“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”… are the words for China.

On September 1st, a group of 12 American talented high school students were invited to a CCTV program. At the end of the program they were invited to briefly express their impressions on the country after the 15-day visit to China.

All the students are U.S. President Award winners (the program did not tell us exactly which award that is, and it is mostly likely to be the U.S President’s Award for Educational Excellence).

It is inspiring to see how these young American students view the differences in a almost entirely different culture, particularly at the time only just after the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which has in fact ‘triggered’ a discussion of intercultural mutual learning in the country. It is also interesting to notice the differences between students from two educational system at the time when there is discussions over the strength and weakness of the both educational systems.

Here is the full list of terms we got from the program given by students to describe China:

“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”, “Intellectually stimulating”, “Many many stories”, “Spirited”, “Crowded”, “Honest”, “Cyclical”, “Inspiring”, and “Amazing opportunities”.

And here is the online version of the program: China in Your Own Words: U.S. President Award Winners.

“China in Your Own Words” is in fact a CCTV program, which, by their own words, invites people “to tell in your own words, in your own way, the China that you know or experienced, regardless of your age, nationalities, or any other background”. And through this report we know that the visit was sponsored by Wall Street English, the biggest foreign English training company in China specialized in business English programs.

Picture source: “China in Your Own Words“, CCTV

2006年10月2日，中央文明办、国家旅游局今天联合颁布《中国公民出境旅游文明行为指南》、《中国公民国内旅游文明行为公约》。以下为全文：

《中国公民出境旅游文明行为指南》

• 中国公民，出境旅游，注重礼仪，保持尊严。
• 讲究卫生，爱护环境；衣着得体，请勿喧哗。
• 尊老爱幼，助人为乐；女士优先，礼貌谦让。
• 出行办事，遵守时间；排队有序，不越黄线。
• 文明住宿，不损用品；安静用餐，请勿浪费。
• 健康娱乐，有益身心；赌博色情，坚决拒绝。
• 参观游览，遵守规定；习俗禁忌，切勿冒犯。
• 遇有疑难，咨询领馆；文明出行，一路平安。

《中国公民国内旅游文明行为公约》

营造文明、和谐的旅游环境，关系到每位游客的切身利益。做文明游客是我们大家的义务，请遵守以下公约：

• 维护环境卫生。 不随地吐痰和口香糖，不乱扔废弃物，不在禁烟场所吸烟。
• 遵守公共秩序。不喧哗吵闹，排队遵守秩序，不并行挡道，不在公众场所高声交谈。
• 保护生态环境。不踩踏绿地，不摘折花木和果　实，不追捉、投打、乱喂动物。
• 保护文物古迹。不在文物古迹上涂刻，不攀爬触摸文物，拍照摄像遵守规定。
• 爱惜公共设施。不污损客房用品，不损坏公用设施，不贪占小便宜，节约用水用电，用餐不浪费。
• 尊重别人权利。不强行和外宾合影，不对着别人打喷嚏，不长期占用公共设施，尊重服务人员的劳动，尊重各民族宗教习俗。
• 讲究以礼待人。衣着整洁得体，不在公共场所袒胸赤膊；礼让老幼病残，礼让女士；不讲粗话。
• 提倡健康娱乐。抵制封建迷信活动，拒绝黄、赌、毒。

The famous fast food company Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was under fire for its controversial video advertisment showing an old Taoist surrounded by his apprentices enjoying chicken burgers and claiming it as a masterpiece. China Daily has this report citing China Business Post. The article on this weekly financial post criticizing KFC for dishonoring Chinese history and culture.

KFC entered China in 1987, and opened its first shop on November 12 at the downtown area of Qianmen in Beijing. Currently, it has more than 1400 shops in over 200 cities around the country. It employs totally 60,000 staff and its overall annul turnover is about 7.1 billion RMB yuan.