The English language teacher from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – the world’s most landlocked city – had only ever experienced 30 minutes of snorkeling before, albeit off the tropical paradise Indonesian island of Bali.

However, fuelled by those two experiences and a curiosity about marine life that she has nurtured since childhood, He splashed out on professional diving instruction and gained a globally recognized certificate of competence, despite knowing she was entering deep financial waters.

“Different oceans in different seasons offer completely different ‘wow’ experiences,” she said. “I have tried more than 20 diving destinations worldwide in the past five years. Diving at this level is really costly. I spent about 45,000 yuan on equipment. The total cost of one-hour scuba diving is about $200 on average.

“The Little Mermaid is not only a charming film, it also charms our purses.”.

According to Henrik Nimb, a senior official with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the world’s largest diving training organization, about 5,000 Chinese people attained PADI certification between 2001 and 2008.

There are about 30 diving centers and resorts across China certified by PADI, two of which are in Beijing: Extreme Experience Diving Club and Beijing Dragon Diving. Shanghai has five centers while tropical Hainan has 10 high-end PADI centers and resorts.

Nimb said that China has become the fastest-growing market for PADI in the world and he believes that it will become the world’s largest diving market within 10 years.

Professional divers

Manoel Wang, a manager at Masey International Exhibition Co Ltd, said: “Currently, only 0.1 percent of tourists from the mainland are experienced divers and they always travel to their diving destinations on their own accord and not through travel agencies.

“Professional diving is a money-burning activity: The full set of equipment would cost you 30,000 yuan at least. If you rent at the diving resort, the price ranges from $100 to $150 per session on average.”

The cylinder containing enough air for 45-minutes costs $100 and the instructor tends to charge $100 for a two-hour service, Wang added.

It’s not only the inexperienced who need an instructor, Wang said. Experienced people diving in an unfamiliar place should also be accompanied. The rule is all divers should at least be accompanied by a “buddy” – someone to help them out if a situation gets tricky.

“Diving in the Chinese mainland is still in its infancy because it has not been part of the culture and the market still needs to be explored,” said Wang.

Because of their geography, people in Taiwan, from where Wang comes, and Hong Kong learn about the ocean at a very early age and they regard them like a gym, treating sea-related sports as daily exercise as well as a part of their social lives, the businessman said.

However, he said that in coastal cities on the Chinese mainland, there has been an increase in the number of people taking up the sport.

Some industry experts say the expense has deterred many who might be interested.

Lu Bing, a scuba diving trainer in Dalian, Liaoning province, said that a PADI course would cost more than 3,500 yuan on the mainland but was about $50 to $100 in other countries.

Wang said: “You can learn and take the test abroad if you are confident speaking a foreign language.”

PADI had awarded about 18.5 million certificates worldwide by 2009. A total of 87,401 took the test in 2009. About 67 percent of certifications are awarded to male divers. The average age of PADI-certified divers is 29.

“But in China, most of my tourists are in their 30s. Many are wealthy,” Wang said. “Chinese young people tend to regard diving as nothing more than watching fish. They prefer to try something more exciting.”

The post-80s generation has become a major force driving consumption in China’s urban areas, according to a survey by market consulting firm CTR. Women and more wealthy people, who usually have higher education backgrounds, job status and income, are the other two highest spenders, it said. These are the groups Chinese diving centers want to attract.

Industry experts say that Chinese diving organizers and diving center operators need to further improve the quality of their services with better equipment for rent, as well as introduce exciting programs to lure youngsters.

Diving for fun

Terry Bai, a Shanghai-based freelance photographer, has expanded his career into the oceans. From Hainan to Saipan, he has dived in the oceans off more than 10 countries.

“Digital cameras enable us to take underwater photos more easily, thanks to their relatively small body and high light sensitivity,” said Bai, who is organizing an ocean-themed personal exhibition in Shanghai. “The plastic waterproof shell designed for diving photographers is my must-have equipment.

“Of course, shooting underwater requires higher diving skills and you have to better control your breathing when you come across a picturesque scene. Also, carefully watching the flow of the water is crucial for a good result.

“You can obtain a very bizarre hallucinatory effect through the magic pen of the light underwater which is quite different from the light on the land.”

Bai said that underwater photography is not only a kind of artistic creation but also a tough physical test. He said it was an attractive activity and that people who didn’t try it would never understand.

Wang of Masey International said that tourists without certification who want to experience life under the ocean’s waves could always go snorkeling. Shallow water behind coral reefs can hold abundant marine life forms including exotic Picasso trigger fish and baby moray eels.

“Most of the trip packages to coastal countries and islands provided by travel agencies in China include diving as an activity and they don’t charge the tourists a lot but, of course, they only mean snorkeling,” said Wang.

“You only need a mask and an air pipe which cost about 200 to 300 yuan,” Wang said. “The rent price is around 70 to 80 yuan at the resort.”

At Taobao.com, China’s largest e-commerce site, there are about 70,000 diving-related items available.

Zhang Jingfang, a diving product vendor at Taobao, said: “The business is good. I usually earn thousands of yuan a month.

“Such low priced products have a market because the large numbers of divers at the entry level buy these simple bits of equipment before traveling to somewhere where snorkeling is productive. The chances are it is not a regular trip so they might only use them once.”

Dive the world

The gold standard Asian diving destinations include Sipadan in Malaysia, Bali in Indonesia and Thailand’s Lembeh Straits and Koh Similian.

Ma Nan, marketing manager of Beijing UTS International Travel Service Co Ltd, said his company didn’t organize any inbound trips with diving activities because tourists prefer to dive off other countries.

The Annual Report of China Outbound Tourism Development 2009-2010, released by the China Tourism Academy (CTA), estimated that 54 million tourists would go abroad this year, up from 47 million in 2009.

“Most of our tourists are young people and also some parents would like to try the activity with their kids,” Ma said. “Diving tourism is still new in the Chinese market but we expect a boom in the near future.”

Wang of Masey International said: “Hainan and the Maldives rank at the top of the Chinese divers’ destination list.”

The quality of services at Chinese diving resorts is comparatively lower than at their overseas counterparts: The sea water is not that clear and the equipment is a bit outdated and past its best, Wang said.

“It depends on what kind of scenery you are expecting to see,” he said. “There is also a diving service at Qiandaohu Lake in Zhejiang province.”

Ding Ding, the public relations manager at Hua Yuan International Travels Company Ltd, named Phuket, Bali and Maldives as among Chinese divers’ favorite destinations.

“The average cost of diving in Australia is about AU$150 per person per session but the scene here is definitely competitive,” Ding said.

Wang said: “There are some slight differences in price from place to place, but not that much. The Great Barrier Reef is the most expensive option and Southern Asia is cheap.”

As to the soaring number of diving centers and indoor diving resorts across China, diving organizers and travel agencies expressed indifference.

Wang didn’t think such diving centers would have much of a market since their major function was training.

“However, good divers only can be trained in the oceans,” he said. “When more Chinese people accept and gradually fall in love with the activity, they will know that the core philosophy of diving is appreciating the fabulous marine life and its habitats and making friends with Mother Nature.”

Source: China Daily

Chinese divers splash out on courses is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

The island, with its turquoise waters, white-sand beaches and purple-flowered fields, has been chosen by China’s financial capital as the preeminent “exotic honeymoon paradise” for couples.

A massive promotional campaign aimed at boosting Chinese tourism on the island has been jointly launched by Shanghai’s municipality and Sardinia’s authorities.

“China is a growing market,” said Giorgio Macioccu, head of the north Sardinia hotel and tourism association. “Its rising middle class has started to travel around the world and loves everything that is branded ‘Made in Italy.’ There are millions of potential tourists that one day will come visit our beautiful island.”

In 2009, China was the fourth-biggest spender after France, the United States and Spain of tourism dollars, with over $40 billion spent on traveling to foreign destinations, according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization. And the sector is set to increase by 20 percent a year: by 2020 more than a hundred million Chinese tourists will globe-trot.

And Italy has become the Chinese tourists’ preferred vacation spot, an opportunity that Sardinia (whose economy solely relies on tourism) is relishing.

Macioccu’s dream is to turn his home town into a top Chinese destination for newlyweds. It’s a refection of how hot China’s nuptials market has become.

Delegations of Sardinia’s hotel-keepers, led by Macioccu, regularly participate in Shanghai’s global Nuptial Tourism Fair, where they recently signed an agreement with Shanghai’s authorities aimed at increasing wedding-related tourism to the island.

Macioccu said that each year in Shanghai about 150,000 weddings were celebrated and most of the couples already chose the Mediterranean islands as their honeymoon destination. The “added value” in terms of business for Sardinian tourism comes from the longstanding tradition of “collective wedding trips,” which involving the couples’ parents, families and friends.

The Chinese couples’ favorite months for their wedding trip are May, September and October, the low-season in Sardinia. On the island, enormous investments are being made to train hotel personnel in welcoming and making the Chinese tourists feel at home. The employees of the most exclusive resorts are learning Chinese language, culture and traditions.

Chinese tour operators have toured Sardinia’s four biggest cities to experience first-hand how they can market them at home.

Bilateral ties between China and Sardinia officially kicked-off in October, when Shanghai-based commercial giant Huai Hai Group chose the northern part of the island as the ideal location for the “Rose Wedding” reality show featuring the most romantic honeymoon moments of 16 Chinese couples.

For the first time Sardinia’s warm sunsets, panoramas and cuisine were broadcast live on China’s televisions. The show was a hit — drawing an estimated 175 million Chinese viewers.

“We have signed a co-marketing agreement to promote Sardinia across all China through tourist agencies and tour operators who are offering special packages to Chinese customers,” Macioccu said.

Trip catalogues and a Sardinian website have been translated into Mandarin. The next step is to shorten distances through the launch of a direct flight linking Shanghai to Sardinia’s three international airports.

But what attracts the Chinese to such the tiny island?

