Seoul Voted #1 City To Visit By Chinese, Japanese, Thai

From Mop:

Seoul voted most popular destination by Chinese, Japanese, and Thai people

Seoul has been selected by Chinese, Japanese, and Thai people as the number one “most preferred city to visit.” This was announced by the city of Seoul earlier this month: “Based on a survey held in December last year in which 800 Chinese, 500 Japanese, and 300 Thai people participated, 11.4% of Chinese, 9.8% of Japanese, and 20.0% of Thai people picked Seoul as the city they would most like to visit within a year, making Seoul the number one most popular city.”

Regardless of whether they planned to visit or not, 14.3% of Thai people picked Seoul in response to the question “Which city do you like most?” 7.0% of Japanese picked Seoul, ranking the city second behind Hawaii which 8.0% of Japanese picked. Of Chinese people, 7.3% picked Seoul, making it the number three behind Paris and Tokyo.

When asked why they would visit Seoul, 57.4% of Chinese, 50.2% of Thai, and 36.8% of Japanese answered that they “fell in love with Seoul after seeing the Seoul tourism advertisements and Korean soaps on TV and the Internet.” According to analysts, the recent Korean pop culture wave and overseas TV ads have been effective in driving visitors to Seoul. In fact, last year’s number of foreign tourists visiting Seoul reached 780,000, an increase of 13.2% from 689,000 the year before.

In response to the question “What image do you think best suits Seoul?”, all three countries’ people provided a different answer. Chinese thought of Seoul as a “city rich in entertainment” (43.3%), while Japanese preferred to describe it as a “shopping city” (47.0%). Thai people saw Seoul as a “traditional city” (41.7%). As to why people would not want to visit Seoul, most of the respondents answered “although I know Seoul, I have no feeling of closeness toward it.”

According to a Seoul city promotion planning official: “Last year the number of tourists around the world dropped due to negative factors such as the financial crisis and H1N1. But despite all this we actually saw an increase in tourists visiting Seoul during this period. This year, Seoul will leverage its status as World Design Capital 2010 and host of the G20 Summit to further promote its brand and attractiveness around the world.

The original poster of the above information then posted the following:

Let’s see what this surveyed “most preferred city to visit” looks like: This is Seoul…

Streets with little advertisements posted all over the place.

Fruit peels and paper waste can be seen anywhere.

Again, ads all over the place.

Cigarette butts, phlegm traces, and paper waste can be seen everywhere.

Streets are full with street vendors like these.

Crowded streets and extremely chaotic traffic.

Seoul subway station.

These are photos taken at the Seoul subway station. Homeless people only have the subway as their home.

Comments from Mop:

15032663402:

I’d rather go to Shanghai than to have to go Seoul.

kivon.:

What do you guys know? [You don't know anything.]
This country’s greatness lies in them having the great “kimchi”. After eating kimchi, sleeping anywhere is cozy [including the subway station].

wywinter:

After the North and South [Korea] are re-united, then you can come and boast-si-mi-da.

撕床单:

What fucking 首尔 “Shou Er”, isn’t it just 汉城 “Han Cheng”? [The Chinese name was changed from "Han Cheng" to"Shou Er" in 2005]. No matter how you guys call it, you will still be one of our colonies.

tomasiyang:

MD, why no pictures of the condition of the prostitutes!

Rody_love:

Korea is YY-ing.

兲蛋你嫑跑:

Grass mud horse! Nobody can stop me from going there for plastic surgery!

華仔也貓扑:

All those people just want to go to Bangzi Kingdom to get a face-lift.

幸运的小猫:

Seoul would only be 2nd-tier city in China, and even this would overrating it.

妖精的旋律001:

All this stuff is very normal! China has all of them too!!!

杜杜哎哟:

The place China wants to go to most???
Is it because the prostitutes there are really cheap???

其实不猥琐:

Those pictures you posted must be from Deng Po subway station. Fuck. I am in Korea, I really doubt you took those pictures yourself. Tourists visiting Korea don’t go to these places. Do you go see the outer ring when you visit Beijing? Also, many of the pictures you show are from areas that years ago weren’t even counted as Seoul . I’m not saying that Korean people are great but can’t you be more objective? Take for example asking for directions. When you ask people they will help you. It doesn’t mean that all 100% of them will help but at least it’s much better than the same experience in China. Are you an extremist? Have you been to Korea before???

我是贪党:

They don’t have chengguan over there?

饿不死的小强:

They don’t have chengguan, so of course it’s going to be a mess like this!

穷捣乱太郎:

Actually, Beijing is also like this.

爆菊就是爽:

Lou zhu [originally written as 楼猪 as a pun using the character for 'pig'], you need to understand that in China these homeless people would have long ago been clean out by the harmonious chengguan.

佛罗伦萨之夜:

= = Maybe China should send some chengguan to help Seoul?

安静1个人:

I’m not even the least interested in going to Korea.
Gao Li Bangzi, I truly BS.
I’d rather go to Japan than go to Korea.

benjemy:

Fuck, this is even worse than China’s third tier cities.

猫锅:

Grass mud horse-si-mi-da

chinasSMACK personals-si-mi-da.

  • Hongjian

    Hmmm… not bad. looks like China and Korea arent that far apart.

    Personally, I like dirty and gritty cities full of life over clean, dead and boring “1st world metropolis”…

    also; Sofa?

    • bleah

      Personally, I like dirty and gritty cities full of life over clean, dead and boring “1st world metropolis”…

      You mean you prefer London, New York and Paris over Vancouver, Vienna or Zürich?

      • http://www.killerjo.net MAOCUNT

        I wouldn’t consider Vancouver clean. Not after they opened those drug houses.

