80 percent of foreign tourists prefer Great Wall
By People's Daily Online June 11, 2007 - Which places of historical interest and scenic beauty in Beijing do foreigners prefer? Recently, Feng Huiling, vice-president of the Renmin University of China (RUC) announced research findings at a joint meeting held by the Beijing Social Sciences Association and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission. The research shows that 80 percent of foreign tourists prefer to visit the Great Wall. Within a large project about the Beijing Olympic Games, Feng Huilin supervised a large scale overseas investigation conducted on the "subject rank of the Beijing Olympics, and the national, cultural image of China." The investigation included socially affluent politicians and entrepreneurs from more than fifty countries, and almost 3,000 foreign media reports were consulted for this research. In terms of China's cultural specifics, the overseas population is most interested in food culture, approximately thirty-six percent of those surveyed. Of all the places of historical interest and scenic beauty, the Great Wall is the preferred destination for the overseas population, 80.8 percent of those interviewed. Following the Great Wall in popularity are the Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. In the traditional arts field, the overseas population is more interested in Chinese characters, making up 35.9 percent of those surveyed.