As China seeks to attract more international tourists, the need for multilingual guides is on the rise
Before visiting China this May, 19-year-old Lee Seung Hee took private Mandarin lessons for months. As a Chinese-Korean student living in the UK, she had long envisioned a trip that would connect her with her family’s ancestral roots, and jumped at China’s new 144-hour visa-free entry policy.
During her six days traveling through Fujian province’s Xiamen and Quanzhou, Lee encountered friendly locals who were happy to talk with her, and her Mandarin steadily improved. Yet other visitors who didn’t come with the language skills to navigate on their own may find their journeys more arduous: The supply of foreign-language tour guides in China is struggling to keep up with the sudden influx of demand.
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