    • bleah

      Hmmm… not bad. looks like China and Korea arent that far apart.

      I wonder how long a train ride would take… ;)

      • B. Prichard

        Eh, these pictures are pretty selective. The downtown areas of Seoul are super clean. In a lot of areas, retired geezers in chintzy armbands will come yell at you if you throw a cigarette butt on the ground.

        Homelessness in Seoul is a real issue, though. Around 4 am, I had to cross a large intersection via the subway entrance. There were A LOT more homeless people in that subway station than the pictures above. However, I’m glad the government lets the homeless sleep there. Seoul winters are cold. Many governments would make these people sleep on the sidewalks.

        • Ih8China

          You all are closed minded retards.

  • nuway

    Congratz Pusan Playa!

    • Hongjian

      you dont have to wait for pusan banzi… he will come for sure.

      • nuway

        hello I don’t think PP is really Korean. Bye.

      • Real Korean

        Why do China Jjankes make these kind of articles? It screams jealousy.

        Stupid Jjankes.

  • nuway

    No doubt I will soon be playing some pussies there.

    • 404namenotfound

      Korean pussy isn’t that easy to get

  • FYIADragoon

    Looks like Beijing.

  • Oz

    Similar to Beijing but one major PLUS, many of the signs are in the International language meaning its far more visitor friendly.

    I want to go and see Seoul.

  • http://blog.paulguo.com Peng

    I haven’t been to mainland China for 17 years and I just went to Seoul and Taipei last summer.

    What I saw in Seoul isn’t what those pictures describe Seoul, at all (not even homeless people). Although there are piles of garages in the front of stores, on the street, Taipei is way worser than Seoul. I imagine Taipei is worser than my hometown back in mainland China.

    • http://www.foarp.blogspot.com FOARP

      Then you obviously know F All about China. Taipei rocks as a city, as (betel nut stains aside) is far cleaner, less polluted, grimmy, rubbish-strewn, and is much easier to get around than any mainland city I have ever been to or lived in.

      • Peng

        It doesn’t hurt to have own opinion.

      • EBShanghai

        Ding that. Add to that super friendly, civilised people and absolutely zero chance of hearing “HELLO,帮个 money Hello” anywhere in the entire country, among other things.

        So looking forward to moving there later this year.

    • tk 4 lyfe

      taipei > ur bumpkin life. stfu bout taipei being “worser” than ur farmland hometown in DA LU

      • Peng

        Quite childish attitude you have there. :)

    • Mike Fish

      “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”

      I love most of the major cities in China for one reason or another. They are great and are quite clean and orderly compared to many places around the world. However, if anyone thinks a fresh coat of paint and some street sweepers makes a place clean, then well… what can I say? Today, walked over this brand new beautiful pedestrian bridge in Guangzhou. It’s near this whole area of great redevelopment. The little creek, I mean open sewer, that is passes over smells like shit and vomit on a good day. Another favorite is putting a fresh coat of paint over the top of a row of crumbling houses, talk about whitewashing! The illusion of clean is very popular in China.

  • Hongjian

    Thats just the asian style. looks like that a city without fascist chengguangs and authoritarian mayors will plunge back to the ‘typical asian behavior’ of piling garbage and enjoying hobo lifestyle…

    • bleah

      So since you are half-Asian, you are half-hobo?

  • http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/c6/Dogmeat2.jpg Korean Dog Eater (aka Cho Seung Hui)

    This is bullshit commie propaganda, these pictures are clearly of chink cities. Korea has no homeless people, we are on the cutting-edge of science and technology. Just look at our venerated national hero Dr. Hwang Woo-suk.

  • Yin

    One of the interesting things about Chinese netizens is that while they can be relatively objective about the flaws of their own country, when it comes to foreign Asian countries, nationalism dominates rational thinking. This is particularly true about South Korea, which has been voted the least liked country in China in recent years.

    Anyways, I don’t expect there to be any let up on the Korean hate for the immediate future. Japan is actually doing a better job re-cultivating its image among Chinese nationalists than Korea. On the other hand, there are plenty of non-nationalistic Chinese who simply adores Korean pop culture, which makes the irony all the more delicious.

    • Swotley

      That’s something that can be said about pretty much any country, Yin. I’d argue that Koreans are even more nationalistic than the Chinese.

    • VeerLeft

      Maybe it’s the Koreans that actually come to CHINA that are giving Korea a bad name.
      Like our friend Dog Eater.

  • Alikese

    Nobody making any bad puns yet?

    Well…

    This must be Seoul-crushing for Beijing.

  • Koreaphile

    You guys are such haters it’s so sad. You’re just jealous that the capital of your smaller neighbor is cleaner, has better food, better movies, better nightclubs, better bars, better cafes, better fashion and much better looking people (men and women) than any city in China. And apparently, according to the survey, most of your compatriots agree. Stop hating.

    • whichone

      You forgot to add Korea’s more creative approach to culinary arts, which include pickled cabbage, to pickled ternip, pickled radish, pickled cucumber, pickled ginger… naturally all very delicious to people who are used to eating fresh vegetables. Of course none can visit Seoul without being touched by the talented artists which showcase the amazing variety and depth of Korean culture, such as Korean pop, Korean rap, Korean rhythm and blues, Korean soul, Korean Chrisitian music, Korean southern U.S. country music…all enjoyed by tourists with nostalgic familiarity. Speaking of Korean stars, one can not ignore that amazing medical technologies of Korea which has some of the world’s most experienced surgeons. Most of important of all, not only are all affluent Koreans beautiful on the outside, they are humble and polite as well.

