Starting from Wednesday, Beijing no longer designates
accommodation for its overseas guests, as it had done over the past
half century.
Beijing police say that people from overseas may choose where to
live in Beijing, including households in those old hutongs
(lanes), a Mongolian name for streets with wells, where most
traditional courtyards, popularly known as siheyuan or
four-sided enclosed yards, still can be seen.
But they are not allowed to stay in non-open areas and military
forbidden zones, say the police Wednesday.
Hotels, hostels, or inns in Beijing that have acquired business
licenses are able to receive overseas guests from now on. But in
the past, only some star-labeled hotels, usually luxurious, were
designated to host these tourists for the purposes of their
personal security and safeguarding social stability.
"By lifting accommodation limits on overseas tourists, we follow
basic WTO principles of equity, national treatment, and
non-discrimination," said Zhang Yue, deputy-director of the Bureau
of Public Security of Beijing Municipal People's Government.
Beijing police tried out the reform in eight districts on May
28, hoping to woo more overseas business people, tourists, students
and scholars with this new policy.
Foreigners coming to China have been given "special" treatment
since?the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.
Quite a few tourist destinations sold tickets especially prepared
for foreigners, price of which was usually higher than tickets sold
to Chinese. Foreigners had their own hotels to live in and even
their own currency -- foreign exchange certificate -- to buy
duty-free goods or goods in great demand but short supply. The
foreign exchange certificate, beginning circulation at the turn of
1970s and 1980s, when China started its reform and opening up
drive, did not quit until January 1, 1995.
But not all foreigners appreciated these. They complained for
not being able to enjoy the national treatment.
Beijing currently has more than 300 hotels designated for
overseas guests. In 2002 alone, Beijing received some 3.1 tourists
from overseas, earning foreign exchange of US$3.1 billion, both
hitting historical records.
Beijing expects to welcome 4.63 million foreign tourists by the
year 2008.
Foreign-funded enterprises registered in Beijing accounted for
9,172, and foreign firms set up 8,028 representative offices in
Beijing by the end of 2002. Foreign residents in Beijing surpassed
50,000.
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2003)