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Times Reporter Gets Lost (Again)
posted Sunday, 8 October 2006
What is it with travel journalists? Here we are in the third biggest country in the world and every journalist on the planet seems to vist the same four over-exposed tourist traps! Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Guilin. There's nothing wrong with those places (actually, there is), but there is so much more!
So, I'm a little peeved to read, in this article from The Times yesterday, of the joys of Guilin yet again! Especially from a writer who badly needs to do some research!
He boldly reports that he "arrived the day before in Guilin, the capital of Guangxi province..."
This will come as a great shock to the good people of Nanning, who are convinced that their city is the capital, as is every informed person on the planet. Guilin is Guangxi's third city, after Nanning and Liuzhou. (If I wanted to be pedantic, I could also point out that Guangxi is not a province, but an autonomous region!)
He points out that his arrival coincides with "the first night of “Golden Week”, a national holiday..."
There is no holiday called Golden Week. The night he arrived was, in fact, China's National Day, a celebration of Mao's declaration of the People's Republic on Oct 1st 1949. The holiday is stretched out to give people seven consecutive days off (although they have to work the weekends to make up some of the time) and is referred to as a golden week. It is not the only golden week.
Finally, the article announces that Mr Penn (or his employers) paid "from £1,594pp and includes flights from Heathrow, bike hire, B&B in hotels and guesthouses, local guides and support vehicle.“ Someone is having a laugh!
I remember when The Times was a well respected newspaper.
So, I'm a little peeved to read, in this article from The Times yesterday, of the joys of Guilin yet again! Especially from a writer who badly needs to do some research!
He boldly reports that he "arrived the day before in Guilin, the capital of Guangxi province..."
This will come as a great shock to the good people of Nanning, who are convinced that their city is the capital, as is every informed person on the planet. Guilin is Guangxi's third city, after Nanning and Liuzhou. (If I wanted to be pedantic, I could also point out that Guangxi is not a province, but an autonomous region!)
He points out that his arrival coincides with "the first night of “Golden Week”, a national holiday..."
There is no holiday called Golden Week. The night he arrived was, in fact, China's National Day, a celebration of Mao's declaration of the People's Republic on Oct 1st 1949. The holiday is stretched out to give people seven consecutive days off (although they have to work the weekends to make up some of the time) and is referred to as a golden week. It is not the only golden week.
Finally, the article announces that Mr Penn (or his employers) paid "from £1,594pp and includes flights from Heathrow, bike hire, B&B in hotels and guesthouses, local guides and support vehicle.“ Someone is having a laugh!
I remember when The Times was a well respected newspaper.