“They’re fascinated by our natural beauties. But it’s not only a question of sunbathing and snorkeling,” Macioccu said. “Chinese tourists are great explorers, they like to discover new places and love archaeology.” What leaves them totally speechless is the typical ‘nuraghe,’ a primitive Stonehenge-like rock construction built by early humans.

The Chinese apparently have a soft spot as well for the island’s food: honey-roasted piglet, fish eggs (“bottarga”), spaghetti with sea urchins and shell-like pasta called “maloreddu.” A number of Chinese chefs are visiting Sardinia soon to learn the local cuisine and report back to China’s elite restaurants.

Several Shanghai shopping centers have already ordered 40,000 bottles of Sardinia’s top aromatic red wine as well as olive oil to give their clients a “taste” of the Italian island. All Chinese people will soon be able to buy the typical agro-food products at Shanghai’s airports and so-called “Sardinia boutiques” are expected to open across China in the near future.

By Silvia Marchetti — Special to GlobalPost

Source: Global Post

Chinese weddings a moneymaker for Italy is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

A growing number of the 404-million Internet users on the Chinese mainland are now making travel purchases online. And that growth will accelerate in the coming years, according to iResearch, which will lead to a strong surge in Internet outlets.

“And iResearch estimates that revenue from the online travel service market will more than triple between 2009 and 2013,” the company says.

The number of China’s outbound travelers is expected to reach 52 million this year, up 7 percent year-on-year, the China National Tourism Administration forecast.

From January to May this year, China’s outbound travel tourists totaled 26.8 million, up 19 percent over the same period last year, according to the report posted on the CNTA’s website.

The report attributed the outbound tourism boost to stable development of China’s economy and the appreciation of the yuan against the US dollar.

The company also predicts that by as recently as next year, 20 percent of China’s travel market will be web-based.

That’s a startling change from 2009 when less than 15 percent of China’s US$58 billion in travel bookings were transacted online, according to PhoCus Wright’s Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in China.

Two major reasons for the change: online buying in the past was difficult, and travelers preferred face-to-face transactions with travel agents.

Though online booking is still in an early stage, the tools that support it have been developing rapidly in anticipation of the shift.

“Chinese consumers are quickly becoming empowered to find and share travel information online. Tools like metasearch engines and online travel agencies are now widely used,” according to PhoCusWright.

What does the move toward greater online distribution mean for suppliers, and how can travel industry players capitalize on the rise of the social media-savvy Chinese consumer?

The 2010 China Travel Distribution Summit in partnership with PhoCusWright — set for Sept. 15-16 in Beijing — will address these and other issues.

By David Wilkening

Source: travelmole.com

Chinese travelers starting Internet revolution is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Although the Renminbi and the New Taiwan dollar cannot be directly exchanged, Lin wanted to make mainland tourists feel comfortable.

“We also began accepting (the mainland-based) UnionPay cards late last year,” Lin said.

A group of mainland tourists arrived in Taiwan in July 2008. They were the first mainland tourists to visit Taiwan since the two sides split amid civil war 59 years ago.

According to Taiwan’s tourism department, 1.28 million mainland tourists had been to Taiwan as of June. The average daily number of mainland tourists to Taiwan has increased from 300 in 2008 to 3,400 in the past six months.

In the past two years, mainland tourists have spent about 65.8 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) in Taiwan, Lai Se-chun, head of Taiwan’s tourism department, told Xinhua.

“Besides the economic benefits, tourism helps people on both sides of the Strait get to know each other, which is very important.”Because of increases in the number of mainland tourists, my business has improved. I also met a lot of mainland people. It is good to see them here. There is no big difference between them and I,” Lin said.

Unlike famous tourist sites like the Palace Museum in Taipei and the Sun Moon Lake in mountainous in central Taiwan, the southern and eastern Taiwanese coasts are relatively new destinations for mainland tourists.

“Not many large tourist groups stop at our town and they usually don’t shop at small shops like mine. But if the authorities allow individual tourists from the mainland, small businesses will definitely benefit,” Lin said.

Now, mainlanders can only travel in groups and can stay for a maximum 15 days. Taiwan authorities are considering lifting the ban on individual mainland tourists by the end of the year.

“Mainland people will have a deeper understanding of Taiwan if they can travel as individuals with a schedule they themselves make. This will benefit restaurants, tour guides, small hotels, souvenir businesses and the transport sector,” Lai said. “But the two sides need to further discuss the details. For example, how can the inflow of tourists and local capacities be balanced?”

The two sides have agreed to promote cross-Strait tourism step by step to not only increase the number of tourists but to also maintain quality, she said.

Although about 85 percent of mainland tourists were satisfied with their travels in Taiwan, Lai admitted there has been complaints about tight schedules and too much shopping. Lu Guowei, a primary school teacher from Ningbo in east China’s Zhejiang Province, was impressed by the clean environment and polite people in Taiwan. But he did not like his travel package very much.

“It was too rushed. I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the real beauty,” he said.

Lai suggested travel agencies on both sides of the Strait improve the design of travel packages.

Taiwan’s tourism authorities plan to send delegations to the mainland to meet mainland travel agencies and discuss Taiwan tourism, she said.

The mainland and Taiwan tourism associations opened offices in Taipei and Beijing, respectively, in May.

“We hope mainland tourists can stay longer in Taiwan,” Lai said. “We have very high expectations for the future of cross-Strait tourism.”

Source: xinhuanet.com

Taiwan hopes for more mainland visitors to boost tourism sector is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Li Yaoyi, resident of Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, has just finished a fruitful trip. “A 1,000-euro purse now costs about 8,000 yuan, which is about 1,400 yuan cheaper according to the converted

price paid for the commodity in the same period last year.”

Louis Vuitton, Omega and some other luxury brands now cost less in Europe than in Hong Kong or Macao, two other popular Chinese destinations for shopping trips, Li said.

Shopping trips to European countries before September have mostly been booked out through major travel agencies in large east China cities where demand is highest.

The number of shopping trips to Europe in July and August will increase by 20 to 30 percent from the same period last year, said Wang Fang, deputy manager of Shanghai Jinjiang International Travel Co.

The prices of trips to major European countries have all jumped by more than 10 percent since June, said Chen Xin’an, marketing director of the Zhejiang branch of China Travel Service Group.

Shopping trips are getting more popular as the euro continues to weaken, Chen said. The euro has fallen by nearly 20 percent against the yuan since the end of 2009.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Source: xinhua.com

Weak euro entices more Chinese to Europe for shopping is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Speaking after a meeting of the tourism agency’s board of directors, Governor Surapon Sawetserani said TAT officials will visit China to negotiate with tour operators seeking their support in encouraging Chinese people to visit Thailand following the yuan’s appreciation.

“It is suitable now to attract Chinese tourists into Thailand because the strengthening of the yuan makes it cheaper for package tours in Thailand. Simultaneously, the tourists will receive visa fee waivers granted as part of Thailand’s measures to stimulate tourism.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010″ online activity on TAT’s Facebook and Twitter to encourage tourists around the world to participate in the “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010″ campaign running from June 15th to August 15th, 2010. TAT has realized the massive potential that this new channel provide for e-marketing to build stronger relationships with the social media communities and do believe that the Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2010 will increase travelers’ shopping and spending during June to August 2010, and provide excellent first-hand tourism information to social networking site users which will help promote tourism in Thailand and will let people worldwide have confidence in traveling to Thailand.

Total revenue in China’s tourism industry is expected to grow 13 percent to hit 1.4 trillion yuan (205 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, as the country rolls out favorable policies to back the industry, said the China Tourism Academy in a report released Thursday.

Chinese tourists are forecast to make 2.1 billion domestic trips in the new year, up 12 percent from 2009, which would generate 1.1 trillion yuan of revenue for the industry, a rise of 14 percent year on year, according to the report.

The number of inbound trips by overseas tourists would stand at136 million, up 8 percent from a year earlier, while outbound trips by Chinese tourists would advance 15 percent to 5.4 billion.

The Chinese government posted guidelines last December to promote the development of the tourism industry, vowing to lower market threshold and simplify approval procedures for tourism enterprises, and encourage local authorities to attract overseas investment, opening the domestic tourism market to foreign companies.

the Chinese outbound travel & tourism industry, COTTM, (China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market) recently held its 6th edition of the annual trade show in Beijing, China.

This year the exhibition included 230 exhibitors from 55 different countries, from Australia to Azerbaijan; Croatia to Cuba; Thailand toTanzania, creating a global platform of destinations and services, and the business opportunities to meet with the key Chinese industry professionals and buyers.

For the first time, COTTM welcomed destinations inluding Bhutan, Croatia,Israel, Indonesia & Tanzania; as well as a Caribbean and Japanese Pavilion to the exhibition. Also through the private sector for the first time, Jordan, Madagascar, Namibia and Turkey also participated. Over 3,000 Chinese travel trade professionals convened at COTTM to meet exhibitors from all over the world, to source new products and destinations for the rapidly expanding Chinese outbound travel market.

Source: thailand-business-news.com

Tourism Authority of Thailand to woo Chinese tourists in 2010 is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

The administration is going by a strong increase in visitors from China in the first five months of this year, and cites as well several promotion programs in China in the past two years and an increase in air routes.
In January-May more than 339,000 people came from China, up 111% year-on-year.
“We are receiving benefits from marketing activities and cooperation of travel firms between the two sides. We will increase such activities to develop visitors by air, overland and sea travel,” said Vu The Binh, head of the Travel Department of VNAT.
He said that along with marketing trips to big cities of the biggest source market, as in the past year, the administration would use China’s television channels. “We expect the first publicity program will be broadcast on some television channels next month,” Binh said.
VNAT is giving priority to developing the segment of air travelers, as many new routes have opened in recent months, like services by Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi and HCMC to Shanghai, and charter flights.
“We are receiving three chartered flights from Guangzhou to Danang every week. The first chartered flight from Chongqing to Hanoi will start on September 30 and will go there every week,” Binh said.
By sea, many Chinese travelers are coming from Guangxi province to Quang Ninh province’s Halong Bay. Along with the current route from Beihai to Halong Bay, another route from Fangchenggang to Halong will reopen soon after years of disruption.
However, VNAT needs to carry out more activities to attract more overland Chinese travelers, as the growth has not been good recently, as well as develop new products to attract laissez-passer-holders to travel to all three regions of Vietnam.
“We need to make new products for special travelers,” Binh said. “We will work with travel firms on the products.”
Nearly 528,000 Chinese visited the country last year, still lower than the record of 778,000 in 2004.

