Hi Jane, Thanks for your comments. I have to clarify that your observation “this romanticisation occurs because the author is an ignorant English speaker writing for “Westerners” (more specifically, readers of English)” is not my implication. As indicated by Professor Piller, my PhD is about the issue whether Orientalism has affected China’s national travel dicourse, or rather if China practises self-Orientalism in its tourism discourse (see Kimie’s comment). So Orientalism is not simply about Western discursive contructions of the East; the powerless East can internalise Orientalism and follow the construction patterns of the West in its own imaging.

Thanks, Ingrid. I have been greatly inspired by all the comments. I do agree with your hunch that textual flows are from English to Chinese rather than the other direction. The works of Western travel writers such as Cumming, Gill, and Hosie had presented an Orientalised image of China in the 19th century. This image still has repercussions on the contemporary English travel writings about China.

Thanks to Ingrids reply, my application of Orientalism in this post has been clarified. So there is not need for me to further elaborate on that. I am, however, interested in your point that some Chinese websites contain similar stereotypical descriptions of minoroties. Could you please inform me of these websites? Are they in Chinese? As part of my PhD project, I had done a preliminary research of the English websites of Chinas Central Government and Chinas official tourism organs. So far I havent found any examples of similar construction. In contrast, what I have found can be very telling examples of Chinas self-representation, especially representations that cast minorities in completely different light.
By the way, the other picture about the dating show on Jiangsu TV is that it has actually invited a lot of criticism in China and has nearly been cancelled. In response to the order from the State Administration of Radio Film and TV, Jiangsu TV has made some changes to the program. Other similar shows have either been stopped, suspended or required to make alterations. You can access this information from here: http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2010-06/22/c_12245354.htm; http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2010-06/23/c_12250024.htm; http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-06/23/c_12252209.htm; http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2010-06-23/235520533602.shtml;
http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2010-06-16/110920484493.shtml.

Interesting empirical question whether there are many intertextual links between English travel writing about China and Chinese travel writing about it. My hunch is that textual flows are more from English into Chinese than vice versa. We’ll have to wait for Xiaoxiao’s PhD thesis to appear, though, as her research addresses precisely that issue.

@ unknown: you seem to object to applying Said’s “grand ideas” to so mundane a text as travel writing. Said himself, of course, used examples from travel writing. Mass-mediated texts of questionable “quality” form the huge repository of orientalist imagery, and tourism discourse certainly keeps a lot of orientalist ideas in circulation … so, imho, post-colonial thinkers do well to keep an eye out for such mundane discourses.

I attentively read your post because I have always been pre-occupied with post-colonial thinkers like Edward Said. I also had a look at the magazine. But don’t you think that what you have mentioned in your post is an oversimplification of Said’s grand ideas? I think it is clear for whom such a text has been produced as it is clear who goes to red light districts!

To a great extent the intended meaning of the text link to Occidental construction of sterotypical East as you rightly pointed out. However, we should not neglect who the text producers are and for whom it is produced?