纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英外国人到中国旅游是一种什么样的体验

By some measures, visiting China has never been easier.

从某些方面来看，到中国旅游从未如此容易。

China has been making a huge push to attract foreign tourists in recent months. It has rolled out a visa-free program for dozens of countries, with the list still growing. It has pledged to make it easier for visitors to pay for things, book hotels and get around.

近几个月来，中国一直在大力吸引外国游客。它已经向数十个国家推出了免签政策，而且惠及对象的名单越来越长。中国承诺为外国游客的支付、酒店预定和出行提供便利。

The goal is to signal that China is open for business — and fun! — again, after three years of pandemic controls made it literally impossible for most foreigners to enter. The government is especially keen to attract visitors as it tries to rev up growth.

在经历了长达三年的疫情管控，让大多数外国人难以进入中国后，这些措施是为了向世界表明，中国欢迎大家来做生意——还有旅游观光。为了推动经济的增长，政府尤其希望吸引游客。

China also wants to show that it is still connected to the world, despite tensions with the West and the growing reach of its security apparatus at home.

中国还希望藉此表明，尽管与西方关系紧张，国内安全机构的影响力也在不断扩大，它依然与世界保持着联系。

In a sign of its eagerness, Beijing has offered the visa waivers to countries that have not done the same in return — a rare move for a government that usually insists on reciprocity.

北京单方面提供了免签，这对于一个通常坚持互惠原则的政府来说，是一个罕见的举动，显示出中国的急切态度。

But actually traveling to China can still be a major challenge. Here’s what to know:

但实际上，前往中国仍然是一个重大挑战。以下是需要知道的内容：

What’s new?

有什么新变化？

China is unilaterally offering visa-free entry for 15 days to citizens from a slew of countries, mostly Western European ones like France, Germany and Spain. The program began in December and has continued to expand; Australia, New Zealand and Poland were included last month. It is set to run through 2025.

中国单方面向来自多个国家的公民提供15天的免签入境待遇，其中大部分是西欧国家，比如法国、德国和西班牙。该计划于去年12月开始，之后不断扩大；澳大利亚、新西兰和波兰上个月被纳入其中。这个政策将持续到2025年。

In addition, citizens of more than 50 countries, including the United States, are now eligible for visa-free transit. They can enter China for 72 or 144 hours, depending on their port of entry, if they are continuing on to other destinations.

此外，包括美国在内的50多个国家的公民现在可以免签过境。如果继续前往其他目的地，他们可以在中国停留72小时或144小时，具体取决于入境口岸的不同。

Transit travelers must stay within certain areas. For example, people flying into Shanghai can only visit the city and the neighboring provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

过境旅客只能在特定区域内停留。例如，飞往上海的旅客只能前往上海以及邻近的江苏、浙江两省。

China has also promised to reduce logistical headaches for foreigners. WeChat and AliPay — the so-called super apps that most Chinese use for every aspect of daily life, from digital payments to ride hailing to ordering at restaurants — can now be linked to international credit cards, not just Chinese ones. (Most businesses do not accept credit cards directly.) And in May, the government told hotels not to refuse foreign guests, which was once a common practice.

中国还承诺减少外国游客在旅行安排上的麻烦。微信和支付宝——大多数中国人在日常生活不可缺少的所谓超级应用，涵盖了从电子支付、叫车到餐馆点餐的各种服务——已经可以绑定国际信用卡，而不像过去局限于中国的银行卡。（大多数商家不直接接受信用卡。）而且在5月份，政府要求酒店不得拒绝接待外宾，这曾经是一种普遍做法。

Why is China doing all this?

中国为什么要这么做？

Simply put: It needs money.

简单来说就是——缺钱。

As China’s economy slows, its consumers have been hesitant to spend, fanning fears of deflation. The government also wants to win back foreign investment, after many overseas companies were spooked by China’s long Covid lockdowns and tightening political environment. Visitors on the 15-day visa-free program are allowed not only to sight-see, but to conduct business.

随着中国的经济放缓，消费者变得谨慎，引发了对通缩的担忧。政府还希望重新吸引外国投资，许多外国企业因中国长期的疫情封锁和日益严峻的政治环境而感到不安。为期15天的免签政策不仅可以用于观光旅游，还可以用来做生意。

Attracting more visitors would also help the government rebut accusations from the United States and other Western countries that China has become more hostile to foreigners.