Source:  Footprint Vietnam Travel

Vietnam expects Chinese tourist arrivals to double this year is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Posting negative comments on the Web about products and services is fast becoming the most popular channel for Chinese consumers to vent their spleen. Yet, behind this veneer of free expression lies a murky world of cyber bullies and unscrupulous webmasters who are manipulating the media to either promote or smear a company’s image for profit.

In a country with nearly 400 million Web users, online marketing has become a big business and has spawned a legion of Internet public relations agencies. Their services include not only getting a product seen but also removing any negative feedback they find.

“Real estate, cars, electronics: These are usually the most lucrative when it comes to deleting negative posts,” said Ma Mingdong, a 25-year-old Beijing blogger and online marketer. “Many people think it’s complicated to delete posts but it isn’t.”

He said it costs just a few hundred yuan to bribe staff at a website or forum to delete posts, and if that fails, “paid posters” – netizens hired to leave fake comments and delete genuine ones – can use software to copy the official documents and identification that websites need before they agree to remove a comment.

Posts can be deleted legitimately when a company or individual provides a copy of their ID card or business license, while many websites, including Baidu Post and tianya.cn, have issued statements saying they provide the service for free.

Several chat groups on QQ, the instant messaging service, have even become mini-trading centers where PR firms regularly advertise for paid posters, otherwise known as shuijun, the “water army”.

However, industry experts argue that the use of shuijun undermines consumer trust in the Web, as well as underlines the need for stricter policies to protect the rights of netizens and ensure fair competition.

The China International PR Association also released guidelines shortly after World Consumer Rights Day – March 15 – that specifically bar marketers from paying to have genuine negative comments removed.

With the vast amount of information uploaded every minute, though, the rule is virtually impossible to enforce.

“Deleting posts and comments is part of our daily job,” said a Beijing Web editor named Zhang who works at a popular online forum and has to review more than 2,000 comments each day. “There are so many topics that need to be monitored, and comments need to be deleted (for legitimate reasons) all the time. It would be very easy for me to delete negative posts about a company if I wanted to.”

More worrying, perhaps, is the growing use of fake negative comments by websites to pressure businesses into advertising with them.

Wang Yu (not his real name) worked as a Web editor for a property website in Jiangsu province after graduating from college in 2007. He said his job involved copying various articles about real estate agents from other sites and then leaving fake complaints about them under any number of pre-registered usernames.

“Negative comments are like intangible assets,” said the 26-year-old, before explaining that the companies usually responded to his comments “about poor service and bad construction” by offering to advertise with the site – on condition that the posts are deleted. It is a common problem faced by many Chinese businesses, and can be particularly hard on small, family-run firms that cannot afford to hire a PR firm to protect their reputation.

“Deleting news articles is difficult, but deleting posts from online forums is very common nowadays, only the price changes,” said Li Haigang, founder of Caogen PR, an Internet marketing company. “If one of my clients gets negative posts on certain online forum, everyone would say, ‘Oh, they are in trouble’ – but only because this forum charges more than the others.

“Of course, no one would list ‘post deleting’ as part of the contract,” he added. “The deals (between the website and the companies) are made in the name of advertising.”

Legal trouble

Although arguably ethically wrong, there is no law stopping this practice and is deemed legitimate if both sides reach an agreement.

“Since these websites are private companies, they have the right to manage their content, which includes deleting posts,” said Zhang Zhisheng, a lawyer with Beijing Zhongyin Law Firm.

Wang Yu wrote about his experience and posted it online because he wanted to tell people not to pay too much attention to harsh comments. “Some of it is simply manipulation by Web editors, who are trying to cause a debate so that people can keep the conversation going,” he said.

Websites often run the risk of being sued for defamation if they refuse to delete comments about certain products.

The most high-profile case was in 2007 when 315ts.net, a consumer protection website based in Beijing, was taken to court by two companies over posts they claimed damaged their image.

Doctor Bai, a cosmetics firm, and BiosTime Inc, which makes health food for children, both filed lawsuits claiming the site had faked comments about their products. Judges eventually ruled in the website’s favor because there was no evidence to suggest the posts were not genuine.

“Enterprises have an obligation to tolerate criticism,” was all Wang Fushan, chief executive of 315ts.net, would say about the outcome.

Since the website was launched in 2005, it has received more than 700,000 complaints from customers across China. After the lawsuit, users were asked to register and provide contact information to ensure the validity of their comments.

“We receive at least five calls a day from people asking us to remove complaints from our website,” said the CEO, who insisted that his 30 staff members only delete content when a customer’s problem is solved.

“You can’t depend on people’s conscience to do the right thing, though,” said Wang Fushan, who receives an e-notification every time a post is deleted. “You need a good system to prevent abuses from happening.”

Like many websites, 315ts.net generates its income from advertising and selling data analysis of its customer complaints. Before filing the lawsuit, Doctor Bai paid 5,000 yuan ($730) to place a product safety announcement on the site. However, Wang stressed: “Our advertising is completely separate from our content. Even if a company advertises with us, customers can still file complaints about them.”

The CEO said that although the websites that accept money to delete posts are breaching netizens’ trust, the real problem lies with the companies that pay them. “No companies went bankrupt because of bad comments, they go out of business because of other problems,” he added.

The growing demand for deleting posts deals a real blow to the ongoing efforts to protect consumer rights in China.

Many have turned to the Web to air their grievances because the other mechanisms on offer are slow, complicated and ineffective.

People unhappy with products can file complaints with industrial and commercial bureaus, but as there are few institutions that provide independent tests, it is difficult for customers to back up their claims, especially when it comes to property, automobiles and electrical goods. Legal procedures are also expensive and time-consuming.

Solving problems

The situation has led many consumers to believe that the best way to have a complaint heard is through publicity.

A recent online survey by sina.com, a Chinese news website, found that one-third of the 783 netizens polled see the media as the most efficient way to solve a dispute.

“Not all the disputes can be solved this way but I like to report my complaints to warn others that there is a problem,” said Qu Lingdi, a network engineer in Beijing.

Although PR expert Li Haigang said he believes deleting posts is still a “necessary measure”, he admitted that “papering over the cracks” of a problem usually only leads to crisis in the future. “Communication is the best solution,” he said. “If these bad comments are being generated by competitors, then we can find out the source and tell them to stop. Otherwise, we will fight back.”

However, the current law is too slow to prevent the fast spread of information on the Internet, he argued.

“Do you know how long it takes a company to file a lawsuit against libel?” he asked. “Netizens’ attention spans are very short, so it could be too late once a bad impression is made.”

For those people who have noticed their posts being deleted, however, they say they have already lost faith in what they read on the Web.

“I don’t trust websites anymore,” said blogger Ma Mingdong, who has given up posting negative articles. “My posts are just tools for these websites to make money.”

A paid poster who refuses to delete

Editor’s note: Ma Mingdong is a 25-year-old Beijing blogger and online marketer.

After I graduated from Huadong Jiaotong University in 2008 – my major was marketing – I worked as a sales person in a pharmaceutical company in Hebei province for six months. But I got bored and wanted to do something more exciting.

So, I found a job with an Internet marketing company in April 2009 and came to Beijing, where I’ve learned the business of “Internet manipulation”. It wasn’t widely known at that time.

I’m good at writing articles online. I used to visit the popular websites and online forums I write for when I was in school, so I know what kind of articles and titles attract attention.

My manager gave me contacts to a few people in charge of paid posters. We call them shuijun, which means water army. This is because most posts and comments are like water, they have no significance or meaning but they can be overwhelming when they flood in.

Paid posters use fake identities to leave comments and articles online. Basically anyone who knows certain people in the industry can flood the Internet with articles. They are paid about 10 to 30 cents for each post, and more if it includes pictures.

All these paid posters are college kids or jobless people. And there are so many of them. I’ve told some kids that they can share IDs with each other so they don’t need to register themselves. They need someone to teach them how the business works. Otherwise, they are just robots who only know how to copy and paste. I’ve had thousands of IDs on websites. Some people gave them to me as gifts when they quit this business.

Deleting posts is more advanced and more profitable. I’ve met a web editor who is surprised to know that he can make money from doing this. Some got fired because of deleting posts, but to some the money is handsome and they are willing to risk their jobs. I’m against deleting posts but paid posting are okay, as long as it’s legal.

Some people have put their experiences of injustice online, and I can help them to leave comments and forward to other websites so more people can read about these stories. For some, it’s their only hope to get their stories heard.

One of my friends asked me to promote his investment articles online. He is now teaching people how to buy stocks on the finance channel on sina.com. I’m definitely not going to listen to his investment advice. I don’t trust the Internet anymore.

Source: China Daily (June 19, 2010)

Complexity of Brand Reputation Management Online in China is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

“The ALTM forum held on Monday concluded that Asia offers the greatest growth for the luxury travel industry,” Simon Mayle, marketing manager for ALTM organizer Reed Travel Exhibitions, told the Global Times Wednesday. “Japan is one of the leading tourist source markets in the world as is Australia. Furthermore, China is rapidly growing to be the leading source market behind established markets of the US.”

According to him, this year’s exhibition, which opened on Monday at the Shanghai Exhibition Center in Jing’an district and closes today, attracted 15 percent more buyers and 15 percent more exhibitors offering high-end hotels, resorts and other travel options, compared to last year.

