Sorry! Thanks! Australia: What the rest of the world gets wrong. 16 January 2013Last updated at 19:28 ET By Nick Bryant BBC News, Sydney Familiar images spring to mind when one thinks of Australia, but how many of them accurately reflect what the country is really like? The year 2013 is not yet three weeks old but already it has provided a barrage of images, broadcast globally, that have buttressed the standard preconceptions about Australia. New Year's Eve saw the customary pyrotechnics on Sydney Harbour - this is a lifestyle superpower that enjoys a party. New Year's Day witnessed an ocean-emptying shark warning at Bondi - hedonism comes with risks.
The New Year's test, played between Australia and Sri Lanka under immaculate blue skies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, revealed all at once the competitive, patriotic and playful sides of the national personality. And the bushfires in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales have reminded us of the harshness of this sun-dried landscape and the toughness of the people who inhabit it. Previously in the Magazine. No nose picking, peeing in pools: Chinese tourists given travel guidelines.
China's National Tourism Authority's 'Guidebook for Civilised Tourism' of dos and don'ts was released ahead of the country's "Golden Week" public holiday that started on October 1. Photo: Reuters Chinese tourists should not pick their noses in public, pee in pools or steal plane life jackets, China's image-conscious authorities have warned in a handbook in their latest effort to counter unruly behaviour. The National Tourism Administration publicised its 64-page Guidebook for Civilised Tourism - with illustrations to accompany its list of dos and don'ts - on its website ahead of a "Golden Week" public holiday that started on October 1.
Women in Spain should always wear earrings in public - or else be considered effectively naked. As Chinese tourists increasingly travel abroad, they have developed a stereotype of "uncivilised behaviour", which Vice Premier Wang Yang said in May had "damaged the image of the Chinese people". Chinese tourists visit a popular waterfront promenade in Hong Kong. Bfscombo2. Table Manners. Dining Etiquette with Sybil Davis (Part 2 of 4) Barefeet in Australia.