It's your duty to be civilized, China tells its tourists

China's National Tourism Administration has released a new set of guidelines aimed at teaching the country's tourists how to be more "civilized" amid an online furor over a Chinese schoolboy who scrawled graffiti on an ancient Egyptian relic. Internet users in China have been up in arms after an embarrassed traveler uploaded photos of seven Chinese characters carved onto artwork inside the 3,500-year-old Luxor Temple in Egypt, which was later traced back to a 15-year-old visitor from Nanjing. The teen's parents have since apologized for the act of vandalism, though the incident has prompted many netizens to post photos of similar graffiti captured during their travels, including at the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northwestern China's Gansu province, which has been a depository for Buddhist art for around a millennium. In an effort to stamp out similar offenses at home and abroad, the country's National Tourism Administration has formulated a convention outlining what is considered unacceptable conduct while traveling. "Being a civilized tourist is the obligation of each citizen," the convention said, singling out the protection of cultural relics as a duty. The convention discourages scribbling on or carving characters into ancient relics, as well as climbing or touching cultural artifacts, while photos may only be taken if site regulations permit. Other principles promoted by the convention include maintai ning a clean environment, complying with public order, protecting ecology, protecting public infrastructure and utilities, respecting other people's rights and showing courtesy to others. Actions such as spitting, littering, vandalizing, jaywalking and cutting in line are listed as inappropriate behavior. The municipal government of Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province, has also joined in to crack down on vandalism. New fines between 500 yuan and 5,000 yuan (US$82-$820) have been introduced for damaging flora or flowerbeds, carving on trees and hammering nails into public property. The fine can be upped to 20,000 yuan (US$3,265) for more serious offenses. The Egyptian embassy in China has responded to the Luxor Temple vandalism incident, calling it "regrettable" and "unethical." Egyptian civilization does not only belong to Egypt but to the world, the embassy said in a statement released on May 28. The Egyptian ambassador to C hina, Ahmed Rizk, said diplomatically that the outrage in China stemming from the Luxor Temple incident reflects the high respect Chinese people have for historical artifacts. The boy's act of vandalism is a reflection of his ignorance of the historical value of these cultural artifacts, he added. These relics need to be preserved and protected so that they can be witnessed by future generations, the ambassador said. Source: Want China Times from China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/

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