This is a refreshingly different sort of mainland-Chinese-tourist story.

Yesterday around 9 am, accoring to Apple Daily via Coconuts Hong Kong, a 47-year-old man called Shi Jian was fishing near  when he suffered a seizure and fell in the water.

A female tourist from the mainland happened to see this as she was passing by, and she quickly went over to help.

“I heard him shout ‘Help,’ so I walked over there and found he was already in the water,” said Long Xianming, 49.

Along with another fisherman, they formed a “human chain” to pull the man out of the water.

The woman suffered a few foot abrasions and was sent, along with the rescued man, to Princess Margaret Hospital, where they’ll both be okay.

(Image via Apple Daily screen capture)

At the start of this video, the man behind the camera says, “Just like Chinese people, to fight over pictures.”

But just over pictures? Or is this an expression of a deeper discontent, a deformity of neither behavior nor genetics but something more fundamental and universal?

This was recorded at Stone Forest Geological Park in Kunming, Yunnan province during the now-concluded Golden Week.

Stone Forest is among the most popular domestic travel destinations in the country, which means of course scuffles would break out. It’s tough enough dealing with millions of people on a daily basis; when it happens during travel season, a time of ostensible leisure, perhaps people are reminded of their irredeemable smallness, or the head-splitting pressures imposed by a world that stops turning only when you’re dead. Upon this epiphany, who wouldn’t lash out at his fellow man?

So much for that newly issued Chinese tourism etiquette guidebook.

Remember? That 64-page thing released by the National Tourism Administration in China, supposed to go into effect on October 1?

This parent and child — which the website Coconuts Hong Kong says are from the mainland – must have missed the memo, because the child sure appears to be urinating in public. Give him some credit though: at least it’s into a trash bin.

This was taken inside a subway station in Hong Kong right in front of a sign that appears to say “No Peeing.” (I can’t tell for certain, but wouldn’t it be great if really was a “No Peeing” sign?)

Is this better or worse than the iPee boy in the Hong Kong Apple store?

The tourism guidebook may need updating already.

Piss and Tell: Golden Week tourists in all their glory (Coconuts Hong Kong)

Because Chinese tourists have a terrible rap, the National Tourism Administration has issued a 64-page guidebook on appropriate behavior, featuring some reasonable advice (“keep quiet when waiting to board a plane”), some common-sense advice (be on time), and and some head-scratchers (“do not call Africans ‘Negros’ or ‘black’”). “Don’t pick your nose is on the list,” too, as everyone seems to be pointing out. SCMP has this story, and an excerpt of some of the rules:

Do not

• Give a handkerchief in Italy as a gift because it is deemed inauspicious
• Discuss the royal family in Thailand
• Touch people’s belongings in Nepal with the foot
• Ask for pork in Islamic countries
• Call Africans “Negros” or “black”
• Use the left hand to touch other people in India
• In general, touch antiques or draw graffiti on heritage structures
• Expose the chest or back, or look dirty in public areas
• Eat a whole piece of bread in one mouthful or slurp noodles noisily inside an aircraft

Do

• Use shower curtains in a hotel
• Keep quiet when waiting to board a plane
• Keep mobile phones turned off until the aircraft has come to a complete stop
• Be punctual if taking part in a tour group
• Arrive at a banquet hall 15 minutes early and adhere to a formal dress code

Some of these are also fairly obvious, like, “Don’t ask for pork in Islamic countries.” But I want to focus on the “do” list — I hadn’t known Chinese guests have a reputation for not showering with the curtains pulled!

In April, China passed a Tourism Law — vocally backed by none other than vice premier Wang Yang — that came into effect on October 1. We wonder, then: is this latest handbook really necessary?

• Outrage After Tourists Caught Publicly Peeing In Beijing’s Summer Palace
• Chinese Teenager Publicly Shamed After Vandalizing Ancient Egyptian Artifact
• Chinese Travelers Try To Keep 30 Sets Of Singapore Airlines Cutlery

Okay, fine.

For future domestic editions of this travel handbook, maybe the tourism board can include this tip: do not travel during Golden Week.

UPDATE, 5:27 pm: Illustrations really make this better. Via WSJ.

We’re going to borrow Alia of Offbeat China’s word for the crowds during National Day holiday — “tourpocalypse” — because these pictures make us judder, indeed as if the ground will swallow us, no longer able to hold the weight of all this humanity.

This happens every year, and all we can do is… be happy we’re not dead?

Additional images are from Southern Metro Daily via Shanghaiist.

These are the sort of National Day occurrences that will ruin your vacation. At the super popular tourist destination of Jiuzhaigou (Jiuzhai Valley National Park) in Sichuan province on Thursday, 4,000 tourists were stranded until after-hours as authorities scrambled to supply enough vehicles to take everyone to base.

The last tourists didn’t exit until 10 pm, and were understandably frustrated. A raw clip of confused tourists is below. If you want a glimpse of the chaos, check out these pictures:

AP reports that China’s National Tourism Administration responded to the crisis by issuing a notice to popular tourism sites around the country, presumably asking them to be slightly more competent.

A lot of people are traveling this year.

The tourism administration said more than 6 million people had visited 125 sites across China in the first three days of the Oct. 1-7 holiday period, up by 8.4 percent from last year.

If we’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: during Golden Week, it’s best to stay put, or leave the country. Prepare your blood pressure medicine otherwise.

(H/T Alicia)

Once again, Chinese tourists shame their countrymen.

In the latest controversy involving Chinese tourists – a group of mainland travellers have upset Singapore Airlines staff by refusing to hand over 30 sets of stainless steel tableware during a recent flight, Chinese media reported.

