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Racist Chinese Hotels
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Racist Chinese Hotels
by Tom Carter
Anyone who has spent time in the People's Republic of China is obviously aware
of the sheer number of hotels and sundry boardinghouses located in even the
smallest city.
What patronizing Western travelers frequently encounter at
the front desk, however, is a sudden expulsion by the proprietor conveying in
Chinese that NO FOREIGNERS ARE ALLOWED!
What would compel a vacant
guesthouse to turn away a paying guest into the night?
The answer is
found in a longstanding police statute that prohibits the majority of these
establishments from accepting non-Chinese guests or risk the penalty of a fine;
only guests with Chinese identification may patron an independently run
boardinghouse, called luguan.
Considering no Westerner could meet such a
requirement, what this restrictive policy translates into is a concerted effort
to urge foreign travelers to stay at more expensive, government-designated
hotels.
Following the nation's accession into the World Trade
Organization, metropolitan cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, along with the
country's most popular holiday destinations, have eased their lodging
restrictions to accommodate greater numbers of overseas tourists. But anyone
intent on regional travel will be hard pressed to locate an appealing choice of
legitimate budget accommodations outside the major cities.
Indeed, having
passed through the most remote parts of China on my extensive journey across the
country, this writer recalls spending many an uncomfortable night on a Chinese
sidewalk or train station floor after being turned away from its only affordable
lodging.
A strict budget prohibits me from frequenting any hotel with a
room rate higher than 30 yuan, which dramatically reduces my chances of ever
finding legitimate accommodations. One night in a three-star hotel is equivalent
to a week's worth of frugal travel.
Lest one draw comparisons to myself
with a stray dog, I might add that I'm not always so submissively
destitute.
I vividly recall a recent experience in Yinchuan, capital of
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northern interior. With only two
accommodations to choose from in the immediate vicinity-an overpriced luxury
tower or a simple guesthouse with dormitory-style rooms and a shared water
closet-I of course sought the latter. As it was, the unapologetic front desk
clerk would not admit me.
I looked and did not find the requisite posted
official notice stating that foreigners were unwelcome; perhaps she was just
intimidated by any interaction with a non-Chinese. I put up a good argument
until a police officer was called to intervene. The officer summarily sided with
the hotel.
In an act of good diplomacy, the kindly police officer not
only escorted me to another hotel, but also paid my tab.
Grateful as I
was, I pressed the police officer for an explanation of this policy of excluding
overseas visitors from certain hotels. His only explanation was "Luguan are not
safe for foreigners."
There may be some truth to this. The average
boardinghouse, located in the less appealing neighborhoods that invariably
surround transportation hubs, are dimly lit, unsanitary and inadequately
constructed of mere particleboard. Nor are the typical luguan guests always the
most upstanding of character.
Revenue generated by China's hospitality
industry is annually estimated at 300 billion yuan, accounting for 2.5 percent
of the country's burgeoning gross domestic product. The Beijing Olympics in 2008
and Shanghai's World Expo in 2010 are expected to make China the largest global
tourism market in the next decade.
With between 50-100 million inbound
tourists every year, those on business or of the affluent leisure set will be
happy to spend 400 yuan and up per night on a branded mid-market hotel, which is
still considerably less than in the West.
China's National Tourism
Administration and adjunct agencies have heretofore been more concerned with
revPAR (revenue per available room) growth than the ethics of forcing someone to
either spend ridiculous sums of money for a bed or sleep in the
streets.
Yet ultimately the administration will need to address the
equally impressive number of budget-conscious travelers in the People's
Republic-students and independent backpackers with a limited travel allowance
intended to stretch from the Yellow Sea to the Himalayas.
Until the
police lifts the overprotective policy of prohibiting them from patronizing the
same affordable accommodations that Chinese nationals are entitled to,
foreigners in China will be dissuaded from provincial travel upon the simple
realization that there is nowhere affordably priced for them to
sleep.
###
Tom Carter of San Francisco is an internationally
published freelance photographer and travel writer specializing in the People's Republic of
China. Tom has traveled extensively throughout all 33 Chinese
provinces and autonomous regions and currently resides in Beijing.
This
article originally appeared in a December 2006 edition of Beijing Review magazine.
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