Boy Defaces Egyptian Relic: The Latest in a Series of Badly Behaved Chinese Tourists

Boy Defaces Egyptian Relic: The Latest in a Series of Badly Behaved Chinese Tourists
May 29, 2013 By eChinacities.com

Editor’s note: this article was translated and edited from Ifeng.com. It reports on the recent story about the Chinese tourist who scrawled graffiti on an ancient relic in Egypt’s Luxor Temple. The offender turned out to be Ding Jinhao, a student from Nanjing whose parents later apologized for the incident. The article then goes on to look at a recent declaration from Vice Premier Wang Yang regarding badly behaved Chinese tourists, and a series of recent similar events.

On May 25 at around 08:00, news broke regarding the defacement of a 3,500 year-old cultural relic in Egypt’s Luxor Temple by a Chinese tourist. The perpetrator turned out to a student from Nanjing. The carving, which stated “Ding Jinhao was here” has caused a furore in Egypt as well as in China, whose netizens feel utterly ashamed by this latest in string of uncivilized deeds by badly behaved Chinese tourists. After the identity of the perpetrator was released, the high school student’s personal information including his date of birth and school of study managed to find its way onto Weibo (thanks human flesh search!). Amid countless condemning comments, netizens have expressed their hopes that the student and his parents apologize for the act, though some have conveyed their concern at the widespread publication of a student’s personal information. Some netizens also pointed out that such behavior is typical of so many badly behaved Chinese tourists, and that the child probably thought that scrawling his name on an ancient relic was simply something cool to do.


Photo: Ifeng

May 25, 15:00 – parents apologize, ask for forgiveness of child

Several hours after the story broke, the boy’s father called the 24 hotline for newspaper “Xiandai Kuaibao”, and said that he wished to give a public apology for the incident. After arranging a time, a reporter from the newspaper went and met with the boy’s parents. While the reporter met them, the mother was crying nonstop and neither of them was willing to say much else regarding the incident. They recalled that at the time, they were in a large tourist group and didn’t see their son slip away and draw graffiti on the relic. After finding out he did it, the parents were angry with him and the child admitted his mistake: “The kid made a mistake, but the main blame is with us as we failed to keep a proper eye on him. We apologize to everyone here who has heard about this incident as well as Egypt,” declared the father.

“From when he was growing up until the present day, we often saw him do similar things, though we never told him that what he was doing was wrong,” said the tearful mother. “We ask that everyone forgive our child and give him a chance to correct his mistake.” The mother stated that Ding’s grades are pretty good and that he’s usually pretty well behaved, though has quite a shy demeanor. At the time of the interview, the child wasn’t yet aware of the attention caused by his defacing of the relic, as his parents were worried that it would be too much pressure for him and it may affect his development. The father expressed hopes that people show tolerance to their son, and that his future education and life aren’t affected by the incident.  

Badly behaved Chinese tourists – a phenomenon recognized by top officials

“Some Chinese tourists’ education levels aren’t that high, and they frequently become the target of criticism by the media,” stated Vice Premier Wang Yang during a State Council conference wherein new tourism laws were introduced. The new laws serve up clear-cut regulations of “uncivilized” behavior of tourists in China as the new leaders try and crackdown on the country’s negative image. The new laws will go into effect on October 1 2013, and demand that tourists respect public order and local culture, traditions, religions and beliefs, as well as protect the local environments of areas they travel to. When discussing the issue of tackling the “uncivilized” habits of some Chinese tourists however, many netizens have expressed their doubts and say that the elimination of such behavior will not be an easy task.

Recent incidents of badly behaved Chinese tourists

1) Throwing cigarette boxes into the sea in the Republic of Palau
In February this year, movie star Huang Bo posted a notice on Weibo stating that during his holiday to the Pacific island nation of Palau, he was shocked to see countless cigarette boxes in the water when he was diving. Upon seeing Chinese characters on the cigarette boxes, Huang ran over to find the culprits and told them how embarrassing it was for China.

2) Stealing coral in Maldives
On May 1 2013, a Chinese tourist was showing off a piece of coral she just pulled out of the water, though was soon told off by a nearby Maldivian diving instructor. Following the incident, the Chinese media reported that foreigners seem to have a “love hate relationship with Chinese tourists”, and stated that they loved the fact Chinese tourists often freely spend money, though hated the fact that their bad behavior often caused problems. 

3) Carving into a rock in Taiwan
On March 27 2009, a Chinese tourist from Changzhou by the name Zhao Genda gained infamy by inscribing his name onto a rock in a well-known willow park. The incident swept through the Taiwanese media over the next few days, which led to Zhao issuing a public apology over the carving.

4) Carving name into a copper relic in Beijing’s Forbidden City
In February 2013, a worker in Beijing’s Forbidden City surnamed Yan discovered that a tourist scrawled “Liang Qiqi was here” onto an ancient copper relic near the area’s Gate of Supreme Harmony. Yan told his findings to a reporter, and the story later went viral on Weibo. The post was entitled “To tourist Liang Qiqi who inscribed his name onto a copper relic in the Forbidden City; we’ve caught you.”

