Ling Ling's "List of China Travel Guidebooks and Chinese Phrase Books " on Lists of Bests

Add to my lists |

Tourism in China has greatly expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening. The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are both fueling this travel boom. China has become one of the world’s most-watched and hottest outbound tourist markets. The world is on the cusp of a sustained Chinese outbound tourism boom.

China is the world’s third most visited country in the world. The number of overseas tourists was 55.98 million in 2010. Foreign exchange income was 41.9 billion U.S. dollars, the world’s fifth largest in 2009. The number of domestic tourist visits totaled 1.61 billion, with a total income of 777.1 billion yuan.

According to the WTO, in 2020, China will become the largest tourist country and the fourth largest for overseas travel. In terms of total outbound travel spending, China is currently ranked fifth and is expected to be the fastest growing in the world from 2006 to 2015, jumping into the number two slot for total travel spending by 2015.

Travel within China has become easier in recent years with the lifting of travel controls, massive investment in transportation facilities such as roads, railways and airlines, and the rapid rise in incomes.

Even though English is becoming more and more popular in China, most Chinese people do not understand it. Some form of Chinese is virtually universal in China, with Mandarin as the standard form and many other varieties also in use; some, like Cantonese and Shanghainese, have tens of millions of speakers. Although many Chinese do not speak English, due to the educational system many Chinese near and in urban areas can read and write it, even though they may have difficulty with spoken English.

The following ten essential China guidebooks, phrasebooks and survival guides will help you during your travels aross China.