This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 7, 1996, in China Daily: Application procedures for personal exit permits will become simpler in Beijing beginning this month, a police official announced.

This is in response to a decision to ease control of personal travel abroad and to simplify exit procedures.

Thanks to simpler visa and passport applications, the number of Chinese outbound tourists topped 122 million last year, spending a total of $109.8 billion, according to the China Tourism Academy.