吸引更多外国游客也有助于政府反驳来自美国和其他西方国家的指责，即中国对外国人越来越不友好。

Beijing last year revised its counterespionage law to broaden the definition of spying, and state propaganda has warned that seemingly harmless foreigners might be trying to undermine China’s national security. Still, the government insists that reports of xenophobia and rising nationalism are just spin, orchestrated by countries trying to stop China’s rise.

中国政府去年修订了《反间谍法》，扩大了间谍活动的定义，国家宣传部门也警告，一些看似无害的外国人可能正试图破坏中国的国家安全。尽管如此，政府坚称，有关仇外心理和民族主义抬头的报道均属捏造，是那些试图阻止中国崛起的国家精心策划的谎言。

Are more visitors coming?

会有更多外国游客到来吗？

In the first half of this year, there were 14.6 million arrivals from overseas, according to Chinese statistics. Most of them were visa-free.

根据中国的统计数据，今年上半年，全国各口岸入境的外国人为1463.5万人次。其中大部分是免签入境。

That’s 2.5 times as many as China had during the same period last year, but well below the 24 million in the first half of 2019, before the pandemic.

这一数字是去年同期的2.5倍，但远低于疫情前2019年上半年2400万人次的水平。

China’s efforts to smooth out visitors’ experiences have also had mixed results.

中国在提升游客体验所做的努力取得了好坏参半的结果。

On a recent Friday in Shanghai, Luka Lefevre, 24, and Charlotte Collet, 21, were cramming as much sightseeing as possible into a 10-hour layover between Paris and Vietnam. They had visited Yu Garden, a temple complex, and were taking photos on East Nanjing Road, a major shopping street.

不久前的一个周五，24岁的卢卡·勒费夫尔和21岁的夏洛特·科莱从巴黎到越南，期间在上海停留10个小时，想在这段时间尽可能多跑一些景点。他们参观了豫园，这是一处亭台楼阁建筑群，并在主要的商业街南京东路拍照。

But they’d had trouble using their phones to pay for things, and had to resort to cash, they said. They were also surprised by the ubiquitous surveillance cameras.

但他们在使用手机支付时遇到了麻烦，只能转而使用现金。他们还对无处不在的监控摄像头感到惊讶。

“For us, it’s a little bit too much, because we don’t have this in France,” Ms. Collet said. “But we know that it’s for safety.”

“对我们来说，这有点太过了，因为我们在法国没有这个，”科莱说。“但我们明白这是为了安全。”

“For 10 hours, it’s O.K.,” Mr. Lefevre added.

“（在摄像头下）呆10个小时，倒是没问题，”勒费夫尔补充道。

Even visitors who’d figured out the Chinese apps said it had taken a while.

即使是那些弄懂了中国应用程序的游客也表示，要上手还是需要点时间。

Walking along the Bund, Shanghai’s historic waterfront area, Maeline Lachaud and Nadia Hofmann, both Swiss university students, said they had linked their credit cards to AliPay while traveling through Xi’an, Chongqing and now Shanghai. The convenience was “amazing,” they said.

在上海历史悠久的外滩溜达时，瑞士大学生梅琳·拉肖和 纳迪亚·霍夫曼说，她们在西安、重庆和上海旅行时，将信用卡与支付宝做了绑定。她们说，方便程度“令人惊叹”。

But Ms. Lachaud, a first-time visitor, said she had relied heavily upon Ms. Hofmann, who is minoring in Chinese studies and had visited once before. She hadn’t realized that AliPay had to be used not only to pay, but also to order at restaurants, and that the in-app menus were in Chinese.

但第一次来中国的拉肖说，她主要靠辅修汉学、以前来过中国的霍夫曼。她之前不知道支付宝除了用于支付，还可以用来在餐馆点餐，而应用内的菜单是中文的。

Many major tourist attractions across China, such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, also require advance reservations through platforms like WeChat that are largely in Chinese. (Because of the super apps’ ubiquity, many websites in China are poorly maintained.)

中国许多主要旅游景点，如北京的故宫，也需要通过微信等平台提前预约，这些平台也基本是中文的。（由于超级应用程序无处不在，中国的许多网站维护不善。）

“China’s not for beginners,” Ms. Hofmann said.

“中国不适合菜鸟，”霍夫曼说。