How did people travel in the era when tickets cost 20 cents?

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the face of China has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the tourism industry has also experienced a 40-year course of take-off, catching up and leaping.

From slow green leather trains to high-speed railways with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, from poorly equipped guest houses to exquisite high-end hotels, from tourist attractions that few people care about to bustling ancient towns? Tourism has become an indispensable part of people's way of life from luxury that was once out of reach.

The colorful scenery of the motherland, together with the people who grew up with China tourism, witnessed the 40-year historical changes of China tourism.

Changes of tourism in the past 40 years of reform and opening up: a special topic of industry observation launched by Phoenix. Com, from industry experts to scenic spots, from famous tourists to ordinary tourists, tells you the true 40-year travel story from different perspectives.

In this issue, we invite Gao, former editor-in-chief of China Tourism News, to share his 40-year mental journey.

Tiananmen Square 1978

1978, studying in high school in the county. Unconsciously, 40 years have passed. I have changed from a high school student who doesn't know what "tourism" is to a senior tourist who is over half a year old. If I can sum up the changes in tourism in the past 40 years in one sentence, the most appropriate one is probably "Wang Xietang died in the past and flew into the homes of ordinary people".

In that era when ordinary people didn't know what "tourism" was, perhaps no one would have thought that 40 years later, tourism would be so closely related to their lives. Nowadays, tourism is no longer a luxury, and ordinary people have become the main body of tourism. The annual number of trips in China has reached an astonishing 5 billion, with an average of 3.7 trips per person per year. It can be said that tourism has become an indispensable part of our life.

In the past Spring Festival of the Year of the Dog, because a large number of tourists flocked to Hainan to travel, they could not return because of foggy weather. Haikou Ferry Terminal was crowded with tens of thousands of family cars, waiting to be ferried to the other side and returned to work. This scene is also a proof that the mass tourism market is hot.

On February 22, 20 18, the vehicle was stranded in Haikou.

Looking back on the changes in tourism in the past 40 years, I seem to have been dragged back to a certain moment in history and returned to that difficult era. Looking back on these past events, a feeling that time has passed and it seems like a lifetime ago comes to mind.

In my middle school days, tourism was a distant and unfamiliar concept for students. There are one or two selected travel notes in the textbook, written by a few celebrities from ancient times to the present. They read beautifully, but I never thought I could go so far.

When the summer vacation is over, only a few students go to visit relatives in Qingdao or Jinan. When I heard that they went to the seaside trestle, took a bath in the sea and went to Baotu Spring and Qianfo Mountain in the provincial capital, although it was enviable, it was still a very distant thing for me.

1990, tourists drank coke on the great wall, which was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1987.

For today's students, traveling has become one of the essential activities in their holidays. When my children were in the third and fourth grades of primary school, the students began to "sun" each other's holiday destinations. Some people went to famous mountains and rivers, while others went overseas for sightseeing. They probably never thought that this ordinary thing was almost an extravagant hope for us decades ago.

At that time, except for a few special professionals or people with distant relatives, most of those lucky enough to travel were short-distance tourists, and the travel distance was relatively short, and few people exceeded 500 kilometers.

1983 In May, tourists bought souvenirs in the shops at the foot of the Great Wall.

1980, I was admitted to the provincial capital from Yimeng mountain area to go to college. At that time, the weekend trip was to visit the parks in the city. Although the Yellow River is in the northern suburb of the city, I still find the traffic inconvenient. It was not until the school organized a school-run farm to collect wheat that my classmates and I went to the bank of the Yellow River.

The famous Mount Tai was on my way back to school from home, but it was not until 1983 that several students climbed the "top of the five mountains" together, and everyone was so tired that their backs ached and their legs ached. 10 for more than a few days.

In 2000, Heilongjiang. Some ice and snow tourism projects have become popular.

Nowadays, college students travel in various ways. I met some classmates in Shuhe Ancient Town, Lijiang. They will use their holiday time to travel to all corners of the world, and some will work while traveling to make money.

