On June 28, Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of Da Nang's Tourism Department, a central city and a popular tourist destination in Vietnam, received photos and videos showing Chinese tour guides using yuan rather than Vietnamese dong to purchase goods. In addition, there was footage of a Chinese tour guide named Xue Chun Zhe distorting Vietnam’s history and culture.
A Chinese tour guide uses yuan to buy goods. Photo provided by Vietnamese tour guides. |
On a vist to Ling Ung Temple, which is home to Vietnam’s highest statue of Quan Yin, Xue Chun Zhe said: "1400 years ago, Vietnam was a part of China. Later, Vietnam became an independent country, but it still depends on China and pays tribute to China.”
Some Chinese tour guides have even told their visitors that Da Nang's My Khe Coast belongs to China.
“Chinese tour guides tell visitors that Vietnam hates China and ask them not to listen to what Vietnamese tour guides say.”
“Sometimes they use local dialects from Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangdong or Nanjing so we can’t understand them, even though we know Chinese," a Vietnamese tour guide told VnExpress.
Xue Chun Zhe and Chinese visitors at Ling Ung Temple. Photo provided by Vietnamese tour guides. |
Vietnamese tour guides said that there are about 60 Chinese guides working illegally in Da Nang. Most of the travel companies they work for are registered to Vietnamese owners, but in reality they are run by Chinese people.
Colonel Tran Huu Do, head of the Immigration Administration under the city’s police force, said that it’s illegal for foreigners to enter Vietnam and work as tour guides without permission from authorities. If police detect them, they will be deported, Do added.
Huynh Duc Tho, chairman of the city’s People Committee, said that he has received information about Chinese tour guides working illegally in Da Nang. He has instructed the Department of Tourism, in cooperation with other departments, to find a feasible solution for the problem.
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