5) “Guo’an are the Champions” appears on London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral
Before the 2012 London Olympics, Chinese tourist Bai Yansong was paying a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral. While walking around the cathedral’s cloisters, Bai discovered a line of Chinese graffiti that said “Guo’an are the Champions”. Instead of denouncing the act, Bai joked, “If people carry on doing things like this then this place will turn into an appreciation club for the Chinese Super League. Seeing these words right before the London Olympics was pretty funny.”

Source: Ifeng
 

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12 Comments

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Guest434920

"Following the incident, the Chinese media reported that foreigners seem to have a “love hate relationship with Chinese tourists”" If they are in their own country, they are not foreigners... the Chinese are the foreigners. Pull your heads out of your ethnocentric asses.

Jul 26, 2013 14:20 Report Abuse

tomgee

This one had the opportunity to do it knowing it was wrong and got caught. The kid happened to be Chinese. From all the graffiti I've seen in all my travels, it seems that there are thousands of kids or immature individuals that do it and probably millions of them that want to do it. If I remember correctly it was the French solders that knocked off the nose of the Sphinx. The past few years, it seems that Chinese, as a group are the people that have money to drop all over the world. There was a time when people that can afford to do this were people from Europe, then America, Japan, etc...Remember how the French made fun of the Americans? There are a lot more airplanes flying and the ability carry more people around the world is at its greatest point and will probably grow. What is the point of criticizing a country for acts of an individual? Wonder which group of people or country will be criticized in a couple of years.

Jun 26, 2013 20:04 Report Abuse

LAR

change..**** your excuses! You sound like a typical Oriental making excuses. :( To the a*****e that laughed about the vandalism at St. Paul's Cathedral..I wish that P.O.S. would jump off a cliff. * Now THAT would be pretty funny!!!! lol. Pyramid structures DO NOT exist everywhere you ***! :( What an assinine comment!!!!! :(

Jun 12, 2013 10:25 Report Abuse

White.Tulip

the parents showed up trying to "solve" the problem, but I don't understand where the boy was, he's 15 years old, he should be responsible for what he has done. the parents made it being their responsibility (well, how to educated the boy is their responsibility),and the boy didn't do anything wrong.

May 30, 2013 11:17 Report Abuse

chiarahz

"from when he was growing up, we often saw him do similar things, though we never told him that what he was doing was wrong". This, to me, says it all. Not only are the Chinese the worst behaviored tourists on Earth it seems: they don't make very good parents either, do they?

May 29, 2013 22:03 Report Abuse

Guest1006436

dont even get me started on Chinese tourists spitting their guts out when visiting Parthenon in Greece...

May 29, 2013 18:47 Report Abuse

Guest655570

I agree with nonotz. It doesn't matter where a person is from. This type of behavior simply cannot be condoned. I find it hard to believe that the occasional slap on the wrist is going to have any real effect. In fact, unless children are educated in a way that includes how to behave with decency, then this will continue. I'm surprised that the parents were stupid enough to bring such their child. Still while much fault rests with the degenerate boy, his parents should be blamed for failing to raise him in a way which appreciates historical relics.

May 29, 2013 13:13 Report Abuse

nonotz

its doesn't matter where he/she's from , if they did something like that they deserve to be shot in the head , twice , just to be sure ....

May 29, 2013 12:21 Report Abuse

Firefighter

The mother said it all, that he grew up doing these kinds of things, so how could the parents put an eye on him only on this fateful day. The crux of the matter is the sense of entitlement that permeates every aspect of Chinese people's lives. Many negative things are not seen as shortcomings. The walls of the Great Wall in Badaling Beijing are littered with names carved into them.any Chinese tourists learn nothing about touristic sites. They flash victory signs to clicking cameras and move on to the next spot. All the many historical sites in Beijing can be visited in a day, but nobody remembers anything about them.

May 29, 2013 10:13 Report Abuse

sharkies

The Chinese are the worst kind of tourists and by far the most annoying people to travel with. On a recent flight back to China from Thailand there were some Chinese waiting in the line just ahead of me to board the plane. They were spitting and dropping food scraps everywhere. Just by looking at them one could tell that they were the lowest class of people that had probably just run into some money. I felt sorry for the passengers in first class - because that's where these pigs were headed. Whenever I fly back to Australia I always fly out of Hong Kong rather than Guangzhou, because I can't tolerate flying with the mainlanders. Their uncivilised and disgusting behaviour just totally appals me!

May 29, 2013 08:32 Report Abuse

tomgee

They remind me of some of the Australians in Kuta

Jun 26, 2013 19:52 Report Abuse

steele8828

What good is an apology? Why aren't people talking about compensation for damages? This ancient work of art is part of a world heritage and is priceless. The parents should be made to pay. Also the tour operator should pay for their negligence in allowing this to happen. The true cost of the damages cannot be calculated but 10 million RMB would provide a memorable lesson to the family and provide a small amount toward the restoration work that will be needed.

May 29, 2013 08:25 Report Abuse