    • ChineseRatand Dogeater

      Absolutely, I agree.
      These Chinese trolls suffer from a major inferiority complex.
      Can’t really help themselves 3rd world country only making cheap goods along with inferior mentality. That is China.
      Insecure people building tall buildings to showcase to the world while most of their people only live on $US 3,000 per year in shabby neighborhoods in dirty cities.
      I wouldn’t go to China if they offer me free accomadations and free flight. But it sure seems Chinese are eager to come to South Korea they even exceeded Japanese last year as the largest foreign visitors.

  • G0ld

    =Quote=
    When asked why they would visit Seoul, 57.4% of Chinese, 50.2% of Thai, and 36.8% of Japanese answered that they “fell in love with Seoul after seeing the Seoul tourism advertisements and Korean soaps on TV and the Internet.”
    =Quote=

    After reading this its not so surprising. Most people have no idea about the world besides what they see on the media. Korea is having a big hit on the young pop media culture of Asia and with the Visit Korea Ads its like a killer combo. UK knows this too and there are articles of the UK having a tourism boost because of their Movies shown on the big screen.

    But I can tell the OP just hates Korea because he has no idea where to go. I mean come on, such a hater if he’s been taking such pictures. He travelled all the way just to take pictures of homeless people…. I can make Shanghai look like total ass crap too and all I have to do is go to Shanghai Railway station to do so. Even taking picture of the bund in Shanghai there’s plenty of crap happening there. There’s even a shop that will take a photo of you with a photoshoped Bund view background right at the freaking bund! Also about past 10pm they turn off all the lights so view of the Bund disappears…. So much for Shanghai tourism…..

    • Yin

      I’m not sure what there is tour in Shanghai, anyways. Isn’t it just a big Western-style port city?

  • Fome

    These are the worst pictures the LZ could post of Seoul? Wow, looks like heaven compared to where I lived in Beijing!

  • too yellow

    That’s because the cheapest Air ticket from USA to China has a 16 hour lay over in Seoul. With tour group offering 8 hour tours of the cities in the Airport…. Good, strategy by the Koreans though.

  • Wurlymonster

    I’m not sure of the comparisons with Beijing? Seoul is much more like Tokyo in my mind. Its a great city – massive and very metropolitan in the way Tokyo is. Much more Western conveniences than Chinese cities, no staring at Westerners, fantastic shopping – maybe better shopping than Shanghai.

    I loved the place and can’t wait to go back.

  • ralphrepo

    It’s come to a point that whenever there is a piece in the Chinese press about the ROK, I don’t even bother to read it; I already know it’s going to be something outlandish; that either mocks, maligns, or is just plain insulting. Put it this way, if something positive ever appears, then someone please let me know. Otherwise, I don’t even bother reading.

    • Python

      I cannot agree with your observation. Please be careful in defining “Chinese press”. What you have read are mostly forum posts or blogs from bored attention seekers, not press. Please go search 韩国 in Baidu News, most news related to S.Korea in mainstream media are on economics, entertainment, sports and south-north relations and I can’t find any of them fit into the category you said, “that either mocks, maligns, or is just plain insulting”.

      However I’m suspicious of the methodology used in the survey by Chosun Ilbo (a Korean newspaper), since it doesn’t mention under what circumstances these people were surveyed. If someone from Korea asks me what’s the most preferred place I want to visit this summer, among Seoul, Tokyo and London, I would think of this survey more like a question “You are welcome to visit our country and the capital Seoul. Are you interested?”. Out of politeness, I will probably choose Seoul if it’s a single selection question. Why not? Greeting hospitality by friendliness is never wrong, especially when the surveyor is truly sincere (Chosun Ilbo, at least its Chinese edition, is quite “pro-China”).

      So one must refer to Chinese agencies for surveys on the top overseas destinations of Chinese tourists. Here’s one example done by Ctrip (携程旅行社) in 2009:

      http://campaign.ctrip.com/Destinations/hwmdd/default.asp

      The top 10 destinations that surveyed Chinese people wanted to visit are:

      1. Pyramids, Egypt (84994 votes)
      2. Gold Coast, Australia (84163 votes)
      3. Maasai Mara, Kenya (80281 votes)
      4. Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand (76629 votes)
      5. Paris, France (76363 votes)
      6. Maldives (72899 votes)
      7. Bali, Indonesia (67469 votes)
      8. Johannesburg, South Africa (63767 votes)
      9. Istanbul, Turkey (62753 votes)
      10. Zurich, Switzerland (62066 votes)

      And about the not-so-pretty side of Seoul: who cares as a tourist. If one day I will have the opportunity to visit the city, I will go to see the most beautiful scenery, eat the most delicious Korean food, visit the most glorious historical sites that its people are so proud of, enjoy the best service the country can provide (within my budget), yell with my loudest voice in the airport, “Great Korea! This tour is worth every penny of it!”, and board a leaving airplane like any other clueless short-term visitors.

  • http://i49.tinypic.com/2cek3l.jpg PUSAN PLAYA

    Congrats to Seoul but I wouldn’t want to live there, Pusan is much better. Seoul property prices are stupidly expensive, they don’t have a beach, people don’t party as much as in Pusan because bars and resturants are more expensive and everyone spends all their money on rent or mortgages. We also have milder weather and good clean air, much cleaner than anywhere I’ve been in China and our accents are sexier.

    Seoul also has to worry about artillery including nerve gas if Dear Leader goes on a bender.

  • jon

    There is no trash in Beijing, and no hobo’s or prostitutes. There is no pollution in Beijing, and no traffic jams. Also there is no crime in Beijing, everybody is nice to you, and all the women are hot, even when they are over 50. Beijing is heaven.

