Expert: Tom Carter ~ Travel China Expert - 5/1/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am a 16 year old student looking into an EF Tour with my high school. Do you think that a group of 12-40 kids with a 8 or so chaperons is safe in China? It is being led by one American (my history teacher) and his Taiwanese wife. My parents are reluctant to allow me to go because of the distance, what they think of China's health care (my dad is a doctor), and the safety. Do you know how often tours like this happen? What do you think?

ANSWER: Hi Adam,

First of all, you should jump at the chance to come to China. This country is developing at a rapid pace, and you can literally see the culture and cityscape transform before your eyes from an empire of the ancients into a modern metropolis. Before long, all of China's history will be bulldozed and her larger cities will be indistinguishable from any other cosmopolitan city in the world. Go now!

As for your English First Tour, I am under the impression that EF is a legitimate organization; I'm sure they've got the whole safety/health/insurance thing covered, and have taken great care to avoid any mishaps that could jeopardize their reputation. I can't speak from experience because I never worked with EF, but it's my educated guess that such a tour will be safe and sanitized.

As for touring in China itself, aside from being one of the safest countries in the world with one of the lowest crime rates, China sees approximately 50 million tourists per year, most of those on packaged tours like you and your friends will be on. It is in China's best interest to keep foreign visitors safe. Trust me on this, there are SO many undercover police and closed circuit video monitors throughout Communist China that the chances of anything bad happening to you are slim to none, especially if you guys don't stray from the "Tourist Trail" (Beijing-Xi'an-Chengdu-Shanghai).

I wrote an article about crime in China that you are welcome to show your folks to put their minds at ease.
http://www.bjreview.com.cn/eye/txt/2006-12/17/content_51150.htm

And don't let the recent events in Tibet discourage you either; China's internal police force will use all their power (and then some) to keep all foreign tourists far away from where the action and excitement is.

As for China's health care, all of China's larger cities (especially Beijing and Shanghai) have fully-staffed hospitals with western doctors and nurses, along with private English-speaking clinics. If you catch a bug or whatever, you'll be provided for. Actually, I caught a life-threatening bout of Encephalitis my first year in China and had to be hospitalized for 10 days. My mother is an ER nurse of 35 years, so she was on top of it all via teleconferencing with the staff. Tell your pops not to worry.

Have fun in China, and don't hesitate to ask me any further questions.

Tom Carter
http://www.tomcarter.org

p.s. Please recommend my upcoming book, CHINA: Portrait of a People, to your class and the EF people. It is the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author, and sure to be a great travel companion and/or souvenir of your visit to China.
http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/9789889979942.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your wonderful and quick response! I'm going to need all the help I can get to convince my parents. This is a link to the tour we would take: http://www.eftours.com/FindATour/Tour.aspx?tourcode=BYX&touryear=2009
We will be taking the Hong Kong extension. Do you know what the state of the health care is in these cities? Would I be likely to get any diseases in these cities (be it by food, infection, etc.)? That's the main hurdle preventing me from going. If we go we will be in Beijing on the 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Massacre. Are there ever any demonstrations that can be dangerous? Again, thank you so much! And about your book: I will be sure to buy books for the whole group if you and me pull this one off!


Answer
Hello again Adam,

We already established in our prior correspondence that China is one of the safest countries in the world to travel. It has one of the lowest crime stats and retains one of the largest internal police forces in the world. The capital city of Beijing, along with Shanghai, are veritable fortresses of security; there's really not much anyone can get away with without the "eye in the sky" keeping tabs on you.

As for demonstrations at Tiananmen, you needn't worry about a replay of 1989; ANY sort of political demonstration or rally is very ILLEGAL in China. You'd have an easier time escaping Alcatraz Island than Tiananmen; the Square is lined shoulder-to-shoulder with armed guards and undercover police 24/7.

Hong Kong was ruled by the British before re-transferring back to the Chinese. Imagine London being located off the shores of Mainland China. Would your father allow you to visit England? If so, then Hong Kong is no different. HK is THE wealthiest city in all of Asia and boasts the highest GDP in China. I dare say that you'll find better medical treatment in Hong Kong than back in the States. SARS in 2003 Hong Kong forced the local government to step up their sanitation efforts; now it is illegal to even spit on the sidewalk in Hong Kong.

As a personal note, I seem to recall catching the Flu far more often back in California than I have the past 4 years in Asia. As for food, just stay away from the street vendors and drink only bottled water (for sale everywhere). You really will be fine. There are 50 million foreign tourists in China every year; if they were all getting sick or mugged, I'd think the U.S. State Department would have said something about it by now.

If your folks are still skeptical, feel free to put them in touch with me, or have them confer directly with the EF people. Living in fear of the unknown, ostracizing things that one doesn't understand, and isolating one's self from the outside world is unfortunately a negative yet true characteristic of westerners. Sounds like you are eager to break these stereotypes; I hope your parents will agree.

Tom Carter

http://www.tomcarter.org
Coming soon - CHINA: Portrait of a People, by Tom Carter & Blacksmith Books (Hong Kong)