‘Uncivilised behaviour’: Popular panda research centre in China bans 12 tourists for life
The misbehaving visitors had thrown items like bamboo shoots, lollipop sticks and cigarettes into the pandas’ outdoor enclosure on separate occasions across a three-month period.
A panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China's Sichuan province. (Photo: Weibo/Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding)
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SINGAPORE: A well-known panda research and breeding centre in China has issued lifetime bans to a dozen tourists over their ill conduct, drawing renewed attention to misbehaving travellers in the country.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on Monday (Jun 17) posted a notice on its official WeChat account listing 12 tourists who were banned from the park over “uncivilised behaviour” between April and June this year.
The culprits were aged between 26 and 61, the institute stated in its notice. It did not specify if they were domestic or foreign tourists.
They had thrown bamboo shoots, lollipop sticks and cigarettes into the pandas’ outdoor activity area on separate occasions. In a couple of instances, eggs and bread were also tossed in.
In one incident on May 2, a 61-year-old woman ignored staff instructions and stuck an umbrella through the guardrails when they were not looking. The umbrella fell into the enclosure and a panda “came into contact” with it.
The institute said the pandas have been inspected and observed, and are in normal condition. “We will continue to monitor each animal’s physical condition and ensure they are healthy and safe,” it added.
One of China’s most popular attractions, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province was established in 1987. It was given the second-highest nod on the country’s five-tier rating system for tourist attractions in 2006.
According to the institute’s website, it once received more than 9 million visitors in one year.
The institute has a notice on its website reminding tourists that littering, spitting, throwing food into the animals’ activity area and other behaviours threatening their safety are prohibited. It adds that people who engage in “uncivilised behaviour” face entry bans of one to five years, or even for life.
The centre has issued lifetime bans before. According to an earlier notice posted in April, six visitors were previously handed such punishments. Among them was a 21-year-old who spat water on a giant panda.
Other tourist attractions have taken similar measures to punish bad behaviour.
In 2018, four Chinese tourists were blacklisted from a nature reserve in Shaanxi province after they threw rocks at a giant panda, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
In April 2023, state-owned newspaper The Paper reported that Shanghai Disneyland banned a man for life after he scolded a worker who asked him to stop smoking, driving the staff to tears.
The most recent cases have drawn renewed attention to the years-long issue of misbehaving tourists, including Chinese citizens, both at home and abroad.
In 2015, state news agency Xinhua reported that tourists would be blacklisted for offences including acting antisocially on public transport, damaging public or private property, disrespecting local customs and sabotaging historical exhibits, citing regulations by the National Tourism Administration.
Such ill conduct can be reported to law enforcement and other relevant authorities for disciplinary action, with the records being kept for up to two years, according to local news outlet Sixth Tone.
In 2013, then-vice premier Wang Yang said that the manners and “uncivilised behaviour” of some Chinese tourists abroad were harming China’s image, SCMP reported.
Singling out behaviour such as “talking loudly in public places, jay-walking, spitting and willfully carving characters on items in scenic zones”, Mr Wang said such ill conduct was “often criticised by the media and have damaged the image of Chinese people and caused vicious impact”.