Members of Peking University Eagle Club will also climb the world's high mountains such as Mount Everest to exercise their will and increase their talents in adventure tourism.

There are also some college students who practice the life of "reading thousands of books and traveling on Wan Li Road" through study tours and research trips.

1996, tourists on the Great Wall

By the early 1990s, the number of tourists had obviously increased, but most of them just dropped in, instead of planning their trips or coming specially.

I have a relative who is a buyer in the business system. In those days, he could leave home for business trips every month and attend various orders and trade fairs. After his business activities, he often visits local places of interest, such as Tiger Hill in Suzhou, Humble Administrator's Garden, West Lake in Hangzhou, Lingyin Temple, Lushan Mountain, Huangshan Mountain and Huangguoshu Waterfall, and takes some commemorative photos every once in a while, which is very enviable.

Beijing Tiananmen Square 1998. A child is looking into the distance with a telescope.

At that time, I thought it would be great if I could find such a job after graduation. This mentality is very representative among young people at that time, and it is a portrayal of people's mental state that they want to travel very much without extra financial resources to pay for travel expenses in the process of solving food and clothing.

1997 February, Guangxi. Many shops have begun to receive foreign tourists.

Judging from the stage of tourism development, at first, most people who like to visit famous mountains and rivers are overseas tourists. At that time, the country earned foreign exchange by tourism. By the middle and late 1980s, the economy had developed greatly, the income of residents' families increased, domestic tourism began to develop, and the number of people who contacted tourism began to increase, but the desire for tourism was not generally strong. This situation continued until the late 1980s.

I remember that in the spring of 1988, I had a 40-day visit with three graduate students, which is today's research trip.

At that time, the school subsidized 400 yuan for everyone, and the rest of the expenses were borne by individuals. We started from Beijing and visited Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Xi 'an, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Datong and Taiyuan along the middle reaches of the Yellow River. This trip is of great significance to the three of us, but in the eyes of other students, although envious, they still did not choose to go out of this step, which is also because the desire to travel is not strong enough.

20 14 Baima Mountain in Lanzhou, Gansu Province overlooks the Yellow River.

In my opinion, no matter 30 or 40 years ago or nearly 20 years ago, inconvenient transportation was a very important problem in tourism. At that time, there were few flights and the air tickets were very expensive, which was far from what ordinary people could afford.

Most of the trains are green leather slow trains burning coal, and it takes a day or a day and a night to walk 500 kilometers. For me in those days, the hard seat of the train from Xi 'an to Lanzhou for nearly 30 hours was so bumpy that my ass ached and my whole body ached, which is still fresh in my memory. Today, high-speed rail has been running between the two places, and the time has been shortened to 2 hours, 465,438+0 minutes.

200 1, the new express train with the fourth speed increase was unveiled.

At that time, the long-distance bus was not the concept of high speed today, but the bumpy dirt road Gobi Road, which took more than 20 hours to run hundreds of kilometers. From Dunhuang to Lanzhou, from Ili to Turpan, cars jolted and swayed with great momentum, and the dust stirred up was poured into the carriages like the worst sandstorm? In this case, traveling is hardly a kind of enjoyment, and feeling more is a kind of pain.

During the period of 1996, I worked in National Tourism Administration. I went to Kunming on business from Beijing, and the train was hard to sleep for more than 40 hours. Although I visited the infinite scenery along the way, the loneliness and fatigue of the journey are unprecedented, and the consumption of time is even more regrettable.

Today, many people are talking about the concept of "go fast and go slow". In the final analysis, this word is also summed up from the painful travel experience.

In February 2003, Beijing Hotel, with a history of 100 years, won the "Five-Star Diamond Award" in the international service industry.

Tourism accommodation has also undergone tremendous changes in these decades. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the number of hotels in China was very small and the quality was unbearable. Even the accommodation needs of a few foreign tourists are difficult to meet. Some foreign tourists visiting Beijing even need to sleep on the floor at night, or are dragged to stay in Tianjin.

