The Wit and Wisdom of Chinese Tour Guides: A Critical Tourism Perspective

This research article examines the communicative techniques and discourse employed by Chinese tour guides during their interaction with English-speaking tourists. In-depth interviews were conducted with tour guides in three locations, intending to capture a cross section of major destinations for visitors to China where the interface between the Chinese host and visitors is likely to be most instructive. The locations for the interviews included Beijing, the cultural and historical center of China; Shanghai, the country's commercial center; and Guilin, a major nature-based tourism destination. The findings indicate that, from a functional perspective, Chinese tour guides employ a variety of communicative strategies when interacting with tourists, which may be indicative of coping behavior or reflective of their inherent attitudes toward visitors. These interactive communication strategies include the use of proverbs, metaphors, analogies, similes, and humor. The prevalent utilization of such techniques in the tour guides' discourse with visitors not only manifests guides' wit and wisdom but, viewed from critical tourism and sociolinguistic perspectives, also likely arises in large part from their intent to maintain China's traditional social, political, and economic order in the face of the dramatic changes now taking place in China.