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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N. Korea Becoming Tourist Spot for Young Chinese |
| 2010-03-18 |
| As the economic gap between China and North Korea widens, more and more young Chinese people are traveling to North Korea to see the sort of poverty their parents endured, China's Xinkuai Bao reported on Thursday. About thirty years ago, before Deng Xiaoping began reforms, China's economy was similar to that of North Korea. But now youngsters from China which is brightly illuminated at night are visiting North Korea where the electricity is cut off after dark. "Cheez, Mom, this place is a dump!" "Yes, number one son, it's just like going home [sniff]!" The tourists usually go by train to North Korea through the Chinese border city of Dandong. The Chinese youngsters look different from their North Korean counterparts, with their trendy clothes, digital cameras, and loud laughter at tourist attractions like Panmunjon. North Korean authorities ask the tourists to use the euro, but the Chinese prefer to use the Chinese yuan. That means the yuan is now accepted as hard currency at most sightseeing spots in North Korea. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 chris: not to the extent that it's prevented the emergence of at least some traffic in Philipino mail-order brides among rural folk in Japan and South Korea. Although I get the impression that their new neighbors and relatives make those immigrant brides pretty miserable on average. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-03-18 21:45 |
| #9 Who said marry? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-03-18 18:19 |
| #8 Reminiscent of German troops touristing the Warsaw Ghetto...in this case the entire country is a ghetto... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-03-18 17:02 |
| #7 Han chinese are pretty racist towards ANYONE. |
| Posted by: 2010-03-18 16:57 |
| #6 i believe every different type of asian is racist towards the others |
| Posted by: chris 2010-03-18 16:00 |
| #5 I'm surprised a black-market NKor bridal trade hasn't occurred to the Chinese yet. But then, from personal experience, mainland Chinese seem to be pretty racist towards Koreans. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-03-18 10:23 |
| #4 It seems to me, in my naivete, that it would be pretty hard to openly buy a wife for the Only Son while touring North Korean border towns, g(r)omgoru. Especially given how racist the North Korean authorities are. On the other hand, placing an address and phone number in a known drop box might work... Too, it will certainly bring home to the formerly isolated North Koreans exactly how poor they are compared to their less-oppressed communist brothers. |
| Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer 2010-03-18 08:50 |
| #3 Girls? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-03-18 08:40 |
| #2 ION CATHAY WMF > CHINA'S "USELESS RENT/LEASE" OF NORTH KOREA'S RANJIN PORT, CHINA'S NORTH CHINA SEAS FLEET CAN EASILY BE HELD HOSTAGE BY US, JAPAN. IIUC, ARTIC + RELATED > seems KIMMIE offered China such "CHEAP/USELESS RENT" for RANJIN/RAJIN is to induce Beijing into paying all or most of the costs in modernizing SAME + OTHER PROPOSED SPEC ECON ZONES INSTEAD OF NORTH KOREA. The COLD WAR NATO-VS-USSR NAVAL STANDOFF as per NORWAY-FINLAND comes to mind. *IPS NEWS >BLAME ON CHINA'S DAMS RISE AS MEKONG RIVER DRIES UP. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-03-18 00:29 |
| #1 Dandong, home of the broken bridge. It was bombed out by B-29s to keep Chinese reinforcements from coming over the Yalu river. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-03-18 00:12 |