    Anybody who disagrees is not a true Chinese, and probably has Korean Parents pretending to be Chinese because the Chinese are the chosen people.
    Let us all drink the Kool-Aid.

    • Leah

      LOL ur kinda cool

    • Jason

      Northern china sucks! South for the win.

  • Nate

    My thoughts about ChinaSmack are veering toward doubt. I don’t see how you could follow ChinaSmack and think positively about netizens as a group.

    How much of what ChinaSmack posts is manufactured controversy through cherry picking? Where the ratios of netizens responding “so what” really so low and those saying “Koreans suck Chinese dong” so high?

    • Anon

      Bad news- I don’t think Chinasmack generally cherrypicks. If anything, on subjects that make people get ugly, they maybe don’t even convey the true volume of nastiness, just a small sample.

      • http://www.foarp.blogspot.com FOARP

        I think they do cherry-pick: they cut out a lot of the boring stuff and give you the interesting bits. Comeon, you don’t think that ChinaSMACK is a serious source of news do you?

    • Nate

      That should have read “Are the ratios of netizens responding “so what” really so low and those saying “Koreans suck Chinese dong” so high?”

      From ChinaSmack’s FAQ: “What we post does not represent all of China or every Chinese person. Relax and don’t be so serious.”

      But that’s just the problem. It does REPRESENT all Chinese people because ChinaSmack offers a nearly unique service. It REPRESENTS all Chinese with opinions that don’t REFLECT all Chinese people’s. What this website accomplishes is not very different from what the cherry-picked photos of Seoul accomplish.

      • http://cnreviews.com Kai

        Nate,

        I don’t see how you could follow ChinaSmack and think positively about netizens as a group.

        I don’t think you’re supposed to and I don’t think that’s what chinaSMACK is hoping to accomplish. I think, at most, they just imagine that people will realize that netizens are generally the same everywhere, a mixed bag.

        It does REPRESENT all Chinese people because ChinaSmack offers a nearly unique service.

        Uh.

        It REPRESENTS all Chinese with opinions that don’t REFLECT all Chinese people’s.

        This can be said of pretty much everything, man.

        What this website accomplishes is not very different from what the cherry-picked photos of Seoul accomplish.

        It’s ultimately up to each reader to apply their intelligence to the information they consume.

        • nuway

          Oh yeah I myself likes to visit youtube comments for all my deep “what is reality” type questions.

  • KonaYuki

    I’m Japanese living in Japan, and went to Seoul for 3 weeks with family, and…

    It was FUN! Notice how the pictures are all subway pictures, that’s because subways are crowded during the day, and get alittle messy, and in the morning, workers clean it up.

    Come to Japan, it’s quite similar. Except our hobos have tents, and live in parks.

    It was clean, and there was alot of things to see, an alot of cool stores to visit. And since the yen is strong, things where generally cheap. And the food!! Wow!

    To be honest with you, I was a little hesitant to visit Korea because of Japan Korea relations, but I recieved a warm welcome…and the surprising part is, half the shop owners I came across knew how to speak Japanese!

    Korea is not a country you should judge by pictures, it’s a country you should go and experience.

    I plan to visit Pusan or Jeju-do next.

    • Jeremiah

      Thanks KonaYuki, that’s probably the most (only?) intelligent post I’ve read in regards to this topic.

      Based solely on pictures, Seoul doesn’t look at all different from Shanghai. People with shitty houses should spend more time cleaning their own homes, and less time criticizing the homes of others.

      But then again, that would actually require one to have a brain first…

  • yann

    This such a bad post…
    Seoul might not be the better place in Asia I do agree, but what is the use of posting some pictures of crapy places. In every single big city in the world you can take similar pictures! I’m from Paris, and you can easily take may horrible pictures of the city!

  • Cryptozoologist

    I’ve lived in Seoul for 2 years, and while it’s a pretty decent place to live, you can see things shown in those pictures above almost anywhere you go.

    However, as a tourist destination, it’s shit. There’s absolutely nothing to do here aside from the DMZ, N-Tower, some rebuilt palaces, and Namdaemun Gate – oh wait, that burnt down. Maybe if you like K-Girls and drinking soju you’ll have fun, but I’ve had my fill of both.

  • J

    Fucktards . . . every major city has dirt, homeless, garbage.

    • Centrist

      Been to Singapore, mate?

  • wangkom

    The funny thing is. They posted pictures of the worst of Seoul. Really, Paris, New York, Rome, etc don’t have any bad areas or trash lying around?

    However, these worst pictures of Seoul would qualify for the best of China

  • Real Korean

    Jjankes being typical Jjankes. China is a giant shit hole compared to Korea.

    TJB= Typical Jjanke behavior.

  • aclcla

    hey, looks like china!

  • dirtywhiteboy

    Yea I just talked to my friend who lives in Seoul, and she told me that those pictures are from like 1997 after the Asian financial crisis. After visiting this site, I’ve seen so many similar posts where the LZ posts something that will intentionally cause anti-whatever sentiment. Also, he should make a trip to Beijing and his pictures from there would be a lot similar

  • hoa

    I love how they pick those photos muhahaha…

  • germancockroach

    I lived in Seoul for one year not long ago.

    The public transportation system was excellent. The food was excellent, even when it was a cheap restaurant. The women, not including the ajeemas (sp?) were hot even when it seemed they weren’t trying to be. The people worked hard. Even if they had lower end jobs they were neat and tidy. Whenever I had exchanges with South Koreans I felt they were 100% sincere. Even if we didn’t agree on something it was still great hanging out with him/her and their friends. The place was clean. If it wasn’t clean somebody was cleaning it, usually an ajeema.