A survey released by the organizers based on 386 luxury travel buyers and suppliers said that 60 percent of suppliers had expanded their products range last year and expect 5 to 20 percent growth in the Asia-Pacific market in the next 12 months. It predicted highest demand from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, India and Japan.

“Business dropped in the third quarter of 2008, but it started coming back in 2009, and I think it is going really well now, particularly in Asia and China,” said Betty Fung, director of global sales at The Peninsula Hotels.

“Although the Asia-Pacific market usually accounts for a small part of our business, it is growing quickly,” Patcharee Meethong, assistant director of sales for hotel, spa and resort operator Anantara, told the Global Times Wednesday. “We’re going to open an office in Shanghai soon to expand our business.”

Potential buyers also showed confidence in the market.

“We’ve seen a fast growth in the number of Asian people coming to visit Singapore,” said Jennifer Tan of Singapore-based events organizer Uber Inc. “China will soon be the number one source of tourists to Singapore.”

By Zhou Ping

Source: www.globaltimes.cn

Chinese to drive global luxury travel industry is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

According to a marketing manager of Shanghai China Youth Travel Agency surnamed Liu, the price of air tickets from Shanghai to Tokyo has been pushed up by the surge in bookings. “A return trip is up by 1,000 yuan ($146) compared with the price in April,” he told the Global Times Saturday.

However, it appears that the media coverage surrounding the relaxation in rules, rather than the rules change itself, is what has caused the increase, as people who go to travel agencies to enquire about the new rules find that they are, in fact, already eligible for a visa.

“The requirements in the past were not as rigorous as some might have imagined,” Yang Dong, vice director with the outbound tourism department of Shanghai Jinjiang International Travel Company, told the Global Times Saturday. Yang added that previous media reports that Chinese visitors to Japan needed an annual income of at least 250,000 yuan ($36,600) were “just a myth.”

Yang said that the new visa requirements are yet to be finalized, and that a meeting between local travel agencies and representatives from the Japanese Consulate to discuss the regulations is scheduled for June 18.

“Hopefully, the new regulations will allow people with an annual salary above 30,000 yuan ($4,390) or those working with large-scale enterprises to get visa applications approved,” said Yang.

According to Yang, visa applications to Japan are decided on a case-by-case basis by the Japanese Consulate, in cooperation with local travel agencies.

He said that the volume of travelers going from Shanghai to Japan next month will probably increase by 30 to 40 percent year-on-year.

“The new visa rules have not yet been announced, but I have already asked for leave for a trip to Japan,” Wang Ling, a local office worker who has long hoped to visit Japan, but was put off by the visa restrictions, told the Global Times Saturday.

However, Liu from Shanghai China Youth Travel Agency, said that tourists will still need to have bank savings of at least 50,000 yuan ($7,320) to be eligible for a trip to Japan, which is an industry rule.

“However, regular customers who have a good record can deposit less,” said Liu.

Source: xinhuanet.com (June, 14 2010)

Softened Japan visa rules to boost visits by Chinese is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

May 18, 2010 - A first-of-its-kind poll of business travelers from four major economies commissioned by Marriott Hotels & Resorts indicates that 2010 may be shaping up as a year of transition from economic pessimism to greater confidence.  More than 60% of 1,207 respondents in four countries agree that business travel is essential; 75% of Chinese plan to travel more.

Key survey findings:

• Approximately one-third of business travelers polled in the U.S. (35%), UK (33%), and Germany (33%) think their economies will improve. Another third – U.S. (36%), U.K. (37%), and Germany (35%) – believe things have leveled off economically and will “stay the same.” About three in 10 – U.S. (29%), U.K. (30%), and Germany (33%) – forecast their national economy will get worse. China is the exception, with 81% of responders saying their economy will improve.
• In China, only 13% fear job loss in the coming year, versus 39% in the U.K., 34% in Germany, and 29% in the U.S. Once their economies improve, 66% of business travelers in China, 51% in the U.K., 40% in the U.S., and 39% in Germany plan to seek new jobs.
• Although affected by a lack of jobs, Millennials (referred to in the survey as Generation Y), ages 21-29, in the U.S. and U.K. express greater optimism about the economy than their older colleagues. Millennials in the U.S., U.K., and Germany also foresee more business trips in the coming year than their Baby Boomer counterparts.
• Most responders in all four countries say business travel gives their companies and their careers a competitive edge. More than nine in 10 agree business travel is important to achieve business goals, reaching a high of 96% among the Chinese. U.S. responders are most likely to say (82%), travel provides critical face-to-face time with clients and customers, followed by 77% in Germany, 74% in China, and 72% in the U.K.
• Business travelers predicting more travel next year: U.S. (22%), U.K. (20%), Germany (20%) and China (63%).

These are findings from “Global Business Trends in the Third Millennium,” a far-reaching Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll of 1,207 business travelers in the U.S., China, Germany and the U.K.  The study examines trends in the economy, business travel, career and personal goals, and generational and cultural differences.

“The findings mirror indications of the economic recovery in our hotels across the globe, where we are seeing improvement in corporate travel reflecting pent-up demand after two years of cutbacks,” said Don Semmler, executive vice president, global full-service brands for Marriott International. ““With nearly 500 hotels in 60 countries, Marriott Hotels & Resorts has tremendous insight and 50 years’ experience serving business travelers.  This survey spots cultural and generational trends that endorse our continued efforts to address work-life balance on the road; spaces that facilitate work, social interaction and relaxation; and to lead in the area of environmental stewardship.”

Additional Survey Highlights:

Economic Outlook

• Challenging times for many: Chinese business travelers are more than twice as optimistic (81%) about their national economy as their counterparts in the U.S. (35%), Germany (33%), and the U.K. (33%).
• Job security: About two-thirds of Chinese responders, 51% in the U.K., 40% in the U.S., and 39% of Germans expect to look for new job opportunities when their respective economies improve.
• Spending less: Companies have reduced some spending on business travel in all four countries. More than four in 10 responders in the U.S. (44%) and U.K. (43%), and about three in 10 in China (31%), and Germany (29%) report their companies have cut back on spending for business travel in the past year.

Generation Gaps

• Younger business travelers have a brighter outlook: Although affected by a lack of jobs, the Millennial generation in the U.S. and U.K. express greater optimism about the economy than their older colleagues. Millennials in the U.S., U.K., and Germany also foresee more business trips in the coming year than their Baby Boomer counterparts: China (92%), U.S. (76%), Germany (72%), and U.K. (71%).
• Crossing Generations: A plurality of respondents in the U.S. and U.K. describe colleagues one generation younger than themselves as “allies” and “frustrating,” while in China and Germany, younger colleagues are “motivating” and “inspiring.” Business travelers in general have a positive view of older colleagues, calling them “motivating,” “allies” and “inspiring.”
• Technology complements business travel: Adapting to emerging technology remains a challenge for today’s business travelers irrespective of their country of origin. Generation Y is just as likely to value business travel; but in the U.S. and Europe, this group is more inclined to think technological advances can replace some business trips.

Work-Career Imperatives

• Giving it their best: About six in 10 U.S. and European business travelers are satisfied with a good effort, even if they don’t beat out the competition. But in China, 62% think second best is not enough.
• Work-related travel creates an edge in business: Nearly all business travelers – more than nine in 10 – agree travel is important to achieve their business goals, reaching a high of 96% among the Chinese. U.S. responders are the most positive – 82% — about the critical value of face-to-face client contacts; 77% of German responders, 74% of Chinese business travelers, and 72% in the U.K. agree.
• n it for the team: When asked to describe themselves at work, 50% of U.S. responders say they are “resourceful,” while Germans are most likely (67%) to consider themselves team players. Being a “team player” and “loyal” are considered defining terms for nearly half the Chinese responders, while in the U.K., although 46% also describe themselves as team players, nearly four in 10 define themselves as “loyal,” “confident,” “resourceful,” and “determined.”

Business and Leisure Travel – All Work and No Play?

• Going for glamour: On a personal satisfaction level, the term “glamorous” is used by strong majorities in all countries to characterize business travel. Many in China (68%) and the U.S. (54%) also describe it as relaxing.
• The benefits of business travel: Business trips help respondents to: better understand clients (89% in the U.S. and U.K., 96% in China, 87% in Germany), exploring new places (88% in the U.S., 82% in the U.K., 91 % in China,72% in Germany), learning global values and perspectives (74% in the U.S., 79% in the U.K., 91% in China, 77% in Germany), competitive edge (80% in the U.S., 78% in the U.K., 87% in China, 75 % in Germany). More than 60% of business travelers in all four countries agree that work-related trips and destinations give them status among friends and colleagues. China has the largest percentage – 75% — who feel this way.
• Business Trip Expectations: Business travelers predicting more travel next year: U.S.(22%), U.K. (26%), Germany (20%) and China (63%); staying the same U.S.(54%), U.K. (45%), Germany (52%) and China (29%); less travel U.S.(25%), U.K. (29%), Germany (28%) and China (8%).
• Leisure Travel: Time Out: Respondents describing leisure travel as a necessity vs. a luxury: U.S. (50%), U.K. (52%), China (56%) and Germany (45%); as a time to de-stress: U.S. (38%), U.K. (38%), China (42%) and Germany (42%); as a time to spend with family, friends and loved ones: U.S. (38%), U.K. (37%), China (49%) and Germany (27%); to be adventurous, let loose: U.S. (20%), U.K. (20%), China (6%) and Germany (23%); something I do for others, I’d rather stay home: U.S. (4%), U.K. (5%), China (3%) and Germany (8%)
• All work and no play? A majority of business travelers report they are able to balance work and leisure activities successfully while on company trips.
• Travel etiquette: Top etiquette priorities vary across the cultures polled: 28% of U.S. business travelers name proper cell-phone etiquette as their highest priority; 29% of responders from the U.K. identify respect toward flight or hotel staff; 33% of Chinese responders list how to sense when it is a good or bad time to make small talk with fellow travelers; and for Germans, the top priority, at 28%, is reducing the sound of a television or conversation carrying from a hotel room.

