Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

What's up with Chinese tourists? One has made international headlines by throwing hot water and noodles at a Thai flight attendant before threatening to blow up the plane; another carved his name into a 3,500-year-old Egyptian temple; yet more have recently been accused of "terrorizing" penguins after insisting on having their wedding photos taken in the South Pole.

Why are Chinese tourists so insufferable? Let's take my 56-year-old mother as a case study. My mother fits the profile for an "uncivilized" Chinese tourist. She grew up in a big family with seven siblings, and worked in a State-owned restaurant serving hundreds of comrades at a time during busy services. The only way she could make herself heard was by shouting over the din, so her "normal tone of voice" would be considered a few decibels too loud overseas. When I speak to her over the phone, I have to dangle the cell phone half a meter away from my ear to avoid hearing damage.

Like most Chinese tourists who make headlines, my mother has money, but not manners. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists have overtaken Americans and Germans as the world's biggest spenders when traveling, blowing a record $102 billion on international tourism in 2012. Every time my mother goes abroad, which is once or twice per year, I have my fingers crossed that she won't make international headlines. 

Despite having money, my mother is reluctant to spend money. Like many people from the older generation, she especially does not want to spend too much money on traveling. She usually waits for deals like "5,000 yuan ($799.5) all expenses covered" trips that are meant to attract low-end tourists.

On these trips, my mother is usually accompanied by other Chinese women like her. With solidarity in numbers, they feel comfortable behaving just the way they would if they were at home: allowing children to pee on the street, spitting on the ground and cutting in lines.

So, what can we do to reduce the culture clash between "uncivilized" Chinese tourists like my mother and the outside world? I think the most important factor is education. Recently, the China National Tourism Administration published a 64-page guidebook to teach Chinese people how to behave properly oversees. Such an approach however, is sure to miss its target audience, if my mother is anything to go by. A guidebook would only put her to sleep.

So instead, I decided to adopt my own tactics. I did an experiment on my mother using the carrot and stick approach. I told her that if she behaves well, I will sponsor her next trip abroad.

It didn't stop her from spitting on the ground while we were in Hong Kong. Yet she still insisted that I sponsor her trip because I am her only daughter.

After that failed attempt, I tried the stick approach.

I told her that anyone caught spitting in the street in Hong Kong will soon face an HK$1,500 fine.

"That's a lot of money!" she complained and immediately stopped spitting.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.