    I didn’t like the coffee from the instant coffee vending machines and there was a lot of road pizzas on Friday and Saturday nights – no big deal.

    I never heard a South Korean provide a pathetic excuse for his/her laziness. I never heard a S. Korean complain about something that he/she could change. I never heard a S. Korean say, “That’s good enough.” They would say, “That’s not good enough.” or “We could improve on that.”

    I only have superlatives to describe the people of South Korea.

    The Chinese have a GREAT DEAL to learn from them.

    • Jeremiah

      Agreed.

      The first apartment I stayed in when I got to Shanghai had many foreign exchange students from South Korea staying there. It was nice to actually have people hold the elevator for you if they heard you coming.

      I’d gotten so used to the locals here pecking the close button as quickly as possible (even when they saw me running for the elevator!) that I took it for granted that people could actually behave in a civilized manner.

      As an aside, those students were always very polite on the elevator. Talking in whispers, if at all; sometimes even smiling at you with a short greeting after holding the elevator for you.

      Again, this might seem like infantile type shit to people who don’t know any better. But man, it was fucking nice to be able to step on an elevator free of some stinking ass swine smelling of beer who can’t even wait until he gets off the elevator to light up his cheap ass cigarette, whilst shout “Wei! Wei! Uh? Uh! uh! uh uh uh! UH! uh uh uh! uh! bye bye!” into his ratty-ass cell-phone.

      So yeah. Never been to Korea, but the small things I’ve seen from their people are probably a good testament as to why they are a developed country, instead of an eternally developing one.

      • http://cnreviews.com Kai

        Interesting.

        I had some Korean students as neighbors for about a year and we lived in a place where the restroom was shared. I usually climbed the stairs so I can’t recall any elevator experiences but these students were some of the most inconsiderate bastards I have ever had the misfortune of sharing space with. They were regularly loud past midnight, even into the early morning. They would literally yell, hoop, and hollar to each other down the hallway. They would smoking up a storm inside their rooms, keep their door open, so that their smoke, chatter and merriment could be shared with everyone else who was generally trying to sleep. Their room was generally filthy. However, their room was their business, but them piling up their rotting dirty dishes in the communal bathroom and regularly pissing all over the toilet and not flushing after themselves was not. It was rather disgusting.

        Some of it was definitely just bad habits, not knowing better, but not intended to piss other people off. But a lot of it was not being considerate of others, or lacking the manners to be considerate of others. In fact, not all of the above may apply to every person in that group.

        I’ve known and lived with many Koreans who aren’t like that, just as I’ve known and experienced many Chinese who are and aren’t. That life experience has taught me that it’s kind of silly to generalize such behaviors on the basis of race or nationality. I certainly don’t equate some individual’s behavior with whether or not their country is developed or developing.

        • nuway

          Well, you lived in a shitty dorm while he lived in an apartment. There is your difference.

          • http://cnreviews.com Kai

            No, that wouldn’t explain the considerate Chinese neighbors and it wouldn’t explain inconsiderate Korean neighbors in apartments.

            You didn’t think my experiences were limited to that one instance, did you?

            The point of the matter is that race or nationality has less to do with it than the specific individual’s upbringing. Simply stepping back and looking at the big picture should result in everyone having fairly reasonable understanding of that, that you’re going to get good and bad people of all types. Lifting up one group of people, highlighting their nationality, in juxtaposition with another group of people, again highlighting their nationality, is somewhat distasteful. I’ve had a lot of similar experiences as Jeremiah, but most Chinese I’ve encountered aren’t that way.

            Some are, sure, but if we’re going to share one-sided stories about nationalities, I might as well talk some shit about Koreans to balance things out, right?

        • LOLZ

          When I was an undergrad college student in Boston I rented an apartment with 2 other Koreans international students. They were generally loud, smoked a ton, drank even more, screw around all the time, but interestingly enough they still went to go church every sunday even if they were drunk, as if that will do anything for them.

          Of course, there is also the whole Kimchi jar that’s stinking up your entire fridge. But back then you never cook so it didn’t matter too much. The bottom of the line is that if you have to live with a Korean make sure he is the studious rather than the party type

          The Korean culture focuses on “respect” a lot. At any party when a senior ask you to drink, you drink. As the result most of the Korean guys I know (I know quite a few, since one of them convinced me to go to Church with him for a while lol) are alcoholics.

      • Mike Fish

        Jeremiah,

        Socio-economic background, education, and environment might have something to do with it right? Were your nice Korean neighbors from the same slice that your Chinese neighbors were? I’m a beleiver in nurture over nature. To make a good comparison about those neigbors, wouldn’t you have to make sure they are from a similar background. Assuming the Korean students are likely from a family with at least one previous generation of college education and have had consistent exposure to ethics and “normal” social values, especially those that won’t offend Westerners. South Korea has had consistent exposure to the West for 50 years and is very accepting of Western culture. They know the Western standards and even mix some of it with their own society, which is already very formal and polite. Korean culture hasn’t had a major hiccup since the Korean War and even before that, Korean culture and values have been strong for a very long time. They constantly had religion, both Buddhism and Christianity, to give them the ethics and guilt to be nice and neighborly. Can you say that your Chinese neighbors that were “rude” had that? Anyone who grew up in China prior to the 90s was growing up in the old closed China with little exposure to Western mores and little connection with even traditional Chinese ethics or religion either. If they are kind and considerate to strangers, it is because in many ways, they fought to be that way. China was bland, bleak, and godless. Compare it to HK and Taiwan. Same people as China, many of them are immigrants from the mainland, but different history. I’d suggest their “politeness” is much more in line with what you are used to. And all that is changing in China. Some people are trying to reappropriate “politeness”. I’d say Cantonese culture has a strong traditional politeness, not sayin other parts of China don’t, I just am more familiar with Guangdong. In Cantonese, people consistently say please and thank you for everything, and always have. People in Guangdong talk more quietly and often seem to be much more etiquette conscious. On the buses in Guangzhou they now have the announcement “Politeness is a traditional Chinese value. Please give your seat to those in need.” I like that.