1978, foreign journalists go to Guangzhou.

Later, by introducing a large number of foreign capital to build hotels, the shortage of tourist accommodation gradually eased. In recent 10 years, the hardware level of high-star hotels in China is generally ahead of the international level.

June 2007 5438+ 10, Guangzhou White Swan Hotel.

For mass tourists, star-rated hotels are originally a concept of "high above". People travel occasionally and generally stay in state-owned hotels and guest houses. 10 years ago, domestic tourists boldly entered the gate of star-rated hotels.

I remember when I first went to the United States, I lived in the teaching building of the University of Maryland and the "coach shop" (budget hotel) in the suburban expressway service area. Conditions are similar to those of domestic guest houses. The first time I went to Switzerland, I stayed in the guest house of the China Embassy in Switzerland, which was basically a replica of the domestic guest house. The bathtub has a history of more than half a century. There is about 1 m high bathtub. If you want to enter, it is exaggerated to say that you must step back for a certain distance and then "run up".

The main reasons for this accommodation are weak economic strength and lack of funds to go abroad. After going abroad in recent years, I obviously feel that the accommodation conditions have improved a lot.

China Zhongyuan Tourism Fair kicked off in Luoyang, Henan Province, and folk gongs and drums were performed at the opening ceremony.

Although tourism in that era was simple, there were many things worth remembering, not just hardships and difficulties. Tickets for scenic spots, which are very expensive now, were extremely low in those days. At present, most of the well-known 5A-level scenic spots used to have tickets for only a few cents.

In May 2000, a woman walked slowly through the Forbidden City in Beijing with a red umbrella.

Some time ago, when I rummaged through the bookcase, I found some old tickets: 3 corners of Qing Dongling, 2 corners of Confucius House, 3 corners of Beijing Botanical Garden and 2 corners of Dazhong Temple. I clearly remember that 1988, the Mogao Grottoes implemented the "double-vote system". Ordinary fare is 50 cents, and professional fare is 6 yuan, which is probably the most expensive fare in China at that time.

In the tourism market at that time, the phenomenon of bullying and slaughtering customers rarely occurred. 1988 After a 40-day study tour in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, I visited nearly 100 scenic spots in six provinces and regions. I only saw a public security incident of robbing tourists' backpacks and the phenomenon that some photo booths of scenic spots occupied the core position. I have never encountered abduction, chasing or selling.

200 1, Old Town of Lijiang, tourists and locals lit bonfires and danced in Sifang street.

I remember that many years ago, a middle-aged female photographer enthusiastically helped tourists take pictures or photographs by the Crescent Spring in Dunhuang, and refused the rewards of foreign tourists. She said that it is not easy for foreigners to travel, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to lift a finger. Although it has been 30 years since such a short scene, I still feel very clear in retrospect.

In 2002, Wuyuan, beautiful countryside, China.

In my opinion, if you are a tourism practitioner, you should be a helpful person like a female photographer by the crescent spring; If you are a tourist who goes out from time to time, you should travel in a civilized way and respond to the beauty that this colorful world has given you.

The 40 years of reform and opening up may be just a moment in the long history, but for an ordinary person, it is close to half of life. As a witness to the development of tourism, I appreciate and cherish this process.

Author: Gao Li Shun, special researcher of Tourism Research Center of China Academy of Social Sciences. He used to be the deputy director of the Policy and Regulation Department and the Comprehensive Coordination Department of the National Tourism Administration. He was once a member of Nujiang State Government and Provincial Tourism Bureau, and served as the editor-in-chief and president of China Tourism News. As a representative of the tourism industry and departments, he participated in the negotiation of China's accession to the WTO. Promote and participate in the drafting of the National Tourism and Leisure Program, build a holiday tourism working mechanism, and set up China Tourism Day.