That’s from SCMP, which continues:

The Chinese passengers were on a tour of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. While onboard the Singapore Airlines flight,  they had intended to keep the stainless steel knives and forks provided during a meal, the Qianjiang Evening News reported on Tuesday.

The utensils were apparently stainless steel and reusable, so naturally, airline staff weren’t happy. Neither were the tour guides in charge of these wonderful travelers.

The affair finally ended when the guide told the tourists they were hurting China’s image abroad. “Stop hurting the reputation of Chinese people,’’ he said.

Better or worse than getting drunk on a flight and trying to take away a bottle of wine?

For reasons that will not surprise anyone, the behavior of Chinese tourists has been in the news lately. No, it’s not good.

“Why Do Chinese Tourists Have Such a Bad Rep?” goes this Andrew Sullivan blog post (and here’s part two!). Basically, just a bunch of anecdotes of Chinese tourists behaving poorly. Maybe you’ll want to only skim a few lines, lest you get the impression that all Chinese travelers are like this.

Bad apples abound though, as they statistically would when a country sends so many tourists outside their borders every year. In this case, the travelers’ mistake was thinking they could steal in bulk. One or two sets of cutleries wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows. Thirty? Yeah, they’ll stop you then, probably just to make you understand your own stupidity more than anything else.

Chinese passengers anger airline staff by refusing to hand over in-flight tableware (SCMP, h/t Alicia)

This isn’t too bizarre — when else is one to get a chance to take a souvenir photo in front of a gigantic poster of the Hong Kong skyline? I mean, holy moly, everyone — it’s a gigantic photo of the Hong Kong skyline!

August 21, CFP, via NetEase, which has more photos.

(H/T Shanghaiist)

Here’s the latest from the chronicles of bad places to relieve yourself. Last week, one Cao Liping spied about a dozen tourists peeing on a vine-covered wall near the 17 Arches Bridge in Beijing’s Summer Palace. Angered, he snapped the above photo and posted it to Sina Weibo, where it predictably triggered uproar. CCTV and People’s Daily are among the those who have run with this story.

Initial spectulation was that there weren’t enough toilets in the Summer Palace, but a park staffer quickly refuted that notion, pointing out that there are actually 150 public bathrooms in the park. In fact, there was one just a hundred steps away from where these fellas were peeing.

Worse, according to Cao, after these five were done, others stepped up — in groups — to do their business, even though they could plainly see that they were being photographed. An act of defiance against civility? We’ve seen it before.

Here’s one of the many news reports on the incident:

If you’re going to deface an ancient artifact in Luxor, Egypt, it’s best not to use your real name. That’s the lesson we’re learning from the Ding Jinhao incident.

A microblogger named Shen, visiting the Luxor Temple earlier this month, noticed Chinese characters scribbled over a sandstone relic alongside hieroglyphics. Mortified, Shen posted a picture of this vandalism onto Sina Weibo, where it went viral. Netizens were furious, claiming the incident was a “loss of face” for the Chinese, according to China Daily.

The inscription read “Ding Jinhao was here.”

Ding Jinhao was recently revealed to be a 14-year-old middle school student in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. (Some English media have reported he’s 15.) The boy, reportedly distraught, has made no public comment, but his parents have apologized on his behalf. China Daily:

“We want to apologize to the Egyptian people and to people who have paid attention to this case across China,” Ding’s mother said in Modern Express, a local newspaper.

Ding has realized the seriousness of his misconduct, according to his mother.

His father said they felt regretful after news about the case was spread online.

Internet users, because they’re Internet users, reportedly hacked the boy’s school’s website, “forcing users to click on a sign parodying Ding’s graffiti.”

News of this incident comes only days after one of China’s vice premiers, Wang Yang, asked his citizens to observe “polite tourist behavior” when traveling abroad. As International Business Times reports:

“Improving the civilized quality of the citizens and building a good image of Chinese tourists are the obligations of governments on all levels and relevant agencies and companies,” he said in a transcript published last week on the website of the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. “Guide tourists to conscientiously abide by public order and social ethics, respect local religious beliefs and customs, mind their speech and behavior … and protect the environment.”

So you probably can figure out that Ding isn’t the first Chinese tourist who’s behaved poorly around heritage sites. Closer to home earlier this month, a man broke the glass to a Forbidden City display and acted generally crazy.

Ding, it can be argued, committed a lesser sort of error: the type that middle schoolers sometimes make, regardless of their nationality. Adults are wont to act as uncouth, and sometimes more egregiously so. As Shanghai Daily notes:

Following the Ding incident, online posts claimed that Song Yin, said to be a senior reporter with the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po newspaper, had engraved similar words in a Dunhuang fresco in northwest Gansu Province.

A photograph showing the words: “Senior reporter of Wen Wei Po Song Yin was here for research in lixia in 2000.” Lixia is a Chinese solar term referring to the beginning of summer.

At some point, people will get it: no one cares you were there, or anywhere. At least, you better hope they don’t.

(H/T @badcanto, Amy Qin)

If you ever want to understand what it means to live in China — “real China,” as some are fond of saying — head out to one of the popular tourist sites this week. It doesn’t matter which — may as well be the Great Wall, shown above, or Xiangshan, or Jiuzhaigou, whatever. Advance warning: you’ll need to prepare heavy doses of perspective and patience, and master a few advanced breathing techniques, because what you’ll deal with will shock and anger you, and seriously test your resolve to be a compassionate, courteous human being.

It will also open your eyes to what it truly means to live under constant population pressure, as this country does, and hammer home the problems this country faces due to those pressures. So ignore this post’s title: go take a hike on the Great Wall, preferably around lunchtime, when everyone is just arriving. Let the experience be didactic. QQ video for those in China after the jump.