        On a side note, I’ve always found that though outwardly very polite, many Korean people are underneath as rude and inconsiderate as any other place’s people.

  • wangkom

    I agree with germancockroach.

    I lived in China for 3 years and all I encountered was theft, lies, deceit, and excuses for laziness.

    People in Korea work 12+ hours a day. Many employees at the company I worked in at Shanghai whined and complained about working 8 hours a day and mentioned how terrible it was for their health that they were “working” so hard.

    I’m sure there are a lot of good people in China, I just wasn’t able to find many in my time there.

    Back to the post. China spends a ton of money to make a few of their cities “look” world class. That means they put a bunch of lights on buildings and bridges so they look pleasant at night. However, upon closer inspection during the day, you’ll find that they are mostly all shoddy construction and the dirty, poor areas by far outweigh the few acceptable ones.

    Once you step outside of those cities, you’ll see the real china.

    As for the bums and etc in Korea. I’d say they are on par with the normal population in China.

    I watched a documentary in Korea about some of the beggers. One had a very nice apartment, drove a bmw, and had a family. Each day he’d drive, park his car, and then change into shabby clothes to beg.

    In the US, we sometimes have the same thing. One smart bum begs at a busy intersection in an affluent area. I see people giving him $5s, $10s, and $20s all the time. I’m sure he makes quite a bit more than 80% of the working population.

  • http://www.psychegotyou.com C

    Looks just like any major city in China. Why fly over?

  • 已经病入膏肓了

    Rather amusing yet typical phenomenon.

  • germancockroach

    I can’t help but add.

    Considering how impressive the South Koreans are, especially their work ethic, if the Korean peninsula ever united they would surely be an Asian power house.

    I can’t help but believe that the CCP and it’s proxy goverment actually fears a united Korea, especially if it was democratic. It fears a strong Korea. And it will do whatever it can to keep that from happening.

    Probably, the real problem with the Six Party Talks is the CCP.

    I may be wrong. I welcome the opinions of any Koreans.

    • Hongjian

      Of course the CCP fears a united and democratic Korea. Having pro-western Korean forces and American divisions standing at your border and pointing short range missiles at your granary isnt that pleasant…

      Its better to have a dear leader who acts as buffer-zone against the West.

      • nuway

        Haha yeah. I’d imagine with the speeds involve the clocks have to be very precise, so the mroe time one has the better chance of interception.

        • Hongjian

          Pravda was one of the first thing that google shat out… one could speculate why – or better not, else the ‘good’ reputation of google being an heroic advocate of the rightous will be damaged.

          http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2588/chinese-missile-defense-test

          better link. So with a united korea under SK’s command; China would only get one front and one potential adversary more.

      • ralphrepo

        Your assessment is premised solely on the belief that a united Korea would continue to allow Americans to remain. Most South Koreans outright hate the American military presence; the younger ones have demanded a US military reduction for years (much like the Okinawans). The only reason why South Koreans tolerate US troops is because they fear the DPRK. Even their politicians who campaign on political platforms of “Yankee go home” soon backpedal upon getting into office. Why? Because they want a guarantee that if the north crosses the border again, US troops will come to their aid and attack the north.

        But why should the US ever attack the north? Realistically; would the US attack the DPRK if no US lives were at stake? Probably not. Moreover, even if an American president were to want to, if there was no political will of the people, any US president would be hard pressed to involve American troops. However, if 30,000 US soldiers were either killed or captured by the north, how do you think the US would likely respond? The US would probably nuke the north; the American people would demand it.

        This then, is South Korea’s US political trip wire. It has been guarding the ROK for three generations now and only exists so long as the south fears the north. Take away that fear (say, by reunifying the Korean nation), and the need for it would literally evaporate overnight; Americans would then be kicked out almost immediately.

  • http://adeel.blogspot.com Adeel

    Comical. I’ve been everywhere in China from Beijing to Kashgar, Xinjiang. Seoul is better than every Chinese city in every way, with the exception of Sanlitun in Beijing and the French Concession in Shanghai. It’s not even close.

    That said, I do love China and while I live in Korea (but am not Korean), I consider China a far more interesting place to visit.

    • thi is it

      While i do agree with your comment about Seoul being a much more developed city, it is a very superficial environment that tailors to western culture. Aside from the plastic surgery and the constant pressures from society to fit a mold, at least for the generation of 80′s/90′s born kids, Seoul is a very fun city to VISIT. I emphasize this because living in an environment where there exists never ending pressure to be western, yet maintain loyal to ones cultural beliefs and traditions can be a very tantalizing experience. I see Seoul as a lesser extreme version of Tokyo in this sense. Ultimately, Seoul is a great tourist city, but proving my point exactly is why is there so many korean immigrants everywhere in the world? Germany, Argentina, Australia, Japan, China, and last but not least the United States. The country is a fraction the size of China, yet it’s people populate the entire globe.

    • gookywhoreansteals

      i really doubt you are claiming you are not a korean, all my west friends who have been to both china and south korea said to me, shanghai and bejing hangzhou,nanjing or chengdu ,tianjing are far better than seoul,

      the thing is in china , there are another 3-5 cities similar to seoul even smaller sized,while in south korea only major city comparable is seoul.