Green Travel

• Green is beautiful:  Eco-friendly accommodations are considered a necessity by a majority of respondents across all four cultures, but especially in China, where 83% of business travelers indicate a hotel’s sustainability efforts are important.  This consideration is important to 51% of those polled from the U.S., 61% from the U.K., and 75% from Germany.

Methodology:  The online survey of 1,207 business travelers was conducted by The Marist Institute for Public Opinion in March and April 2010.  Responders were selected from members of an online research panel through Opinion Search Inc., an Internet hosting and sample management company.  Quotas for gender and age were maintained in each country.  303 U.S. residents, 300 people living in the United Kingdom, 303 in China, and 301 in Germany were polled.  Roughly one-third (at least 100) of respondents from each country fell into each of three age categories:  21-29 (Generation Y/Millennials), 30-45 (generation X), and 46-64 (Baby Boomers).  For this survey, business travelers are defined as employed residents of one of the four countries of interest, ages 21 to 64, who have taken at least one business trip requiring an overnight stay in the past 12 months.

To download the report, please click here.

CHINA (Fact Sheet)

Economic outlook:

• Up or Down: 81% of business travelers believe their national economy is getting better; 8% believe it is getting worse; and 12% believe it is staying about the same.
• Job Security: 13% fear losing their jobs in the next 12 months, and 51% are likely to look for a new job when the economy improves.

Work/Career Imperatives:

• Life Satisfaction: 70% are satisfied with life overall and 61% with their career path
• Giving their Best: 38% are satisfied with a good effort, even if their company does not come out on top, while 62% are never satisfied with being second best
• What Counts: 26% want to enjoy work and have fun; 14% want work/life balance; 14% want to make a lot of money; and 4% want to make a positive difference in someone’s life
• In It For the Team: 49% describe themselves as team players; 49% say they are loyal; and 38% identify themselves as resourceful.

Business and Leisure Travel:

• Necessity or Luxury: 71% of business travelers think work-related trips are a necessity; 55% enjoy it.
• Face Time: Business trips provide critical face-to-face time with customers/clients (74%); trips are not really necessary with technological advances (26%)
• More or Less Travel: Compared with two years ago, 32% of business travelers are traveling less for business
• Achieving Business/Career Goals: 41% say business travel is essential to achieving business goals and 35% say it is essential to achieve personal career goals
• Benefits of Business Travel: Better understand clients (96%), exploring new places (91%), learning global values and perspectives (91%), competitive edge (87%) and status among friends and colleagues (75%)
• Defining Business Travel: Mostly work (72%), glamorous (70%), relaxing (68%), stressful (32%), dull (30%), mostly play (28%),
• Mixing Business with Pleasure: 54% describe business trips as vacations, 57% like to bring a friend or family member along, 46% want a vacation from their business trips, 66% like to extend trips for leisure and 34% want to get the job done and get home.
• Worst Parts of Business Travel: Being away from home (31%), spending personal money (29%), travel hassles (17%) and working more than in office (12%).
• Work vs. Play: During business trips, 74% research local restaurants and hot spots, 77% connect with friends or family living close to the destination, and 53% use online/social networking sites to connect with or meet new people
• Time Out: 56% say leisure travel is a necessity vs. a luxury; 42% say it is time to de-stress, 49% to spend with friends/friends, 6% to be adventurous, and 3% prefer to stay home.
• Pet Peeves: Unwanted small talk from fellow travelers (33%), loud voices/TV from hotel rooms (18%), respect for staff (12%) and proper phone etiquette (4%).

Generation gap:

• Crossing Generations: Top two descriptions of workers one generation younger: “motivating” (34%) and “inspiring” (25%); of workers one generation older: “motivating” (28%) and “inspiring” (26%).
• Economic Outlook: Regardless of age, business travelers in China see a prosperous economy.
• Satisfaction with Salary: Little difference with age: 33% of Gen Y, 39% of Gen X and 36% of Baby Boomer business travelers are happy with their pay.

Environmental Consciousness:

• Eco-Friendly Hotel Services: 83% rate them a necessity versus a luxury
• Environmental Impact: 60% are impressed by hotels that minimize their environmental impact and 12% are indifferent, 24% suspicious and 4% annoyed.

Source: Hotel-Online (May 19, 2010)

75% of Chinese plan to travel more is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Companies used to spend a lot of time and money studying online public opinion, based on the assumption that all the news, blogs and BBS forum threads were real. They also paid careful attention to online consensus and attempted to make strategic changes accordingly. Now that the naked truth about one part of online marketing has been exposed, what can they do now? Is the ‘water army’ in the process of destroying trust in the social media in China? And if so, what will the market eventually disregard social media information thereby leading to a decline in such tactics? Time will tell, but in the meantime business strategists will need to factor in risk associated with ‘water army’ lies and the loss of trust resulting from those lies.

Source: CSR Asia (April 8, 2010)

By the end of June 2009, China BBS online community sites have reached on average 43.806 million unique visitors and apparently lots of conversations take place on online BBS forums.

With the growing popularity search engine usage among China netizens, it’s becoming very important to manage your online reputation online. I’m going to discuss briefly the bad word-of-mouth on online discussion boards.

Who Speak Ill of You

You customers. Just like any other markets, if you piss off your customers, they could try really hard to harm you online. Bad words of mouth build obstacles to acquiring new customers.

You competitors. Your competitors could disguise as a pissed off customers of yours and “share” very passionately about your bad products or service in big online forums of your target markets.

Media. Media could be damaging. Instead of offering fuel in snowy weather, they could pour cold water onto you. Many big news sites in China repost stories without verifying them; one popular post at a forum about how bad you are could turn up on all major news sites over night.

What Chinese Companies Do About Bad WOM

We all know the right way: engage customer and join the conversation online; improve the products and service from customer feedback. However, many companies are just not interested in the “right” way; instead, they pay to get the “bad” posts removed.

Pay to get hackers to remove the posts. Some “professional” post burners hack into the online forum backend and have the posts removed.

Some post burners have connections with owners of hundreds of online discussion forums. They will help “persuade” website owners to remove the posts.

This paid service is not cheap, which is usually above 1000 yuan. There was a post which served as a company blacklist in Zhongshan City to alert consumers. While over 166 users joined the conversations, a post claiming to be a professional post burner turned up.

This guy charged 1,000 yuan to remove first two pages and 100 yuan for every extra page. As there were four pages of blacklisted companies, the total charge was 1,200 yuan.

Source: China Internet Watch (December 21, 2009)

Is Social Media in China doomed? is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Chinese learn to leap the ‘Great Firewall’ is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Well, the same thing seems to be happening with family Internet use in China these days.

Management consultant McKinsey published a report this month that says people in the 60 biggest Chinese cities spend about 70% of their leisure time on the Internet. In rural towns, the figure is said to be about 50%.

In China, which may soon get a version of U.S. video Web site Hulu.com, PCs are fast replacing TV sets as the family’s chief entertainment vehicle, says McKinsey’s report. Chinese uses the Net more for entertainment than work, downloading a slew of online games, music and other media to amuse themselves.

Getting one’s daily whack at the Net is also turning into serious business in some Chinese households.

In one family in northwest China, a man told McKinsey’s researchers that he and his wife fought so fiercely over using the PC that they had to agree to buy another computer — or file for divorce. The guy told McKinsey that buying a second PC saved their marriage.

McKinsey also found that Chinese consumers are into online product reviews. One in five consumers ages 18 to 44 won’t buy a product or service without first consulting an online review.

With so many eyeballs glued to the Internet in China, it’s not surprising that Chinese and foreign firms are spending lots of money on Internet ads. McKinsey estimates that online advertising in China has been growing at a rate of 20% to 30% annually. The consultant says that’s twice the growth rate for print advertising in China. It says the online ad market weighed in at about $3 billion last year.

The China Internet Network Information Center, the nation’s official Internet registry regulator, says China had 384 million Internet users as of year’s end. Needless to say, that’s far more than there are people in America.

China says 233 million of its people were using mobile phones or other handheld devices at the end of 2009 — twice as many as 2008.

The numbers show why Google and any U.S. Internet company must think long and hard before exiting China, even over crucial issues such as Internet censorship.

Source: Investors.com (March 17, 2010)

Internet fast replacing TV in China is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

During a New York panel discussion on social media and digital activism held Monday, Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei secured a promise from Twitter creator Jack Dorsey that his company will offer a Chinese version of its social networking service.

Though Dorsey quickly qualified his response by noting that it may be some time yet before the service will be available for the country, due to technical and legal hurdles.

The exchange took place at the Paley Center in New York, in a session sponsored by the ReadWriteWeb Web 2.0 news site.

“Is it possible to provide a Chinese access on Twitter?” Ai asked Dorsey. “I need a clear answer, yes or no.”

“I would say yes. It’s just a matter of time,” responded Dorsey, who participated by teleconference.

Ai called Dorsey’s answer “very philosophical,” and sighed, “I don’t like to hear that.”

For Ai, the question was an important one, as he sees Twitter as an essential tool for circumnavigating government oversight of communications; For Dorsey it is a loaded question, especially now that Google is considering pulling its search service out of the country due to Chinese government’s demands for the company to censor its search results.

Ai said that the influence of Twitter in China is already great, even though it is blocked for the entire country, with the exception of 50,000 participants.

“In China, we cannot see YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter, and very soon, maybe not see Google,” Ai said. “Basically it is society that forbids any flow of information and freedom of speech.”

There are ways around the Chinese government’s so-called Great Firewall, but they take a fair amount of work, Ai said. Users must sign up for the service using another language.

