Mainland China just strikes me as a place where you can't criticise the government but anything else goes and basically people are fine with that for now because Chinese culture is so insular. I'm sure western tourists would lose their shit if their couldn't travel to France and eat wacky ass French food and mix with the locals, but Chinese people don't care because all they want to do is hang out within their safe group and eat Chinese food even in Paris lol. I was just eating out last night in a Chinese restaurant here in Japan and every single customer was Chinese and even the waitress couldn't even speak Japanese except for thank you.
Chinese tourists are super weird sometimes. Tour groups will go to a restaurant and take photos only to go back to thier hotel and eat noodles. Individual Chinese tourists are more like any other tourist since they have the confidence to go without a group.
I used to have to deal with tour group tourist in my work, so I can tell you it is very true. if they're in a tour group, those are the "fast food" tourist. they don't really care about the place they're visiting and they mostly are just there to take some pictures and check off the box in their list just so they can go home and tell their friends that they've been there. of course, not all of them are like that, but out of a bus load of them, it's a good bet that 60 to 80% of them are in this category. however, you have to keep in mind that some of these folks, mostly the elderly ones, are not to blame. often times it's their children or relative who booked them into these tours, with good intentions but without considering if they are actually really interested in these places. I find that more often than not these older folks just want to find some place to kick back and relax instead of rushing from point A to point B only to take a picture and than rush to point C again.
these tour companies themselves are also to blame of course. they jam packed as much as possible into a tour just so when they sell it to those who's interested, it would look like a great value. in reality, you would end up with a 3 days tour that take you from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Yosemite National Park and then back to LA. or an 8 days, 3000+ miles trip to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore that starts and ends in LA. all the while you're stopping for 15 to 30 minutes (maybe an hour if it's a major site) at each site of interest, after sitting on the bus for hours. now, to be fair, when you consider the price, it IS still pretty good for what you pay for; and not all the tour companies are like that (but most of them are operating around that line). thou also keep in mind there would often be "optional activities" that you'll have to pay extra too and some of the tour conductors are not exactly on the up and up and would push you to spend more than what you should while they don't even do their job. it's a minority but they're there. they would also arrange the groups to eat at Chinese restaurants or buffets since most of the older folks would absolutely not eat any "western food" unless there's no choice at all. but also because the tour conductors often get kick backs when they bring in customers.
at the end of the day thou, I feel it's more of an issue with the overall culture and ethics of the country. the growth in economy in the last 30 years, combine with the government's propaganda, had installed this mentality into it's people that whatever they demands should be done and they'll get their way if they complaint about things even when it's unreasonable. especially when you look at the age group of all the problematic people and cross reference it with the political development of the country, it's very clear to see. of course, there are still plenty of folks with some actual common sense and spirit of adventure who would go on tours or travel by themselves to enjoy and learn about all the things those travel locations have to offer, so don't put them all into the same bad apple basket.
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