Improve your visit to China with just a few words...

China is a country that has become more open to tourists than ever before. The bamboo curtain has fallen over and the country welcomes tourists just like any other country. But how can you make your visit to China even better than imagined?

The answer lies in the people, and in the people and their language. China is a rich country with a great deal of history and is a country that is more than just Beijing and Shanghai.  China is a massive country of almost 10 million square kilometres with a population estimated at 1,376,049,000 in 2015, making it the country with the largest population on Earth.  People associate a visit to China, whether it is for business or pleasure, with the main cities of Shanghai or Beijing, the Great wall of China and the terracotta army in the Shaanxi province.  Other than this, and the fact that country is home to Pandas, Rice and Tea, many people get little further and assume, with great short-sightedness, that this is all China has to offer. 

Why is this?
As with any country, the greatest barrier to discovery, is language, and without communication we are actually limiting ourselves.  If you can’t speak Italian or French when you are in Italy or France, you may find your options limited to the places where your native speaking tour guides go or where you see the very welcome sign informing you that your language is spoken here.  The lack of language is a restricting force and prevents anyone venturing much further than the familiar, where their native language can be or has a chance of being spoken and China is among the toughest of countries to really explore without speaking the Chinese language.

Yes, you could use a phrase book but that is aimed at tourists and getting by. To explore you need to converse.  When you want to leave the tourist routes, and venture deeper into China, and get a feel for the real country and people, you need to be able to communicate in their language.
Being able to speak and converse in Chinese, with Chinese people, in China opens up a whole new country to you.  Areas that are naturally beautiful, areas where Coco-Cola perhaps has not infiltrated society and areas where real Chinese life is lived, with traditions and ways of life, become open to you.  Instead of following the Great Wall of China from one end to the other, you could duck off to the left or right, if you see somewhere that interests you, and you won’t be afraid because you can speak with the locals.

You will soon discover that with the ability to speak Chinese that Pandas, Tea and Rice are not all that China has to offer. You will discover a country with a rich heritage, some wonderful stories and some truly amazing people. China is open for business and it is open for tourists who want to explore and have a vacation in a country that is beyond any vacation ever taken before and an amazing experience all made possible because of the ability to communicate in another language.