For China, tweeting can be a rich form of communication. “At 140 words, in Chinese, you can really write a novel. You can discuss most profound ideas really to democracy, freedom, poetry,” Ai said.

Dorsey said that Twitter is working on rolling out a version of its service for all languages, but translation remains a big issue for the company. For instance, the Web may support the Unicode character set, which can include Chinese characters, but most cell phone SMS (short message services) does not support Unicode.

Dorsey said he also isn’t sure how to get the service inside China’s firewall, though conceded that translation would be the problem that needs to be solved first.

If Twitter were to try to offer such a service, it may also face pressure from the Chinese government to filter and censor politically-inflammatory material, one audience member pointed out.

Nonetheless, Ai stressed the importance that Twitter could have by establishing a Chinese service. He had noted that he uses the service eight hours a day, after his blog was taken down by the Chinese government.

Ai is a well-established Chinese artist who has had multiple exhibits around the world, as well as served as a design consultant for the 2008 Beijing Olympics “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium. He has also increasingly run into trouble with the Chinese government as well.

Last June, a blog he started to tally the number of fatalities in a 2008 Sichuan earthquake was shut down by Chinese authorities.

And in December, Ai reported that his Gmail accounts were among those that were allegedly hacked into by Chinese intruders

“You will become one of the most important heroes in Chinese political development,” Ai told Dorsey.

A conversation about social media, China and freedom: a follow-up

For those of you that didn’t catch last night’s conversation between Chinese digital activist Ai Wei Wei, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Richard McManus, founder of ReadWriteWeb, here’s some initial coverage of the event. (You can, of course, also check out the Think Social live blog of the event, here.)

And while you’re reading, what’s interesting is to note different takes on some of the night’s more notable moments. Key points? I’d include  Jack Dorsey admitting that he didn’t know Twitter was blocked in China (and the discernible disappointment in the audience and pointed follow-up questions directed at Dorsey); the witty and often downright bawdy Ai Wei Wei cracking jokes about the power of Twitter in courting girls and how his eight hours a day using the platform made it a “true lover”; a heated back-and-forth on whether Chinese people were happy or actually oppressed, and discussion about a timeline for Chinese democracy, between Ai Wei Wei and a Chinese businesswoman in the audience; and Richard McManus talking about Google’s “brave move” in pulling out of China and refusing to self-censor, and the panel’s discussion of whether internet companies were responsible in acting to preserve people’s internet freedoms. (The answer to the last point was a decided yes — Ai Wei Wei said there’s no excuse for not acting out “for human values.”)

“Digital Activism in China: A Discussion Between Ai Wei Wei, Jack Dorsey and Richard McManus”

Check out ReadWriteWeb’s recap of the event — pretty straightforward. For a refresher on censorship in China, it’s helpful to check out Kaiser Kuo’s SXSW presentation on Google in China this week or his earlier interview with ReadWriteWeb.

Read on for more after the jump …

“Some Thoughts On Ai Wei Wei and Jack Dorsey from ReadWriteWeb’s Social Media Activism Panel”

Digital East Asia is a web site that aggregates and analyzes news about digital and social media in and about East Asia. This post focuses more on discussion between Dorsey and Ai Wei Wei on translating Twitter in Chinese (which one audience member later said was more about Chinese display and input than just translating text).

“Artist Ai Wei Wei Makes Rare U.S. Appearance to Talk About Digital Activism”

The Los Angeles Times’ arts blog devotes its post to Ai Wei Wei’s evolution from artist to activist, and reports on the confrontational Q&A moment between Ai Wei Wei and the Chinese businesswoman.

A number of write-ups of the event focused on Dorsey’s promise that Twitter in China was in the works:

“Twitter in China? In Due Time, Twitter Founder Promises” (PC World)

“Twitter Working on Chinese Translation” (Portfolio’s Tech Observer)

“Twitter Working on Chinese Registration Page” (Associated Press)

Hm — I wonder when Twitter began considering the creation of Twitter.cn? Ai Wei Wei was pretty insistent on getting an answer from Dorsey yesterday, and so was the audience. Keep an eye on @aiww for more (though you might want to send it through a translator, unless you can read Chinese!) and keep an eye on this blog for future commentary on this subject.

Source: Think Social (March 16, 2010)

Twitter in China? In Due Time, Twitter Founder Promise is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

ChinaTravelTrends.com, new interactive platform for China outbound tourism, launched in Berlin, with backing of PATA

Chinese affluent citizens increasingly like to travel abroad, but distrust official information.

With more than 50 million outbound travellers expected to leave China in 2010, the Chinese outbound market is attracting more and more attention of destinations around the world.

As part of the ITB Convention 2010, a workshop organised by the German-based COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute and the Chinese company Dragon Trail, presented Social Media Marketing as the most promising way to reach the Chinese market. Greg Duffell, CEO of PATA and Geoffrey Lipman, Special Adviser to the UNWTO, supported this view in the panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt and Jens Thraenhart, leaders of COTRI and Dragon Trail respectively.

China is the country with the largest number of internet users in the world and has also developed into the largest tourism source market in Asia. With growing choice and sophistication of the Chinese travellers, destinations and companies have to use up-to-date communication to reach the attention and imagination of these high-spending customers. Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are banned in China, but their Chinese equivalents are getting even more traffic than the “western” services.

As Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, pointed out in his The Chinese Outbound market is one of the few source markets which continued to grow even during the global economic crisis. In 2009, more than 47.5 million Chinese travelled across the border, an increase of 4% compared to 2008. The Chinese government has recently declared to give more support to the growth of outbound tourism in the future with a least 9% more outbound travels every year planned. „In the year of transformation 2010, China remains the most important emerging market to regain lost ground“, Prof. Arlt pointed out.

Social Media are increasingly important especially for the younger, affluent and techno-savvy Chinese. Word of Mouth and Word of Mouse are key elements of reaching this crucial segment of the Chinese outbound market. It is also an excellent barometer of the rapidly evolving consumer trends and interests that are relevant for destinations seeking to attract a greater share of this market, as Jens Thraenhart,. Executive Partner of Beijing-based Dragon Trail illustrated in his presentation.

The workshop started with some personal remarks of Geoffrey Lipman, who shared his 25 years of experience in working with the Chinese government and the Chinese tourism industry leaders. In step with the Chinese economic miracle, China has build a tourism infrastructure from scratch, which now handles close to 2 billion domestic trips and is more and more embracing also outbound travel.

Gregory Duffell, CEO of PATA, remembered the audience however of the fact, that the Chinese tourists will not come automatically to a destination if they do not perceive to get the right treatment and the right products for their tastes and expectations. Nevertheless Duffell confirmed that PATA is putting special emphasis on China, which is also documented by the publications, PATA and COTRI have jointly published in the last few months.

The workshop concluded with all four panelist pushing a button to officially launch the the interactive platform for China outbound travel.

COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute) is the world’s leading independent research institute for research, consulting and quality assessment relating to the Chinese Outbound Tourism market.

Dragon Trail provides brand engagement solutions for hotel companies, tourism organization, and travel corporations, as well as small to mid-size businesses seeking to build a brand presence in China and connecting with consumers in China by leveraging social media channels and digital marketing.

www.chinatraveltrends.com is the new authoritative one-stop resource portal and travel industry community on China Outbound Tourism, organized jointly by COTRI and Dragon Trail.

PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) is a membership association acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. PATA officially endorses and back ChinaTravelTrends.com – please see here for more information.

Attached photo:

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt (COTRI), Jens Thraenhart (Dragon Trail), Geoffrey Lipman (UNWTO) and Gregory Duffell (PATA) jointly starting www.ChinaTravelTrends.com at ITB Berlin, March 11, 2010.

Roundup: Western travel destinations aim for Chinese tourists

While last year’s drop in western outbound travel could be worrisome, many tourism professionals are developing new marketing skills to attract more Chinese tourists.

At the China Outbound Tourism Marketing Seminar on Thursday, an event held during the world’s largest tourism fair ITB in Berlin, travel professionals were provided with new insights on how to attract the Chinese market.

“In 2009 China was up 4 percent in both travel and spending while the rest of the world is down 4 to 6 percent”, said Professor Wolfgang Georg Arlt, founder of COTRI research Institute.

Getting over last year’s economic slump isn’t going to be easy, especially for the travel industry.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman, assistant-secretary general of the World Tourism Organization, told Xinhua: “Chinese outbound tourism is not going to be a cure for the weakened global tourism.”"It’s the whole economy that’s weak,” he said. “If the global economy rights itself over the next few years, tourism will come back.”This year’s ITB fair is putting a lot of emphasis on how to adapt to the post-crisis era.
Jens Thraenhart, founder of China Travel Trends website, sees social media as the most important tool in capturing new market share.

“There are 390 million online Chinese Internet users, more than in the United States and there are 42 million bloggers, which is more than Europe and the United States together,” Thraenhart said at the marketing event.
Thraenhart said that offering travel services only on English Web sites was not sufficient enough to attract Chinese travelers.

“People are going to have to tap into the Chinese social media landscape, like RenRen,” Thraenhart said. RenRen is one of the leading social networking Web sites in China.

Dominique Hertzer, an entrepreneur who studied Chinese and is building her tourism business in Germany, told Xinhua that “after attending this seminar, I have a new business model.’”I realize now that social media is the most important communication tool in the Chinese market,” she said.

Djibril Baba Taboure, who runs a business travel service company in Mali, Africa, said the lecture proved hopeful for his present business model.

“We are getting a lot of business people from China coming to Africa,” Taboure said. “And I hope Chinese tourists will come after that.”Lipman said that China “is one of those places that once you begin to understand it, you cannot get it out of your head.”"By 2020, China will be the largest inbound and outbound tourism market in the world,” he said.

