When I travelled to China in July 2024, my flight from Milan to Shenzhen was fully booked. Yet I was the only non-Chinese passenger on board. China’s stringent pandemic measures – including mandatory quarantines for all arrivals – had shut out foreign visitors for nearly three years. The restrictions were lifted in early 2023, and by the end of the year, China launched an unprecedented campaign to ease visa requirements for many countries, extending this policy further in 2024. Currently, nationals from 38 countries can stay in China for up to 30 days.
The strategy has driven a partial rebound in tourism. In the first 11 months of 2024, 29.22 million foreign visitors entered China, an 86.2 percent year-on-year increase, with 17.45 million benefitting from visa-free policies, according to China Daily. These figures align with international analyses, such as those by Bloomberg. The rebound is good news for China’s economy. Tourism is providing a much-needed boost to China’s slowing growth engine, helping the country achieve an overall GDP growth rate projected at approximately 4.9 percent for 2024, according to the World Bank; however, the Rhodium Group’s estimates suggest that the actual growth may be lower. The influx of international tourist spending – on accommodations, dining, transportation, and attractions – injects vitality into the economy, creating a multiplier effect across the tourism supply chain.
Despite these improvements, tourists, especially from the West, remain scarce compared to pre-pandemic levels. Current figures represent only a fraction of the approximately 98 million foreign visitors recorded in 2019. Visa-free policies offer a strong incentive, but China remains a challenging destination. Unlike mainstream Asian hotspots, visiting China requires adaptation. Western tourists must grapple with restricted internet access, as many everyday apps are blocked, and VPNs – essential for bypassing censorship – are increasingly targeted by authorities. Additionally, English proficiency is declining, with China dropping from “moderate” in 2021 to “low” in 2023, according to the EF English Proficiency Index. This linguistic gap extends even to tourism services.
Compounding these challenges are fewer international flights, shifting economic ties, and deteriorating perceptions of China in the West, and vice versa. Together, these factors have slowed the rebound in Western tourism and underscore a broader erosion of people-to-people exchanges between the West and China.
Beyond De-Risking: Spillover Effects on Culture and Education
Economic and geopolitical tensions between China and the West have deepened, challenging decades of globalization. For years, nations like the United States, China, and Germany pursued policies to expand global economic integration despite different views of geopolitics. In the past four years, the emphasis has shifted to “de-risking” – reducing reliance on foreign markets and technologies considered strategically risky, especially those related to China. But as economic integration falters, social ties also weaken. This dynamic is especially pronounced in China-U.S. relations.
In a small live music bar hidden in Beijing’s hutongs, I met Youfen, a reggae musician from Xinjiang. Unlike most others I encountered, he spoke fluent English, having spent six years in Chicago. His music seamlessly weaves Chinese and English lyrics, a fusion that resonates with his diverse influences. Such performances, once common before the pandemic, are increasingly rare. “These are tough times,” Youfen admitted.
The bar, once a hub for international artists, is one of the few venues in Beijing still hosting a flow of foreign musicians. International performers, especially from the United States, have largely vanished. That’s true also for huge stars. Kanye West’s 2024 return to China – his first since 2008 – was a rare exception, greeted with enthusiasm by Chinese fans. Yet bureaucratic hurdles and politically motivated bans have discouraged or outright barred many artists. In 2017, for instance, pop star Justin Bieber was banned from performing in China due to what the Ministry of Culture called “a series of bad behaviors” both in his personal life and during previous performances in the country.
The pandemic years, marked by stringent restrictions, coupled with Xi Jinping’s authoritarian tightening, have further constricted cultural spaces. Many who recall the pre-Xi era speak nostalgically of a time when pop culture, high culture, and spontaneous interaction thrived. China’s expanded anti-espionage law – enacted in early 2023 – grants authorities sweeping powers to monitor citizens and perhaps foreign visitors, accessing emails, phones, and social media accounts. Billboards across cities warn against spies, both foreign and domestic, creating an atmosphere of paranoia that deters foreign businesses, tourists, and students alike.
This climate of suspicion is not confined to China. Western countries, particularly the United States, have increasingly scrutinized Chinese visitors, including students. Before the pandemic, over 372,000 Chinese students were enrolled in U.S. institutions (2019-2020). By 2023-2024, that figure had dropped to 290,000, driven by restrictive visa policies and reports of invasive searches at U.S. airports. In 2023, the United States rejected 36 percent of Chinese student visa applicants, marking a record high.
China has seen an even steeper decline in international students. U.S. student enrollment, once peaking at 15,000 a decade ago, plummeted to just 350 in 2023. Even South Korea, a close U.S. ally, has seen its student numbers in China drop by 78 percent since 2017. Similar trends are emerging also in Europe. As pointed out by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, pressure from governments, research funders, and media outlets is mounting on academic institutions to sever ties with Chinese counterparts, particularly in sensitive fields like high-tech. These demands often outpace the establishment of clear legal frameworks and sometimes conflict with academic freedom, pitting national security concerns against scientific collaboration.
The High Cost of Severed Ties
The increasing isolation between China and the West is concerning. Cultural, academic, and other exchanges are essential for easing geopolitical and economic tensions. The danger lies in confusing political entities with their citizens and assuming that the interests of Western and Chinese people are completely opposed – this assumption is far from accurate. Without maintaining these connections, mistrust and misunderstanding will only grow, making collaboration on global challenges even more difficult.