Insider Knowledge in Beijing
To tackle a challenge of finding things do in Beijing, a planner reverse engineered the process of identifying the cool and hip places for a LGBTQI+ group to visit.
China’s history can be traced as far back as 2100 B.C., but documenting the major events that defined the nation has been complicated by lack of a common written and spoken language—the country has up to 13 languages (depending on classification), including eight dialects of Mandarin, and hundreds (if not thousands) of sub-dialects, which can’t be accurately counted.
Despite, or perhaps due to, this lack of unified communication, China’s culture is steeped in traditions that pressure men and women to conform to widely accepted social norms. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGTBQI+) lifestyle was once considered taboo. Until the early 1990s, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and prosecuted under the “hooligan” law (repealed in 2001), but in recent years an increasing number of China’s straight citizens have begun to accept the LGTBQI+ lifestyle.
Since the repeal, dozens of gay bars and nightclubs have opened, hundreds of gay and lesbian websites have gone online, HIV/AIDS education is more readily available and some cities even play host to gay pride parades.
The growth of the local LGTBQI+ community has spurred interest by U.S.-based LGBTQI+ groups that want to visit China. Bryan Herb of ZoomVacations, a Chicago-based travel agency that creates exotic travel experiences for the LGBTQI+ market says that gays tend to travel more frequently than their straight counterparts, because they generally don’t have children and have more freedom.
In May 2009, ZoomVacations organized a trip to Beijing for 10 people. As Herb began organizing and researching the trip, he discovered it was difficult to connect with travel agents or hotel concierges who were familiar with activities that appeal to LGTBQI+ travelers. In a city the size of Beijing (population 17.5 million), it can be especially difficult to find people with inside knowledge of the LGTBQI+ marketplace.
To tackle the challenge, Herb reverse engineered the process of identifying the cool and hip places for his group to visit. Instead of looking in guidebooks or going online to try and find activities that might interest his group, Herb logged onto Chinese gay and lesbian Web sites, blogs and gay publications and began corresponding with locals about the LGTBQI+ community in Beijing. Herb used Bigmuscle.com to find members of the local gay community and initiated email dialogue to find the hottest clubs and gay-friendly restaurants in Beijing. “I asked them for their picks of the hippest restaurants, and I asked them for recommendations of off-the-beaten-path things we could do in Beijing,” he said.
He also looked for activity ideas in Utopia Asia (Utopia-asia.com), the most popular gay publication in Asia. “When you only use tour operators, travel agents and hotel concierges for your activities, you get a very touristy approach to the destination ,” Herb said. “When you talk with people who live there they tend to know more, especially when you’re trying to do a gay trip. The concierges at hotels, especially if they’re not gay, won’t necessarily know the best things to do. Tourism bodies in markets like China don’t necessarily know the best things to do for the gay market either. You really have to talk to the gay people to find the hippest and coolest things to do, because they’re always out doing them.”
The “new” Beijing
The Beijing that awaited Herb and his group was vastly different from the city that visitors saw as recently as five years ago. Much of the city today is ultra modern thanks to investments made to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Gone are many of Beijing’s historical hutongs (narrow roads) and siheyuan (historical residences). In their place are nearly 40 new sports stadiums, five-star hotels and a state-of-the-art transit system that transformed an aging city into a world-class business destination.
At the heart of the Olympic sports complex is the National Stadium—more commonly known as the Bird’s Nest—which during the games played host to the opening and closing ceremonies as well as track and field events. Beginning next year, the area surrounding the Bird’s Nest will be converted into a shopping and entertainment centre.
However, unlike the sparkling new sports facilities, hotel accommodations can still be hit and miss. According to Ron Baas of Hospitality Performance Network, a site selection and meeting procurement company, in the early stages of organizing an event in Beijing, meeting planners need to know the comfort level that will be tolerated by attendees. Visitors of five-star hotels will find that the guest rooms, facilities and service are comparable to similarly rated hotels around the world.
Staying at lower-rated facilities in Beijing, however, can mean seeing China the hard way, Baas says, because in some cases the accommodations can resemble a bad bed- and-breakfast. The room and food quality, hygiene levels and staff attentiveness don’t always comply with modern international standards.
Beijing’s roads and public transportation system have been improved greatly as the result of infrastructure investment. The city’s subway system was extended, and the light rail system was completed. City streets were constructed, and Beijing Capital International welcomed a new airport terminal.
Business built on relationships
The Olympics were a boon for Beijing’s tourism. Chen Jian of the Beijing Olympic Economic Research Association estimates that 600,000 foreign travelers visited the city during the games and predicts that tourism will increase 10 percent annually for the next decade. An increase in tourism is obviously good for the city, and it can be a bit daunting for a meeting or event planner who might not have experience in the region.
Pan Wei of Beijing-based travel company WildChina says that navigating the Chinese market as a foreigner can be extraordinarily difficult. “There is no website in the U.S. or China where you can get reliable information on [the meeting] industry, so you have to dig for these answers and be in touch with contacts,” she said. “Chinese vendors have websites, but you can’t book online. Upon calling them, you’ll see that communication is often a problem. Individuals often prefer information from personal contacts rather than strangers.” Pan added that it’s important to have guanxi—connections—because that’s how the business culture in China works. “Guanxi is used to navigate more difficult or tricky situations that require insider knowledge,” Pan said.
Too frequently these tricky situations involve communication breakdowns. The Chinese seldom refuse to reject people directly and tend to use the phrase “no problem,” which is usually an indication that something is about to go wrong.
To improve communication and minimize mistakes, Pan and Baas suggest traveling to Beijing for face-to-face meetings with local counterparts, bringing gifts and building personal relationships over meals. Document all action items, and make sure that both parties clearly understand their respective roles. And Baas warns not to act like a lawyer. “The Chinese do not care about law,” he said. “It’s all about relationships, and the closer you are to one person the better your pro- gram will be executed.” One+EMEA
Date:
July 16, 2022