24/10/2024
So now I'm safely back in the UK I can speak my mind.
I had a brilliant time in China it's a beautiful country with a rich history and it's full of friendly people
Who were happy to help when we found the language barrier too high
But I do have one criticism. While our group were visiting Tianamen Square it would seem the we may have been targeted by a lone protestor who produced a hand made poster with a picture of a young woman. This man made a scene near us and was very quickly bundled into a van by four police. While we all had cameras out everyone who witnessed this realised that taking pictures wasn't a good idea. We we shocked by the event and the response but moved on with the tour.
At the next destination our local guide told us the police had called him and wanted to speak to us. They had our position Beijing and two officers met us at the next stop. We were then told they had cctv of 3 members of the group who had taken pictures of the event and we were instructed there and then to delete any footage or face arrest. The advice from the officer was to delete everything and use pictures from another member of the group. I was using a gopro and recording footage at the time but didn't film the event. I was advised to just format the card in the camera. I said I wasn't prepared to delete all my China footage. I was than quietly threatened by the officer who lent in close and told me they would be monitoring my social media and if I posted any footage I would be committing a very serious crime and the consequences would be be severe. Threatening visitors is not the best way to get more people to visit.
I saw the pandas the wall and the warriors, all three ticked of the list. No need for me to go back....
