Hostel intercontinental
Hostelling is a relatively new concept in China, but as more and more Chinese catch the travel bug, they are finding that the country's youth hostels offer much more than budget bedding.
"Here, we can make friends from across China and from other countries," said He Song, a traveling university student from Guangzhou, in South China's Guangdong Province.
A shadow play troupe from Northwest China's Shaanxi Province performs at the YHA at the side of Xihu Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Li Zhong |
He and his friends Huang Juan and Xie Xiuxing have been living at the Beijing Zhaolong Youth Hostel for the last month. Attached to the Zhaolong Hotel in the Sanlitun Embassy Area, the hostel is a hub for foreigners visiting Beijing.
According to the hostel's manager Li Wei, about 90 percent of the visitors come from Europe. The rest are mostly young Chinese from developed provinces, such as He and his friends.
Li became acquainted with the youth hostel concept during his three-year study of hotel management in Germany. Upon returning to Beijing, he decided to open the capital's first hostel in 2000, because he believed more foreigners would be visiting China in the future.
He was right. Soon after opening, the hostel had to increase the number of beds from 130 to 180 to accommodate the growing influx of mostly foreign guests. And the hostel trend has spread nationwide. According to the website of the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) China, there are more than 70 hostels set up across the country including Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
And Li said that this abundance of foreign visitors provides the main attraction for Chinese guests.
"Since 90 percent of our visitors are European and speak English, the Chinese students who come here enjoy a very good language environment," Li said. "And the Europeans and people from other countries can trade information about tourism and culture with the Chinese they meet here, so it's a good opportunity for exchange."
That's exactly why He and his friends said they chose to stay in a hostel rather than finding other accommodations. They said that they've met about three foreigners every day since they came to the hostel, which is something they couldn't do in their hometowns.
"We have foreigners in our hometown - not as many as in Beijing - but you can never talk to those foreigners on the street," He said. "Maybe they'll ask directions and you help them, but that's the end of it. However, the hostel provides a good environment and platform for exchange, because we sit and watch TV together."
The first YHA lodge in Jiangshu Province was set up in 2001 in the scenic area of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. It was the 18th YHA outlet in China. Today there are more than 70. Wu Jun |
"We talked about foreign cultures and what it's like where they're from," Xie said. "They taught us some simple English, and we taught them some simple Chinese. We talked about everything we could talk about as friends."
Xie said that staying in the hostel created a sense of camaraderie among Chinese and foreigners, because "no matter where we're from, here, we're all tourists".
They also ate meals with their newfound foreign friends. Sometimes, they would cook food from their hometown for foreigners in the hostel's kitchen and teach them how to use chopsticks. One of the Indians they met cooked Indian food for them, but they didn't care much for the taste.
They also joined these foreigners for dumplings at restaurants and went with them for drinks along the nearby Sanlitun bar street, where they watched a Latin dance performance.
According to Li, fewer Chinese and foreigners would have the opportunity for such exchanges without the proliferation of youth hostels.
"Because hostels provide young Chinese people a place to stay for a cheap price, they enable these young people to travel, while young people from foreign countries can also travel in China," he said. "So, more and more young people can meet and exchange."
American Mike Francis, of New York City, said that the hostel was not only a good place for meeting Chinese but also for meeting fellow nomads from his homeland.
The 29-year-old said that he met a few Chinese - as well as Iranians, Israelis and Swiss - on a tour arranged by Beijing Zhaolong Youth Hostel. But he talked most to a few Texans from Dallas he met when using the Internet at the nearby Friendship Youth Hostel.
"We got a coffee, hung out for a bit and talked about life; that was it," he said. "It was cool."
Li believes that the Olympics could become the driving force that would propel the further development of the youth hostel industry and culture.
"The Olympics provide a chance for foreigners to get to know China," Li said. "After the Olympics, more foreigners will be coming here, and the hostel industry will grow. This is called the 'after-Olympics effect'."
He also believes that as the industry grows, services would improve and prices would drop.
"Competition will become fiercer, and many hotels, such as the two-star hotels, will start to offer hostel services. There will be more single rooms available, and the services will become better and better."
However, while many foreigners hostel during their travels in China, many hostellers and managers believe that the concept will take time to catch on among Chinese.
"The youth hostel is a relatively new thing for Chinese people," said a receptionist at Huangshan International Youth Hostel, in East China's Anhui Province, who would only give his surname, Zhao. "It needs more promotion in China before Chinese people could accept it."
He Song, a traveling university student from Guangzhou, cooks at the kitchen of the Beijing Zhaolong Youth Hostel. He has lived there for a month. Erik Nilsson |
And some say this is partly because of the attitude of many owners, especially those who also own an attached hotel. "I think some owners just run youth hostels as if they were cheap hotels. They don't know the culture of the youth hostel," said a receptionist at Bell Tower Youth Hostel, in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, who would only give her surname, Dong.
According to Donna Tang, a clerk at Zhuhai Youth Hostel, in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, her company focuses more on its five-star hotel, which is attached to the 16-bed hostel. "Our youth hostel is too small and we don't receive so many guests, so we're not so outstanding," she said, adding that the average occupancy rate is about 20 percent. "So, I think our company places more attention on its five-star hotel."
However, she said that while most visitors are foreigners, the proportion of Chinese to foreign guests has continued rising since she started working there two years ago.
And as the manager of Guangzhou International Youth Hostel, who would only give the surname Liang, said, some obstacles to China's hostel industry's development could be cultural. "Most Chinese people can't get used to living with strangers in the same room," she said, adding that security is often a major concern and that her hostel had previously encountered problems with theft.
But despite obstacles, many hostellers and managers believe hostels' affordability and opportunities for travel and cultural exchange explains why today, hostels are booming business in China.
And they believe the future looks even brighter.
Wang Ru contributes to the story
(China Daily 05/31/2007 page18)
