The Chinese are coming

Chinese radio journalist Carol Wei can recall, down to the precise moment, when her soul first learnt to sing: it was while drifting down the Ganga in a boat in Varanasi at sunrise on a February morning.

“Hundreds of pilgrims were offering daybreak prayers, and I was profoundly swayed by their intense devotion,” Wei told DNA. Although she’s a well-heeled independent traveller — she’s also been to several European countries — Wei says she’s never experienced the kind of cultural resonance or sensory stimulation that she felt during that trip to India. So much so that on the radio show she hosts in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (in Guangdong province), she’s been recommending India as a mind-altering tourist destination for Chinese people who are now venturing overseas.

India, about which Chinese people know very little beyond Bollywood or Buddha, is beginning to appeal as a tourist destination for a slice of young, urban Chinese people who can appreciate the nuances of cultural heritage. “Chinese people are now talking about India in a good way,” says Shoeb Samad, director of the India Tourism office in Beijing.

Last week, a public transport bus in Guangzhou, decorated with India Tourism motifs, was flagged off by India’s consul-general Gautam Bambawale. It’s part of an effort to roll out the red carpet for footloose Chinese people. “Nearly 40 per cent of China’s outbound tourist flow originates from Guangdong province,” points out Bambawale.
Most of those tourists head for Europe or the US, with barely a trickle making it to India. But 2009 is being observed in China as Visit India Year, and a number of initiatives have been drawn up to get many more Chinese people to say, “Ni hao, India!” (Hello, India!)