Certainly it can be felt on the streets of Nanjing these days. Our city is once again “en vogue” with foreigners. After a 5-year hiatus, the number of visitors to the Southern Capital has returned, almost, to pre-Pandemic levels.
当然，现在的南京街头也能感受到这一点。我们的城市再次受到外国人的“追捧”。经过五年的中断后，南都的游客数量几乎恢复到了大流行前的水平。
Back before COVID as the previous decade closed out, Nanjing was bringing in approximately 300,000 foreign visitors each year. But many weren’t here for long, for if they were, we would have noticed them making up about 3 percent of the population.
早在上个十年结束时，新冠疫情爆发之前，南京每年就吸引了大约 30 万外国游客。但许多人在这里呆的时间并不长，因为如果他们在这里呆了很长时间，我们就会注意到他们约占人口的 3%。
They were the tourists and those in town for a few days of business meetings, conferences or exhibitions. They may not have stayed long, but they did leave behind them a not insignificant chuck of cash. Hence Nanjing and many other cities have been keen to lure them back.
他们是游客和来镇上参加几天商务会议、会议或展览的人。他们停留的时间或许不长，但他们确实留下了一笔不小的现金。因此，南京和其他许多城市一直热衷于吸引他们回来。
A multi-pronged effort of late seems to be bearing fruit. According to Beijing News, a total of 125,000 overseas visitors came to Nanjing in the first half of 2024. That’s up 121 percent on the same period last year. It’s also not entirely surprising since we were then still in some disbelief at the sudden lifting of COVID restrictions.
最近多管齐下的努力似乎正在取得成果。据新京报报道，2024年上半年，南京共接待境外游客12.5万人次，同比增长121%。这也并不完全令人惊讶，因为当时我们仍然对突然取消新冠病毒限制感到有些难以置信。
So how has this come to be? In part as a response to a multitude of calls, including those from this publication, the Chinese authorities have realised in the past year that it simply had to be easier to come to the Middle Kingdom.
那么这是怎么发生的呢？在某种程度上，作为对包括本出版物在内的众多呼吁的回应，中国当局在过去的一年中意识到，来到中国必须变得更加容易。
Cumbersome visa applications and a scant international flight schedule decimated by the Pandemic, combined with a growing awareness abroad that China (which doesn’t do cash anymore) relies for day-to-day finance on mobile apps, made a prospective visit more than a little daunting to the average foreigner. Coupled with language barrier, it was off putting to say the least.
繁琐的签证申请和因疫情而减少的国际航班时刻表减少，再加上国外越来越多地意识到中国（不再使用现金）依赖移动应用程序进行日常融资，使得普通外国人对未来的访问感到有些畏惧。再加上语言障碍，至少可以说是令人不快。
First there was the transit-visa free policy. Enacted in 72-hour mode as long ago as 2017, few paid much attention. But the emergence from COVID and a frankly bleak economy were to change that.
首先是过境免签政策。早在2017年就以72小时模式颁布，很少有人关注。但新冠疫情的出现和坦率地说黯淡的经济改变了这一状况。
Recently upgraded to a 144-hour visa-free transit, the policy gives holders of onward tickets 6 days to spend in Nanjing or anywhere in the Yangtze River Delta. This translates to being able to enter China at Nanjing without a visa, and then depart 6 days later, from Shanghai for example, to a third country.
该政策最近升级为144小时过境免签，持联程机票的人有6天时间在南京或长三角任何地方度过。这意味着无需签证即可从南京进入中国，然后在 6 天后离开，例如从上海前往第三国。
And this year there has been no shortage of people doing just that; 11,000 visa-free visitors into Nanjing during 24H1 to be exact. The aforementioned Beijing News also revealed this was a 4,962.84 percent increase on last year. With a bit of backward math it doesn’t need a genius to hence point out that a year ago only a little more than one poor foreigner came to Nanjing each day on a transit-free visa during 23H1.
今年不乏这样做的人。准确地说，24H1期间有11,000名免签游客进入南京。前述新京报还透露，这一数字较去年增长了4962.84%。只需一点落后的数学，就不需要天才就能指出，一年前的23H1期间，每天只有一个多一点的贫穷外国人持免过境签证来到南京。
Then there are those who now don’t need a visa for a longer-term stay, with China granting visa-free visits to the nationals of an ever growing number of countries. Neighbours and tourism favourites such as Thailand and Singapore were the initial and obvious choices, but that selection now even includes Australia and New Zealand, and even some of the European heavyweights; countries such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
随着中国向越来越多国家的国民提供免签证访问，现在有些人不需要签证即可长期居留。泰国和新加坡等邻国和旅游热门国家是最初也是显而易见的选择，但现在这个选择甚至包括澳大利亚和新西兰，甚至一些欧洲重量级国家；法国、德国、意大利、荷兰和西班牙等国家。
And the catch is only a small one; visits are limited to a 15-day stay. For most people, that’s enough time to take in a good selection of China’s sights, F&B and more than a handful of business meetings.
而且收获也只是一小部分；访问仅限于 15 天的停留。对于大多数人来说，这段时间足以游览中国的名胜古迹、品尝美食和参加一些商务会议。
The upshot is that for a significant part of the planet, all that is now needed to come to China is money, motive and a trip to the airport. And for an economy still only beginning to get up from its knees, this can only be so very good for China.
结果是，对于地球上的很大一部分人来说，现在来中国所需要的只是金钱、动机和去机场的旅程。对于一个刚刚开始走出困境的经济体来说，这对中国来说只能说是非常好的事情。
