Contested civilities: state media, cultural identity, and the transformation of Chinese tourist subjectivity in the pre-pandemic era
Research by Michael O’Regan
Visualizing my research from the Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change (2025)
DOI: 10.1080/14766825.2025.2526548ISSN: 1476-6825
Introduction
The “Problem Tourist”
When President Xi Jinping visited the Maldives in 2014, he made an unprecedented intervention: calling on Chinese citizens to “be civilised when travelling abroad.”
From 2005 to 2018, China experienced a massive surge in outbound tourism, growing from 30 million to 155 million tourists. With this expansion came reports of “uncivilised” behavior—queue jumping, vandalism, and public disturbances.
This research analyzes 303 articles from China Daily and Global Times to understand how state media framed these “problem tourists” not just as individuals with bad manners, but as a cultural crisis requiring state intervention to protect the national image (*mianzi*).
Media Discourse
Three Media Frames
The analysis identifies three dominant archetypes used by media to characterize problem tourists. These frames shift the blame from structural issues to individual moral deficiencies (*suzhi*).
By framing tourists as irrational, uncontrolled, or naive, the state justifies the need for paternalistic guidance, regulations, and moral education.
“The problem tourist became both a social problem and a political concern… impacting China’s international reputation.”
The Three Archetypes
The Governance Mechanism
Cultural Governance
The study reveals how traditional concepts like Mianzi (Face) and Suzhi (Quality) are modernized into tools of governance.
Individual misconduct is reframed as “National Shame.” The state intervenes not just to punish, but to “civilise,” creating a system where tourists must self-regulate to protect the collective face of the nation.
- Blacklist systems (2016 regulation)
- Civic education campaigns
- Pre-travel etiquette training
The Discourse Peak
Coverage of problem tourists peaked between 2013 and 2016, coinciding with the introduction of the 2013 Tourism Law. This “discourse moment” highlighted the tension between China’s economic rise and its “civilisational” anxieties.
Conclusion
The “Controlocracy”
The media frames create a “controlocracy”—a network of regulations and moral obligations extending beyond legal boundaries.
By positioning tourists as involuntary ambassadors, the state operationalizes cultural values. Tourists are not just consumers; they are objects of state control, expected to perform “civilised” behavior to legitimize China’s rise on the global stage.
“These findings contribute to understanding how tourism functions as both a site of cultural transformation and a tool for cultural management, revealing the complex interplay between individual agency, traditional values, and state authority.”— Michael O’Regan (2025)