Source:  TMC News (March 12, 2010)

CHINATRAVELTRENDS.COM DESCRIPTION

ChinaTravelTrends.com (Twitter: @CnTravelTrends) has been launched and managed as a free informational resource since the fall of 2009 by Dragon Trail, and now is being expanded as the new interactive platform for China outbound tourism, organized jointly by COTRI and DragonTrail.

ChinaTravelTrends.com is the one-stop resource website and community focused on China Outbound Tourism in English language, giving international travel and tourism organizations insights about the complexity of the China travel market and its online landscape. Information will include interviews, articles from contributors and experts, syndicated reports, marketplace of services, a community to connect with fellow professionals, industry surveys, and an expert panel.

ChinaTravelTrends.com includes the following services to bring together travel and tourism professionals via trade news, reports, networking and job opportunities, topical discussions, searchable archives, and reference directories.

1. Online Magazine: News, trends, and insight: original and articles aggregated from third party resources, written and complied by our editors and contributors. Articles are categorized and archived.

2. Resources: We provide links to other relevant websites and blogs, as well give access to reports and presentations for download as they become available. We will also provide directories of travel agents, tour operators, travel websites, as well as relevant service providers (at the discretion of the publishers).

3. Calendar of Events: To advance yourself or your company, we will inform about industry events.

4. Community: The integration of the ChinaContact community into ChinaTravelTrends.com at http://community.chinatraveltrends.com will enable members to connect, share ideas, and communicate.

5. Expert Panel: ChinaTravelTrends.com will appoint China travel and tourism experts and marketing specialists to serve on the China Travel Trends advisory board to share their insights so international travel organizations may understand and harvest the China Outbound Tourism opportunity.

6. Interviews: China Travel Trends will provide insights by interviewing experts via video, audio, or text.

7. Event Coverage: China Travel Trends is happy to send editorial staff to relevant industry events on behalf of the organizer to provide coverage via the ChinaTravelTrends.com website and its online presence, including community, Twitter feed, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Xing pages.

Contribution: We welcome contribution from individuals and companies to contribute relevant original articles, reports and presentations, as well as make us aware of third party articles and reports.

China Travel Trends is published in association with Dragon Trail, the premier brand engagement firm focused on travel and tourism, that increases brand awareness and revenues for travel brands in the Chinese market by leveraging emerging technologies and new media channels, and COTRI, the leading advisory and resource firm to assist travel and tourism organizations to cater to Chinese tourists.

ChinaTravelTrends.com will strive to offer you a brand new experience of acquiring accurate information, insightful analysis and report with regard to China outbound tourism, as well as more interactive and effective networking opportunities with the others around the world via social media. Also join our pages on Xing.com, LinkedIn.com and Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages, and follow us on Twitter @CnTravelTrends.

ITB Workshop reveals: Social Media Marketing is the best way to get the attention of the growing Chinese Outbound Tourism market is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Picture a social network user. Once upon a time it was easy – they were pimply teens huddled in messy bedrooms. Or young professionals organising their social lives. These days, however, they’re becoming far harder to categorise.

Last year Facebook reported huge growth in the 25 to 54 age group. After a feverish year of growth for social networks in Asia, are there similar signs of a broadening demographic?

Generally, the answer is yes. Figures from Synovate (see below) point to more older consumers engaging with social networks.

Kevin Huang, CEO of Pixel Media, which has worked with online firms including Facebook, agrees that the over-35s are now growing quickly on social networks, especially in sophisticated markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

“How many times have you recently heard one of your friends say, ‘Wow, my dad’s just gone on Facebook?’” says Huang. “We’re also seeing [older users on] Windows Live Messenger as well as boards like Discuss and Uwants in Hong Kong. Twitter also seems to appeal to a slightly older crowd.”

Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of 360 digital influence at Ogilvy PR, agrees there has been a change. “This demographic shift takes place along the lines of internet penetration, which should not be confused with the number of broadband connections. Indonesia, in particular, has lately had a boom of women joining the social internet world via BlackBerry.”

An interesting exception appears to be Japan, according to Adrian Roche, digital lead at OgilvyOne Japan. There, the leading network is Mixi, and Roche says that its user base is still youth-driven. “We still have a dominant user base in the 18 to 34 age range. The 35 to 49 age range comes in second place, but this is a distant second place. The age range of 50-plus doesn’t yet exist.”

Unsurprisingly, market leaders elsewhere are broadening their target demographics in line with the change. Facebook, the global leader and now a significant force in Southeast Asia, is built around personal relationships regardless of age. In China, meanwhile, leading network Xiaonei rebranded as Renren last year to reflect its broadening user base: Xiaonei means ‘on campus’, a reflection of the network’s student origins; Renren simply means ‘everybody’.

Other networks, left in the shade by the leaders, are relying on a more focused approach. Globally, MySpace has recently sought to turn itself around by focusing on entertainment, so far with limited success.

In Southeast Asia, Friendster was the leading network for several years before being widely usurped by Facebook last year. Ian Stewart, head of Asia at Friendster, points out that, unlike the US, the vast majority of internet users in its key markets are young – around 80 per cent are under 40 in the Philippines and Indonesia. So despite growth among older users, the young demographic is still core.

For that reason, Friendster is sticking with a youth positioning. “For Friendster we remain committed to our focus on being the social network for youth and their friends, and thus act as a gateway for brands wanting to connect with a younger demographic online,” he says.

Nevertheless, he admits that older users will “offer opportunities in the future”. For advertisers, a broader demographic on social networks opens up a whole new way of engaging consumers for brands with a more ‘grown-up’ audience. Crampton points to the cosmetics market as an early example of a sector that has had to respond to social media’s advance – many blogs and communities have arisen to discuss brands in the sector.

Lawrence Wan, general manager of OMG Digital in China, agrees, pointing to Chinese campaigns by brands such as Ponds and Neutrogena, which have put networks at the heart of their communications strategy. “Next is to leverage best practices to brands targeting a more mature female audience, where beauty and cosmetic brands are increasingly finding it difficult to differentiate,” he says. “The battle is starting to move from a heavily TV-driven awareness model to a multi-media model driving engagement and socialising, with SNS increasingly proving to be an integral channel in that strategy.”

The widening appeal of social networks

> In January 2009 Facebook reported that its 35 to 54 user base had grown 276.4 per cent in just six months.

> According to Synovate’s 2009 PAX study of Asia’s upmarket consumers, around 70 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds use social networks, a figure unchanged from 2008. However, among 35- to 39-year-olds, the figure rose from 59 per cent to 65 per cent, and among 40- to 44-year-olds it rose from 54 per cent to 62 per cent.

> In China, according to iResearch, the 35-plus user base of social network users has doubled year on year since 2007 to well over 30 million users. The biggest driver of that growth is Kaixin001, which has the highest reach of 35-plus users.

Source: Asia Media (March 4, 2010)

Social networking is expanding its reach into the 35+ market and beyond is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Douban, a Chinese social networking service website, received $10 million in venture capital from its second round of fundraising on January 25, after raising $2 million in 2006. Photo: CFP

He couldn’t take it anymore.

When Hong Kong writer and poet Liao Weitang found his online photo album had been deleted by douban.com, he quit, leaving behind the 3,000 friends he had made over two years.

“I had a great time here,” he wrote in his leaving statement to users of the Chinese mainland social networking service, “despite my account twice being suspended and having 100 posts deleted.

“But just lately this website has gone insane. It’s like half of the 5,000 most-commonly-used words are banned.”

The final straw for Liao was the deletion of The Beautiful and Strong People, an album featuring Hong Kong youths and artists involved in a protest against the HK$66.7-billion Hong Kong to Shenzhen and Guangzhou high-speed rail link. Photos of kneeling, barefoot youths were apparently deemed too political.

“I shot beautiful young faces, nothing radical or provocative,” Liao said. “But they just couldn’t let it go.”

“I stuck it out for two years with Douban, posting poems and comments, trying to bring a little truth and alternative values to my friends behind the Great Firewall.

“But I’ve got to have a bottom line somewhere. The Web master repeatedly tested my principles. So finally I decided to leave this website that is becoming renowned for self-castration.”

Douban used to be more flexible with him back in the old days, Liao said. For example instead of deleting, website managers might close off content by making it “private” not public. Or entries were not erased immediately, perhaps after a day or two, he recalled.

“That way, hundreds and thousands would see them,” he said.

As one of only a few Kong Hong writers willing to operate in this compromised Internet environment, Liao said he had savored the opportunity to communicate with isolated mainland friends.

“I posted on Douban what the public needs to know, saving more personal stuff for my blog.”

Initiated in 2005, Douban has 33 million registered users: mostly students and intellectuals who enjoy the social networking service’s simple design and user-generated content like books, movies and albums. More recently, Douban’s tightening censorship has upset some veteran members.

It got to the point that Peking University student Fang Kecheng wrote an open letter of complaint to Douban for suspending his account, dubbing the website a “dictator”.

According to Fang, users and Web masters had been forced into playing hide-and-seek with Big River, Big Sea – Untold Stories of 1949, a banned book by Taiwan writer Lung Yingtai.

As the book’s International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was forbidden on the mainland, users kept the title but altered the ISBN in order to share their comments and ratings.

Douban’s Web masters spotted the incorrect ISBN, erased the title and re-inserted the original, correct title. Seeing this, Fang changed the title back again, which led to his account being closed.

“I can’t believe contributing entry content can be a crime,” Fang said. “Any user can submit information they think is right on a website that relies on user-generated content.”

Fang wanted to find out whether the book’s sensitivity had contributed to his punishment and so he got his friend to change the title back again. His friend’s account was also closed.

It wasn’t the censorship per se that enraged Fang and other Web users, it was Douban breaching its own published code of conduct.

“Douban’s ban is unreasonable and random,” Fang wrote. “It’s authoritarian because you can be banned for three days, seven days or forever with no justification and all your diaries, albums, collections and messages are gone.”

