Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • UTS elects new Chancellor
    • Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear
    • Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in
    • Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report
    • ‘If you silence someone or shush someone, you can get out’: SISTREN is an unabashed celebration of black and trans joy. Is Australia ready?
    • Mark Gowing waxes lyrical on aesthetics, time, language, and his new exhibition ‘This one is a song’
    • NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University
    • Turning Kindness Into Strength in ‘A Different Kind of Power’
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Wednesday, July 9
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»Perspective

    How nice is the Quad?

    By Louise XieAugust 23, 2016 Perspective 4 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Chinese tourists possess three essential qualities: they are cashed up, culturally barren and above all else, prone to bad behaviour. This is what apparently separates Chinese tourists from all the other throngs of tourists. At least, that’s what we’re told over and over again.

    This endlessly touted characterisation of the typical Chinese tourist was once based predominantly on the perceived quantity of transgressions committed by Chinese tourists whilst abroad. The ease of jumping on this bandwagon of condemnation however, has evolved to become less a critique of the actual behaviour of Chinese tourists, and more an exercise in taking issue with the very fact of their being Chinese.

    As a keen eavesdropper, I was confused when I overheard two of my peers questioning, “Why are there always Chinese people taking fucking selfies here [in the Quad]?” Given that the majority of the people taking selfies in the Quadrangle were tourists, was this a critique of selfies, or only of the Chinese tourists who dared to turn a camera towards their own visage? If it was a question designed to stimulate contemplation on the former, then why include the particularly pointed identification of “Chinese”? After all, selfies – and incessant photography of every landmark visited – are hardly a phenomenon constrained only to Chinese tourists. No matter where in the world, tourists can and will take photos of themselves and of everything around them.

    This aggressive question made clear just how strongly embedded the negative Chinese stereotype is in our collective minds. The stereotype uses race to cast judgement not only on the actions of the tourists, but also on their choice of location for tourism. Since Chinese tourism, as embodied by Chinese tourists, is supposedly unenlightened (see: culturally barren) and the fact the majority of the tourists on campus are of East Asian appearance – reductively, ‘Chinese’ – the implication follows that Sydney University is somehow an inappropriate or confusing place for a tourist, making selfies and/or photos taken here a laughable consequence. Before they are actually assessed according to the reasons that informed their visit, Chinese tourists have already been written off by virtue of their appearance.

    Curious as to why Chinese tourists were actually interested in visiting USyd, I headed to the Quad to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. When asked why they had chosen to visit USyd, Chinese tourists, some of whom had come as part of a tour group, emphasised the architecture and the heritage of the university. “Gulao”, which loosely translates as meaning “the quality of having heritage”, was often used. One visitor in his pre-teens thought the Quad resembled Hogwarts – a not altogether uncommon response even from local students. Tour groups that come to the University with their own guides are usually booked in advance online at sites like Ctrip. Da Ziran Luyou, a travel agent I spoke to, also advertised sojourns to USyd by using “gulao” to describe the University’s heritage and impressive neo-Gothic architecture.

    But perhaps more importantly, the reasons the visitors come to our campus are pretty similar to the reasons that all other tourists ever had for wanting to see a particular place. How many tourists have visited places like Westminster Abbey, or Piazza San Marco, or the Great Wall, or even Oxbridge, Harvard, and Yale, precisely because of the architecture and heritage associated.

    Chinese tourists are no different to all the other tourists that trot the globe. They seek out experiences that have meaning to them like all other tourists, require money to get around like all other tourists and fuck up like all other tourists. If we’re okay with floating down a river drunk and mooning landmarks, then surely we can make our peace with a selfie on campus.

    asians Chinese gulao homepage featured neo-Gothic quad tourists

    Keep Reading

    The Music of Memory

    Turn Away Your Mirrors and Close the Doors

    What Was Your Name?

    Do you dream with your phone?

    Authenticating My Authenticity to Inauthentic Authenticators

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    Just In

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    July 8, 2025

    Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear

    July 8, 2025

    Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in

    July 8, 2025

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    July 7, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.