Posted on 07/14/2008 1:55:54 PM PDT by traumer
Well - I am not going....
I know some people that were planning to go but didn’t because of $1200/night hotel rooms, expensive tickets and the overall cost of going. Too much.
Everybody jumped.
Some people won’t go because they have no desire to visit a police state, with all it’s totalitarian trappings.
The tourism probably dropped early in the year because those planning on visiting delayed their trip to coincide with the olympics, or at least with the 8/8/08 auspicious date. Traveling to China ain’t cheap.
You know, when I think vacation, I think of heavily polluted air and water, dingo tenderloin and totalitarian goons.
Well thank heavens it is only THAT, and not xenophobic thinking like SARS, Avian Flu, Falun Gong Organ Banks, poisoned heparin, poisoned wheat gluten, poisoned air, Cat Chow Mein and Dog Foo Yung, that we are more accustomed to hearing about!
As well as having a wide range of internet sites and services blocked, and having all online traffic heavily monitored by Government censors.
Tourists who had planned on bringing a laptop or a smart cellphone into the country may find that it has far more limited use than they had expected.
Yeah, the high price of airline tickets due to fuel costs doesn’t help either.
Amazing how so much malicious traffic can originate there, but so much innocent traffic is blocked from there.
I have a notice on my webmail pages:
" If you are writing from the PRC, I will not get your replies. Your Government has blocked transmission of these messages!"
Not that anyone in China would ever see that, but I leave it up as a taunt for their censors.
There is a site that traces and tells you if your domain is blocked. I suppose they blocked THAT too.
“Well - I am not going....”
I’d rather have a root canal.
Amazing how so much malicious traffic can originate there, but so much innocent traffic is blocked from there.
Add to the astonishingly long list of reasons why not to visit China....by spending money there, you're supporting a country that is actively attempting to undermine and harm the United States on a variety of fronts. Of course one can also say the same thing when you buy a consumer item here in the USA marked "made in China" but at least in that arena it's possible to 'try' to avoid making such a purchase, difficult in many cases as it may be. When you travel to the country, however, you've got no choice in the matter. I don't believe you'll find a wide selection of "Made in the USA" items available in the shops.
Similarly, by going there you're giving a vote of approval of sorts to that Government, something that's highlighted by their list of special laws that visitors must adhere to.
When I go to a business here in the USA and an employee is rude to me or I am mistreated in any way, I will endeavor to never give them my business ever again and I will encourage my friends and acquaintances to do the same. My money is my vote in a way, and I don't wish to vote for the Chinese Government, thank you very much.
I have a notice on my webmail pages:
" If you are writing from the PRC, I will not get your replies. Your Government has blocked transmission of these messages!"
Not that anyone in China would ever see that, but I leave it up as a taunt for their censors.
There is a site that traces and tells you if your domain is blocked. I suppose they blocked THAT too.
Good for you! It's a great reminder of the brutality there for any visitor to your pages....it's essential that people the world over be continually reminded of the multilayered and multifaceted oppression there.
Quite right. The hotel and ticket prices aren’t even factors unless one can get past the totalitarian bit. Not a country I’m in any hurry to visit.
I hope they lose their shirts. The more money they have, the more trouble they can cause.
The Chinees are out to cheat tourists.
For example, they will typically exchange an expensive item with a cheap one when boxing or bagging a purchase for you.
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