      • Real Korean

        The only people who believe jjanke(Chinese) cities are better than Korean cities all happen to be fenqing who had their feelings hurt on the internet after reading Korean message boards. Face it kid, Koreans do not like jjankes. Jjankes smell bad, lie, cheat, greedy, cookup rumors and play the victim all the time. Go cry somewhere else Mr. Jjanke.

        And why are there so many god danmed jjankes trying to illegally sneak into South Korea like fucking parasites. Please fuck off. Koreans do not want any more pollution from China. And by pollution I mean both smog and jjanke people.

        • gookywhoreansteals

          the only people believe the fucking bangnu 棒奴 ( whorean slaves) shithole cities are better than chinese ones are all fucken dirty inferior whorean slave dogs got their ancestors raped by their chinese masters or simply just retarded pigs ,

          • gookywhoreansteals

            face it?? lol, it is commen sense u fucken dirty whorean gooky slaves all hate we chinese is because ur big smelly gooky slave asses got fucked hard and enslaved by we chinese for 1500 years until japanese took it over although we still having north whorean gooky dog ass in hands now , thus u dirty infeior slave dogs hate us so much out of ur inferiority complex based on ur broken slave ass, lol, can not accept that fact being a typical dirty whorean slave son urself , huh?

            then try crawl hard back into ur fucken kimchi comfort bitch’s gooky shithole and reborn as something else like female pig,maggots anything u like , or u’ll bear ur dirty inherent slave blood all u fucking inferior slave dog life, lmao

        • gookywhoreansteals

          why so many chinese trying to sneak to ur fucken whorean gookland?? u fucken retarded gook really dont know ?? lol, u fucken ignorant retard, more than 90% of chinese nationals staying in south korea are ethnic korean chinese , why they sneak into ur gookland??

          • gookywhoreansteals

            yeah, just as what u motherfucker retarded slave son of whorean bitch said: they all are fucking shitty parasites deepshit and they are all same kind of shit since they were born as all 70 millions fucking stinky low animal shit koreans, so they love going back to their shitty homeland the same one ur stinkiest shithole gookland, that is source of deepshit all the universe, lol u got it now? retard,

        • gookywhoreansteals

          what?? u gooky retard want to fuck all them out?? right, go for it , however or wherever u want to fuck them off to , we chinese are happy ,just one thing u retarded pig must know , dont fuck them back to china since they are same dirty shitpiles as u fucken whorean slaves, lol

          • gookywhoreansteals

            there are fucking almost 1 million dirty inferior south gooky whoreans now living in china plus another 300 thousands shitty north gooks refugees and 2 millions korean chinese, that is so fucking disgusting.

            one friend of mine just reported a fucken smuggled north whorean whore two month ago in zhenzhou ,henan province to police ,because that ugly bitch asked him for money without knowing how to speak chinese, lol , i think that dirty gooky bitch now is shot died after she was back to her gooky home , belive or not ,lol

  • dim mak

    Didn’t that gate burn down last year or something?

  • DonHuerto

    Chinese people wake up…nobody is perfect what makes you think you and your cities are? Anyway you and them are siblings. Dirty the same. fodem-se todos voces macacos

    • Real Korean

      Koreans and Chinese jjankes are not siblings. Please do not group Koreans with Chinese people. Its an insult to Koreans.

      • whichone

        Your behavior sir, are an insult to real Koreans.

        • Real Korean

          Nope sir. Jjankes are an insult to the human race.

  • anon8mizer

    You guys are missing the obvious. The survey is a fake.

    “Based on a survey held in December last year in which 800 Chinese, 500 Japanese, and 300 Thai people participated, 11.4% of Chinese, 9.8% of Japanese, and 20.0% of Thai people picked Seoul as the city they would most like to visit within a year, making Seoul the number one most popular city.”

    800 Chinese people times 11.4% equals 91.2. Tell me how that 0.2 of a person came about?

  • http://www.shenzhenphotos.com Shenzhen Photos

    first: the pictures don’t even look that bad, these things are common everywhere. second: this doesn’t square up with what i saw when i visited seoul…a hip, clean, pleasant, sightly city.

  • gookywhoreansteals

    that survey was simply conducted by korean agents on paid basis on small numbers of people and then appeared always first on korean media for promotion of their tourism since they know best their poor little tourism attaction for overseas holidaymakers, which is typical korean style of cheating, south korea heavily depend on chinese market in all areas.

    and the fact is more than 90% of chinese nationals staying in south korea are ethnic korean chinese either studying or working , and any well educated chinese views south korea a third class country in whatever area thus valueless to go, in aisa, the popular countries and places among chinese are always chinese hongkong, singapore ,japan, chinese taiwan, tailand , malayisia,

    almost all chinese holidaymaker who have visited south korea felt done for and worthless for their money , they would never go back again, and one of them comment on chosun daily of korea report last month : such boring country and the best view here worse than my home village view back in china ,

    i myself have been to almost all east asian and southeast countries ,even moglolia and i would never make a plan to go to both koreas, that tiny place got nothing to compare to china really.

