China, hosting 2022 Winter Olympics, encourages Michiganders to consider the more-than 3,000-year-old city for vacation
A group of people from China visited metro Detroit on Friday, making a pitch for tourists from here to make the 6,623-mile trip to Beijing.
“We think the Midwest is a very important region,” Liu Jun, Consular General of China in Chicago said, adding that they’ve “seen a tremendous Chinese investment” in Michigan.
Sites such as the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Ming Tomb and more than 170 museums are among the draws to the over 3,000-year-old city of about 21.5 million people. Jun, at the event Friday at the Oakland County Executive Office Conference Center, said China hosted about 130 million visitors in 2016, and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder visits every year.
Snyder has made seven trips to China since 2011, and Michigan last year ranked number two among U. S. states with the most investment projects from China.
“As Chinese travelers are now going all over the world and the United States more, this is a great opportunity to tell people about Pure Michigan tourism,” Snyder said in a news release in July.
At Friday’s event, people from China encouraged Michiganders to visit Beijing — whether as tourists or as students on study-abroad programs.
Wang Yue, vice-chair of the Beijing Tourism Development Commission, said Beijing is a “rising star in China,” and is seeking to develop winter tourism as well as student-based programs. The city, which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, so there are plenty of opportunities for winter sports such as skiing in the region.
High-speed trains connect several regions of China within a few hours. Other attractions include Chinese cuisine, such as roasted duck, and traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture.
Chris Holman, president of the American Association of Retired Persons in Michigan, said he owns a factory about an hour outside Beijing and has visited the city 29 times. He said that substantial development has occurred there in the past few decades, making it quite vibrant.
“It’s a very international city now,” he said.
More information on the city’s tourism programs is available at visitbeijing.com.cn .
To see requirements for U. S. citizens to visit China, visit the U. S. Department of State website. For more details see “Tips on Traveling to China” on USAToday.com.
Contact Robert Allen on Twitter @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com.
