Tired of seeing only man-made sites in China, I was excited to get to Jiuzhaigou, sometimes described as China’s Yosemite. In Beijing I’d heard one jaded American tourist pooh-pooh it complaining about the long lines, “Isn’t that where you have to stand in a queue just to see the water?” he scoffed rather snootily. The Hong Kong transplant nearby quickly defended the area. She told me it was busier now, but it’s still worth seeing.
Believing her recommendation, and wanting desperately to get a little closer to nature, I made the trek to the nature reserve. Even driving into the area, I was awed by the beauty of the place. Tall mountains crept up beside every bend of the road. And through my taxi’s headlights, I saw the outlines of spruce leaning toward the road.
While checking in to the hostel/hotel, I met two foreigners checking out. One was an older Kiwi woman, the other a young Aussie woman, and both were here with a significant other. Seeing these westerners, I was sure the place would be overrun with them.
How wrong I was. Walking around the grounds the next day, there was a massive number of tourists. Supposedly, the park caps entrance to 12,000 a day, and often times, it felt like all 12,000 were at the same part of the reserve I was. But although there were many, many visitors, there were very few westerners. In fact, on my two days in the park I saw less than 10 westerners (unless, of course, they’re incognito like me) and just one American.
Seeing all the tourists, I knew that a large part of the growth of tourism at this place also has to do with the country’s growing middle class. Now with some disposable income, leisure travel is much more feasible. As I look around the area, I’ve been thinking more and more about the American’s comments in Beijing and others I’d heard about the Jiuzhaigou getting ruined soon. Part of me can’t help but think of what their underlying message is. Do these people really think the place was so much more beautiful when only the vacationing westerners and a few domestic tourists could afford the time and money to see it? As one who avoids tourists as much as possible, I can only half-heartedly sympathize with their remarks. I mean, yes, the throngs of camera-carrying tourists blocking my beautiful view isn’t what I like to spend my days looking at. But I can’t help but think how depressing it would be to know that Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, or Sequoia National Park were just pictures in my school textbooks and not something that I had an opportunity to see myself…
For more pictures of the reserve, click on a thumbnail below:
It’s been forbidden in the Forbidden City. OK maybe not forbidden, but Starbucks’ Forbidden City (in Beijing) location is closed as of last week. According to BusinessWeek Online’s 
