China's visa-free policy for countries cross Europe, Asia and Oceania have provided international visitors an opportunity to gain an authentic experience of the country's culture and development.
China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it will extend its visa-free policy to New Zealand, Australia, and Poland. From July 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2025, citizens of these countries with ordinary passports will be allowed to enter and stay in China visa-free for up to 15 days for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit.
Many foreign travelers have shared positive sentiments about their trips to China.
"We felt very welcomed. And [China is] just cultural [with] a lot of culture. So, I'm going to go back and read a lot of books. I've got to do some homework," said a tourist from the United States
Some people said their perceptions about China have been challenged and changed during their visits.
"I'm seeing blue skies and a lot of trees. I didn't get that impression of China from the media, from the Western media, [who said that] I can't see [people] one yard away because the pollution, actually, which makes them invisible. But that's not true. I'm seeing people a mile away from here. So, it's a wrong conception which we portrayed, I guess, be portrayed by the West. And I'm happy that I'm here to have the experience now to go and refute all those lies that they are telling. When I go back to Jamaica, I will say 'no, China is a beautiful place,'" said a tourist from Jamaica.
"I think that the people in western Europe had a totally different image of being here in China. It's modern. It is more modern than where we come from," said a tourist from the Netherlands.
"Things are linked. I do use my phone every day for everything here that we do not in France," said a tourist from France.
"The European perspective is not always the best one. They only focus on the politics. Especially, in this renewable energy fields, China is the first. They produce all the materials and the solar cells and stuff. They are the reason why it is now so cheap and affordable for the rest of the world to change to renewable energy," said a tourist from Germany.
Meanwhile, the convenience of various tourism services, particularly payment options, has attracted more foreign tourists to visit China.
When asked about their preferred payment methods, tourists enthusiastically mentioned Alipay, WeChat Pay, and mobile phone apps as the convenient ways to make payments in China. The ease of transactions has greatly enhanced the overall travel experience.
"Clean, welcoming, safe, modern, and convenient" were some of the recurring words used by foreign tourists in their interviews. As barriers of information are broken and interactions between ordinary people become more frequent, the distance between cultures narrows.
China will expand its visa-free transit policy to include more countries and increase inbound flights from major passenger source countries to optimize its entry and exit measures, according to a circular jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and four other government bodies on Monday.
Efforts will be made to improve street signs in foreign languages in public places such as popular tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and airports, the circular noted.
It also suggested incorporating multilingual services into map and navigation applications and enhancing ride-hailing services.
Visa-free policy provides int'l tourists more opportunities to gain authentic experience in China
Li Yong, a young man who was born in 1978 and inherits the responsibility of patrolling a section of the Great Wall in Baoding City, north China's Hebei Province, has honored a long-standing commitment of his family to protecting the important symbol of the Chinese civilization for nine years running.
Li lives in the vicinity of the Great Wall and has grown up listening to stories about the cultural relic.
The section of the Great Wall that Li usually patrols was built during the 1465-1487 period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and has stood towering in the mountains for nearly 500 years.
During the season of frequent thunderstorms, Li would increase the patrols along the Great Wall from once a week to twice a week. In addition to his essentials -- a sickle and a garbage bag -- Li would also carry a small saw. As the Great Wall is vulnerable to rain, he would cut some dry woods, collect bricks, and use them to support the fragile arch tops of the watchtowers.
"The role of Great Wall guardians was initiated in 1988. In my memory, every village along the Great Wall had to appoint a guardian for the conservation of the ancient structure. At that time, it was purely voluntary, without any pay, so nobody was willing to do it. That's when my father stepped forward and took on the duty," said Li.
In Li's memory, his father was a taciturn man who would persist when he set his mind on something.
Although there was not much conversation between the father and son, whenever the Great Wall was mentioned, the typically reserved father would always become talkative. In Li's eyes, his father grew older day by day while patrolling the Great Wall tirelessly.
His father fell ill around the year 2010, and had since got weaker. It often took the elderly seven to eight hours to cover the whole patrol route which usually took him five hours previously.
"The Great Wall, since it's aged, so needs to be protected. When one generation grows old, our younger generations can take over the duty and continue to protect it, generation after generation," said Li.
In 2015, Li resigned from his job and returned to his hometown, Tangzigou Village, in Laiyuan County and became a Great Wall guardian.
In 2017, as the poverty alleviation policies were implemented in Laiyuan County, the villagers of Tangzigou moved collectively into newly built apartment buildings in the county town.
Nevertheless, Li's family ultimately chose to stay, being the only household in the village to stay at the foot of the Great Wall.
"With the Great Wall always in sight, it was hard to leave it. At that time, I wondered if anyone else would be willing to come and guard the Great Wall if I moved away. I felt that no one would, so I decided to stay and continue guarding the Great Wall," said Li.
Today, Li's efforts in guarding the Great Wall have garnered increasing attention.
The Wuzihao Great Wall Protection Station, built on the site of Li's old house, is the outcome of supports from the Great Wall Protection Association and enthusiasts.
This station includes a Great Wall exhibition hall comprising two rooms, showcasing not only Li's collected treasures from the Great Wall over the years but also donations from across the country.
"Now our exhibition hall hosts hundreds of cultural relics, which is unachievable by relying on just one or two people. So they have not only volunteered themselves but also urged their friends to help us build this exhibition hall," said Li.
Nowadays, most of Li's phone calls are from Great Wall enthusiasts, who mainly call to greet him and discuss the latest happenings regarding the Great Wall.
In their eyes, Li is an "amateur expert" on Great Wall artifacts. With their companionship, Li no longer feels alone in his journey of guarding the Great Wall, and he looks forward to the future with optimism.
"I hope in the future I'm able to operate drones to patrol the Great Wall. In my lifetime, I want to collect more artifacts from the Great Wall. Even if the Great Wall disappears, my artifacts will still remain," said Li.
Hebei local honors generational commitment to Great Wall protection