  • gookywhoreansteals

    here looks can’t put up pictures, i got heaps of true images of of korea

  • gookywhoreansteals

    @xmcx : wheather or not u r a korean, it doesnt neccararily mean u dont have free ass donating family tradition, go confirm with ur comfort woman mom or ur great great great grand whore mom if she happen to be alive still,lol
    no matther how singopare did, chinese always cosinder singopare the overseas chienses military base in the futures since they cant wash off their chinese blood and blood tie with china, the similar, no matter how singorpore are hated by maylasians ,there are always full of maylasian toursists in singopore

    america nuked japan twice, it doesnt affect japanese tourist all over the U.S.

    chinese taiwan want to be independent or not is their own bussniess, but chinese never consider taiwan as foreign land, so we chinese of course love to go to taiwan, lol

    am i scared ? for i fucked ur comfort woman mom??

    well, ur mom said it is for free….

    • gookywhoreansteals

      forgot to say, just like koreans hate japanese so much ,they are cursing japs everyday, it dose not affect heaps of whorean gooks living and go to japan,

      the same, whorean gooks hate we chinese so much , there are fucking almost 1 million dirty inferior south gooky whoreans now living in china plus another 300 thousands shitty north gooks refugees and 2 millions korean chinese, that is so fucking disgusting.

  • BeijingBoy

    The preference measurement is a hoax – crafted by the Seoul chamber of commerce – “SPARKLING!” All this vitriol over misinformation. Every city has its share of disgust, but comparing the ‘total package’ among, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong? Seoul’s hardly on top. Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong stand out. But, really. Who doesn’t have the time of their life in Bangkok?

  • Chen

    TS isn;t from China? Then he should go to china and see what place it is. Seoul isn;t in the state to be even comparable with china’s dirty, crazy ad, beggars haven

  • Chinese in a Bullshop

    Yeah, agreed, the preference measurement is total marketing BS. Korea: SPARKLING is bad, but not as bad as INCREDIBLE INDIA..

    But, the pictures posted here in response are stupid too, obviously from some racist Chinese kid.

    I have lived in both Korea and China, and China is WAY, WAY, WAY dirtier than Korea. No comparison. Beijing may have some fancier buildings than Seoul, but that is about the only thing better.

    In Korea you would never be mobbed by a group of beggars; it happens all the time in Beijing.

    Most of the major Chinese cities are DEFINITELY worse than Seoul.

  • MD

    Lots of countries like Korea and India spends millions to advertise their country as great tourist destinations in the international media, but I rarely see any Chinese ones… Why is that? Well, because they don’t have to! It’s just another sign of national confidence. I mean yes China have many dirty places and cities, but why are those clean-loving foreigners still rush to come here while complaining? It’s like eating shit while complaining it being shit… Well I guess that’s probably what those China-bashers do everyday…

  • fireworks

    Seoul is largely influenced by the US and Japan politically and economically following its occupation for over 50 years. Seoul does have UNESCO sites and artifacts which survive the Korean war. Korean drama series is massively popular in East Asian countries and beyond.

    The pictures in this article only shows the unsavoury side. Almost all major cities have beggars and trash. Should show the Gyeongbokgung palace or the Namdaemun Gate to balance out the other photos.

  • Pingback: Seoul Most Favored Travel Destination: Seoul City | The Marmot's Hole

  • http://adeel.blogspot.com Adeel

    all my west friends who have been to both china and south korea said to me, shanghai and bejing hangzhou,nanjing or chengdu ,tianjing are far better than seoul,

    If you click on my name, you can see a picture of me on my blog. I’m definitely not Korean, trust me.

    By what measure is a place like Hangzhou or Chengdu “better” than Seoul? Seoul is indisputably richer, cleaner and has more to see. You don’t think someone could dig up crap in Shanghai or Chengdu?

    I think Beijing has far more to see than Seoul, but seriously, think about Beijing as a city. It has highrises even more hideous than Seoul’s, and outside of the centre and the exception of a few areas like Sanlitun, it’s dull and poor. If you compare the squalor in China’s capital to the squalor in Korea’s capital, Korea wins every time.

  • LOLZ

    Initially I thought this was a BS joke but apparently the poll was real.

    http://www.eturbonews.com/13826/survey-seoul-top-tourist-destination-japanese-chinese-thai

    “Seoul is the No.1 place where Japanese, Chinese and Thai tourists want to visit, beating out New York, Paris, Honolulu, Maldives and Rome, according to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen, an international market research firm…

    Tokyo at 10.3 percent, Maldives at 7.7 percent and Paris at 5.3 percent followed.”

    I know that visiting Korea is pretty hot in Japan but what was going through the heads the Thai and Chinese who were surveyed? Most of the Chinese I talk to would much rather visit Japan, especially people from HK and Taiwan. And Maldives beating Paris, wtf, other than the elite Euro-weenies (mostly Italians and Germans) and the wannabe-euro Japanese, most people don’t even know where the hell the place is.

    • Real Korean

      The majority of the Chinese you talked to? You mean those sexually frustrated Chinese males who wish to rape Japanese porn stars and regularly stalk Koreans on the internet?

      Or Chinese women? Who make up the majority of Korean culture fans in China?

      • gookywhoreansteals

        who? u dont know ? gooky retard , the majority of japanese copycat so called whorean pop culture fans are 2 million ethnic korean chinese and some japanese pop culuture fans since they cant tell who is who because they are confused with the all plastic sugerical faces of whorean pop stars,

        they think those gooky stars all probably got japanese blood since ur fucken slave gookland got ruled by japanese for 50 years and all u gooks got japanese biological fathers now . lolz

  • Teacher in China

    Late getting in on this one. I was in Seoul in October, and the overall impression I left with was this: hot women!! Seriously. That’s all I remember about the whole thing. Hot, hot, hot women wearing really tight, short skirts. Very sexy business attire.
    Also, their subway system is downright astounding in it’s coverage and cleanliness.

Personals @ chinaSMACK - Meet people, make friends, find lovers? Don't be so serious!»