Beijing Times
April 3, 2009

A mainland Chinese tourist who carved his name on a rock during a visit to a geology park in Taiwan has stoked a new round of debate over the poor image of Chinese tourists traveling abroad (or in this case, to a "breakaway province.")

The story, which hit the mainland media on March 31 and drew its information from a Taiwan TV program, reported that rocks "at the famed Wild Willow Geology Park were covered in carved simplified Chinese characters left by the mainland Chinese tourists," after their visit.

One of the inscriptions reads "Zhao Genda from Changzhou, China." Although public opinion generally tended to criticize Zhao for shaming the mainland in front of Taiwan, other people voiced their suspicion that the inscription was cooked up by pro-independence activists to sabotage cross-straits relationship.

Today's Beijing Times ran a article confirming the identity of "Zhao Changda" (赵根大), a 63-year-old retiree living in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Zhao said, "I am not very educated, and I did not foresee the serious consequences of my actions. Now I feel very sorry and wish to give my apology through the media." According to the island's law, such unruly behavior is subject to a fine of NT$3,000 - 15,000.

The newspaper has been following the story of kidney patients who formed a dialysis cooperative in Tongzhou. Today's front-page photo shows law enforcement officers carrying off the dialysis machine away after health authorities determined the group to be illegal.