Douban’s rules state users must receive three warnings before such a final, permanent closure: After a first warning, the account is suspended three days. The second warning leads to a week’s ban. Only after a third warning is the account supposed to be closed down permanently.

Fang’s open letter led to the lifting of a closure on his account.

Commercial survival

Self-censorship is the rule of survival that prevents popular websites from being shut down, Zoe Wang, a veteran website developer told the Global Times.

“I can understand an author being outraged when his post gets deleted, but it’s even harder to operate a website as I have to suffer the humiliation of supervisory organs and handle all the criticisms coming from users,” she said.

“How can you hope to pay your staff or maintain your users’ statistics if the website is shut down all because of one sensitive post?”

“You can never relax,” said the small website operator.

“You’re always keeping your phone switched on and waiting for that emergency call from the authorities requiring deletion of a post.”

What’s worse, she said, was the complete absence of clear-cut rules for deciding whether or not to delete an online post.

“The criterion of sensitivity depends on many aspects such as the political environment, the website’s background, size and location, as well as the different understandings of Web masters.”

Douban was extraordinarily cautious about its content as it had no background or ties to government, according to a source close to an editor at the site.

“Once you’re shut down, nobody can save you,” the source said.

No editor from Douban would go on the record when the Global Times contacted them.

“Douban recalls clearly the fate of Fanfou, Yeeyan and Blogbus,” Fang said.

They were three of the most well-known mainland websites closed down last year, according to the Southern Metropolis Weekly. The latter two were recovered in January.

Fanfou founder Wang Xing was pondering how much to up censorship during the July 5Xinjiang riot last year when he got his answer.

The Twitter-style microblogging service for 100,000 registered users was closed down almost immediately for “violating related rules”, according to the China Business News Weekly.

Wang hasn’t given up hope of bringing Fanfou back some day. Seven months on, Wang still refused to comment.

A site that published collaborative user-submitted translations of English and Chinese articles, Yeeyan was shut down in November last year for violating the regulation on “running a news information service”.

According to this national regulation, any organization applying for the establishment of an Internet news information service on the Chinese mainland must have registered capital of no less than 10 million yuan and at least five Chinese mainland editors who have engaged in journalism for longer than three years.

Yeeyan relaunched 39 days later under tight self-censorship, with all “political” news removed.

“It was difficult to figure out what we can say and what we cannot,” Chen Haozhi, founder of Yeeyan, told the Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Weekend.

The most devastating issue for translators was finding so much of their hard work deleted, said a former volunteer.

“It wasn’t our fault because we couldn’t twist the original meaning of the news stories,” she said.

“I’ve got absolutely no idea what is sensitive and what is not.”

Admittedly, she said, they knew their work was “risky” as “most foreign news about China is negative”.

Yeeyan’s partnership with the Guardian newspaper had made the staff especially proud, the translator said.

“The website attracted many readers as it helped them bypass the two walls,” she said. “Most Chinese face two obstacles: the Great Firewall and the language barrier.”

Neutering was the only option for Yeeyan if they wanted to continue in business, she said.

Yeeyan was also bound by copyright law, she said. The translation company had to delete a group translation of Dan Brown’s blockbuster The Lost Symbol and apologize to the book’s Chinese publisher last year.

No appeal

Aside from suffering censorship or shutdowns for reasons unknown, a common complaint among Internet users and website operators is the lack of an appeal.

“You can only go to related departments and beg them to give you another chance,” Liao said.

As the Web master of an online poetry forum, Liao has a list of sensitive words he received from the local Internet authority.

“They hope we will delete posts containing these words,” he said, “but I don’t see it making much sense.”

The forum was shut down twice last year.

“We have no idea why,” he said. “It came all of a sudden.”

In response, the site’s server was moved to Hong Kong.

“It’s impossible to rescue your website if you violated the related law,” a Web master from China Unicom, Beijing branch, told the Global Times.

“As long as Douban is growing, it won’t care about what users say because the real threat comes from the authorities,” Fang said.

It’s pointless fighting the system, he said.

“We can only fight the slavish social environment and gradually gain a sense of citizenship,” he said.

Vague laws

There are 14 general laws and regulations governing illegal online behavior, all vague and lacking in detailed, practical provisions, according to Li Yonggang, a professor of Internet politics from Nan-jing University, in his newly published book Our Great Firewall: Expression and Governance in the Era of the Internet.

“As a result, it’s difficult to draw a line when operators and Web users censor, apart from the well-known restricted field of political issues,” he wrote.

There are more than 10 government organs entitled to supervise the Internet, Li said. This inevitably gives rise to conflicts, he believed.

Bans are also increasingly unpredictable, he said. Recipients receive no explanation and no comeback. Chinese mainland Web users tend to react with a pessimistic, alienated and impotent attitude.

“Chinese may criticize the evils of society, but at the same time they feel like participants,” Li said.

“In fact the Great Firewall is rooted in our hearts as so little ‘harmful information’ will ever come to light thanks to individuals’ self-discipline and website operators’ self-censorship.”

Online opinion is a double-edged sword, said Wang, also a bulletin board moderator. Irrational online outcries aren’t helping anyone, she argued. She cited the online petition for Sun Zhigang, famously beaten to death in 2003 for not carrying a temporary living permit.

Observers attributed the ending of the policy of custody and repatriation to online public sentiment. In fact, Wang said, the change of policy came about because of the SARS breakout.

“They were all eager to sign a petition when something happened but in fact it only led to the shutting down of these significant forums.

“We can’t stop censorship, but we can articulate the truth with a more rational attitude. When different opinions coexist, people find their own answers.”

Censorship is also necessary to prevent certain kinds of harm being done to others, argued Zhu Wei, a professor at China University of Politics and Laws in Beijing.

“The nude picture scandal wouldn’t have run out of control if there was no Internet,” he said. “Unrestricted, freedom can lead to violence.”

According to the newly-passed Tort Liability Law, any Web user or service provider who infringes upon the civil rights and benefits of another is liable.

This new catch-all is a valuable control over online opinion. According to Article 36, the infringed party can inform the Web service provider to delete, shield or cut the links as well as any other necessary measures.

“The Web service provider who doesn’t take necessary measures after receiving this information will bear joint liability along with the Web user,” the law states.

Source: Global Times China (February 2010)

Publish and be deleted – extensive Internet controls in China is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online

Chinese luxury shoppers typically prefer upscale shopping malls to all-in-one department stores, as Shanghai’s Plaza 66 attests (Image via Flickr)

Last week, Jing Daily translated an article about Chinese tourists outspending Japanese 2-to-1 at a number of famous South Korean department stores. According to that article, visitors from mainland China now account for more sales than ever at some of Seoul’s most fashionable and expensive stores, and it’s not unknown for one-day tourists to drop hundreds of thousands of dollars in one shopping spree. As we’ve noted before, Chinese tourists taking cross-border shopping trips is far from unique to Korea, however, and two of the biggest beneficiaries of the outbound shopping boom have been some of the mainland’s closest neighbors — the Chinese special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong.

Macau, which is known more for its casinos than its malls, is relatively new to the Chinese shopping-tourist itinerary, but over the past few years the city has seen a surprising amount of construction, both of independent luxury boutiques and malls — all of which are built with mainland tourists in mind. Hong Kong, however, has been something of a playground for the mainland’s wealthy elite for quite some time, as the city’s cosmopolitan luxury infrastructure was well in place by the time China’s economy began its dramatic growth in the early 1990s. Over the past 20 years, the trickle of wealthy mainlanders escaping high import taxes by hopping across the border for duty-free shopping sprees in Hong Kong has become a deluge — much to the enjoyment of Hong Kong retailers and luxury brands from around the world.

As a recent South China Morning Post article points out, an interesting byproduct of more mainland shoppers throwing their weight around in Hong Kong has been the gradual decline of traditional Hong Kong department stores in favor of luxury outlets and smaller upscale malls. Although this may not sound like much of a story in itself, it does show how Chinese tourists are no longer following global trends in some parts of the world — they’re setting them. From the article (via Guanyu):

Traditional department stores, which once boomed in the city, have faced major challenges following the rise of shopping malls and people’s changed shopping habits.

The hordes of mainland tourists that descend on the city every week are particularly fond of the famous brand outlets, located at malls such as Times Square and Pacific Place.

It was not always so. A weekend trip to a department store such as Sincere or Wing On was a must for most Hong Kong families up until the 1990s. Children could shop for toys, fathers for ties and shirts while mothers could get everything from handbags to kitchen utensils.

Local department stores first faced serious competition in the 1980s from Japanese rivals. Then a more ominous trend emerged, with the rise of shopping malls. Over the past two decades the number of local department stores has dropped to only a few survivors. Malls have all the “under one roof” convenience of a department store with the added attraction of name-brand outlets. Beijing resident You Xiaojia, a regular shopper in Hong Kong, is familiar with most major retail areas in the city. She and her husband visit at least once a year to purchase clothes, accessaries and cosmetics.

But like most mainland tourists, her itinerary is usually filled with visits to shopping malls. Traditional department stores are seldom on the “to do” list.

…

You’s attitude is typical of mainland shoppers, who have been the main driver of the city’s retail industry over recent years. That means department stores are benefiting less than shopping malls from the customer inflow across the border.

From 2004 to 2008, the total floor space of the city’s shopping malls increased by 1.7 million square feet on average every year, with new mega shopping centres rising one after another.

It is interesting to see how mainland trends — e.g., the construction of and preference for shopping malls rather than “one-stop-shop” department stores — is having a spillover effect in Hong Kong and, ostensibly, Macau. Although Macau never had as many department stores to begin with as Hong Kong, a quick drive around Macau indicates how much influence mainland tourists and businesspeople are having on the city’s construction and commerce going forward.

Source: Jing Daily (March 1, 2010)

Mainland Chinese Shoppers Changing Hong Kong Retail Landscape is a post from: China Travel Trends-Reaching the Chinese Travel Market Online