TV channels are still banned - even in
places such as nearby Xiamen city in Fujian province. Some Taiwanese programs
are allowed to be broadcast in hotels and upscale apartments in China, but it's
mostly fluff entertainment or soap operas - and all are screened by censors
beforehand.
"Now there's a new channel for Chinese to understand Taiwan," Kou said.
"Inevitably, Chinese tourists will compare life in Taiwan to that in China."
Unlike Europe or Southeast Asia, where many middle-class urbanites like Chen
have visited, Chinese tourists can communicate easily with locals in Taiwan.
And as most people on both sides are ethnic Han Chinese, it may be difficult
for some not to wonder why things are one way in Taiwan, and a much different
way in China.
"Even though their cities are small and their streets are narrow, there are no
traffic jams," said Chen. "When our tour bus was passing through their cities,
we could see their cities are very orderly."
According to tour guide Chin Wen-yi, the new Chinese tourists were most
interested in the differences in lifestyles. When garbage trucks passed the
tour groups, some of the Chinese tourists asked why the trucks had so many
different compartments, something not seen in the mainland.
"We explained to them it's because in Taiwan we have a recycling policy and we
require residents to sort their garbage, with a category even for kitchen food
scraps," Chin said.
At the same time, Taiwanese are getting a glimpse of China through the influx
of mainland tourists.
"Actually, they dress in a quite modern way, no different from us. They look
just like us, not at all like people from the countryside," said Wang Ruo-mei,
a Taipei native who does not know any mainlanders other than her late father,
who immigrated to Taiwan after the war.
The fact that well-dressed, well-mannered and big-spending Chinese tourists
could improve Taiwanese impressions of China is not lost on the Chinese
government. Analysts believe Beijing is hoping that Taiwan's increased economic
reliance on China will make the island less likely to declare independence - an
act which Beijing has threatened to respond to with war.
"China cannot control Taiwan's media, so it can't control Taiwanese people's
views of China. But when Chinese tourists come to Taiwan, at least China can
show its good side," said Chengchi University's Kou.
In fact, to ensure a good first impression is made, the first wave of tourists
was screened, said Darren Lin, a founding director of the Taipei Tour Guide
Association and deputy manager of a travel agency handling the tours.
According to Lin, most of the tourists guided by his company were civil
servants, repeat customers or family members and friends of the staff of
Chinese travel agencies.
"This is partly because it was not easy to find so many people who were
dependable in such a short time," said Lin. "The first group is considered very
important by the two sides of the strait. They were afraid of people running
off and trying to stay in Taiwan."
Retirees made up a large number of the 700 tourists, and each was required to
have a certain amount of savings in their bank accounts, Lin and others said.
Don't speak, don't tell
Both tourists and tour guides adopted a "no asking, no telling" attitude on the
subject of Taiwanese independence.
Sensitive places, including the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the
Presidential Palace were also avoided. Chiang was a former arch enemy of the
communists, and China does not recognize Taiwan's president because it
considers the island one of its provinces, not a nation.
So far, the impressions the Chinese tourists have left on Taiwanese people have
been positive. Despite some initial worries they would spit, or smoke in
non-smoking areas, most exhibited good manners. All were advised of Taiwan's
rules as soon as they got off the plane.
Television stations showed smiling tourists praising Taiwan's beloved beef
noodle soup, as well as shopping, and carrying off luggage stuffed with newly
purchased items.
Tourism industry officials expect that the number of Chinese tourists to reach
1 million annually, far greater than the current 300,000, and the tourists are
expected to spend billions of US dollars in Taiwan each year.
The first group that left this past weekend spent US$1.3 million on souvenirs
and luxury goods, according to the United Daily News. Taiwan's government and
tourism industry are hoping Chinese tourists will give the island's lagging
economy a much-needed lift.
"We hope those with money and time will keep coming," said Lin.
Most of the 13,000 tour guides in Taiwan have previously led tours for Japanese
visitors, but now 25%, Lin estimates, will focus on mainland tourists. "They
will have to revise their tour explanations and focus less on the Japanese
influence in Taiwan, because that might offend the mainlanders," said Lin.
Still, not all Taiwanese were ready to roll out the welcome mat for mainland
tourists.
A restaurant owner in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City hung a sign outside his
eatery indicating Chinese tourists were not welcome. And one TV station showed
a Tainan travel agent screaming that Chinese tourists will scare away the more
refined Japanese tourists.
Some Taiwanese also objected to businesses changing their signs or writings
such as menus from traditional Chinese characters, which are widely used in
Taiwan, to simplified characters, which are used in China.
"I don't think we should change our culture and identity just for money," said
Yang Wei-shiu, a Keelung resident.
But analysts said these are just initial hiccups. As both sides gain economic
benefits, most people will come to support the closer contact, they said. And
increased understanding could, over time, affect the two counties' political
relationship.
"Politically, it can enhance trust if the process continues," said Andrew Yang,
a cross-strait relations expert at the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy
Studies in Taipei.
To be sure, the Chinese tourists also noticed things they didn't like about
Taiwan.
Chen said news coverage of the disappearance of three Chinese tourists - who
were not part of the groups from the direct flights - differed between media
from Taiwan's blue camp, which is generally more open to closer relations with
China, and its green camp, which has pressed for Taiwan's independence.
The pro-blue media emphasized the three were not tourists from the direct
flights, while the pro-green media played down that distinction, Chen said.
"The media here are constantly fighting each other's perspectives and their
reports reflect their own standpoint," said Chen, who admitted he and other
tourists nonetheless loved reading local newspapers on their trip.
Although analysts believe it's too soon to say whether increased contact will
have an impact on political ties between the two sides, a new era of
China-Taiwan relations has begun.
"At least they'll compare why Taiwan is like this, and China like that. And
some of the differences will be related to the different political systems,"
said Kou.
Cindy Sui is a freelance journalist based in Taipei.
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