“Almost to a person, I find Chinese have more respect for France (or rather their romantic illusions about France) than I do.”
That sure isn’t displayed when they visit the Louvre. Or maybe that was Japanese. Never seen such a rude disrespectful bunch.
No, definitely Chinese. Better educated and sophisticated Chinese travel like civilized people anywhere. But super-cheap group-travel packages are marketed heavily to Chinese peasants and people out in the Provinces. Like most things in China, travel has been hugely commoditized, packaged, degraded and sold. But its also a sign of China's growing wealth. The numbers are huge. Its a real status symbol for these people to travel abroad, and as I said, they have complete unreal, fantastic and story-book visions of what France is.