Chinese Tourists and Confucianism

Abstract

Despite the widespread belief in the significance of Confucianism on the behaviour of Mainland Chinese people, limited empirical studies have been conducted to examine the Chinese cultural and philosophical ideology in a tourism context. As an exploratory attempt, this paper investigates the influence of Confucian values on Mainland Chinese corporate travellers at leisure on the Gold Coast, Australia. Based on participant observations of group package tours, this paper suggests that the notion of harmony dominates and underlines the Chinese tourists’ behaviour as tourists. The notion of harmony, further, was intricately related with such themes as respect for authority, relationship building or guanxi and conformity. Heavily influenced by the values of Confucianism, the travellers placed much emphasis on maintaining not only the correct and appropriate behaviour, which included paying due respect to one's superior, but also practising forbearance conforming to the interests of a wider group rather than individual desires. Relationship building appears to be a salient motivation, underlying the behaviour of the tourists. Confirming the suggestions from other disciplinary fields, such as Chinese psychology and social psychology, this paper highlights the need for more research attempts in this area for practical and theoretical advancements in our understanding.