USA or China a safer tourist destination?

But to answer the OP: China much safer for petty or violent crime, for most Westerners.

Risks in China are if something goes wrong, or you end up on the wrong side of a dispute.

eg, rates of ‘bystander CPR’ (helping a stranger with heart attack): US 40% of cases, China 6%. Wallet return rates (with money): US 57%, China 22%. Etc. A low-trust society.

OK, try this: take out your WeChat and ask five friends “Who do you prefer, Xi Jinping or Donald Trump?”

Come back and tell us what happens.

This thread. The metric seems to be somewhere between “vibes” and “as long as i’m not the one being shot.”

you probably will be somewhat safer on the street in China, though it’s my experience that MN tends to do a bad job of estimating risk in the US (I’m a Brit in the USA). Now try saying things the Chinese government doesn’t like. Good luck with that.

I don’t want to downplay the chaos here at the moment, but let’s not undersell Communist dictatorship because you’re afraid of a protest. There won’t be any protests in China, of course. Xi doesn’t allow that.

Are you suggesting that people in China can freely publish whatever they want including criticising the government? Do you honestly believe that people can stand for election who are opposed to the CCP or that they won't be punished for trying to do so?

China's human rights record is appalling.

I think if things go very wrong then you have more rights in the USA.

I imagine though that walking down a street in a Chinese city might likely feel safer.

I understand that Trump is damaging the USA but let’s not kid ourselves on what China is like.

Except it's not nonsense. Do you know any Chinese dissidents?

Look up any of the following. Their crimes were criticising the regime.

• Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong)
• Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi
• Li Qiaochu
• Ren Zhiqiang
• Xu Zhangrun
• 45 Pro-Democracy Activists (Hong Kong)
• Zhang Zhan
• Huang Xueqin
• Shangguan Yunkai:
• Stand News Editors (Hong Kong)
• Cao Zhixin,
• Li Siqi,
• Li Yuanjing,
• Zhai Dengrui
• Chen Pinlin
• Ilham Tohti
• Tashi Wangchuk
• Tsongon Tsering
• Lhundrub Drakpa

China.

Shame on you for considering democracy optional.

Chinese people deserve democracy too. Asians are also humans.

I just don't know how any expat in China can really reconcile themselves to what happened in Shanghai during COVID.

It's not like it is in people's imaginations. It's worse.

I lived in China for 13 years. In the final months I was there, I saw for myself art exhibitions destroyed by the police and feminist curators go silent.

I lived in China for 13 years. It's so safe because you're all being tracked.

Waiting for accusations of being a bot or something in 3… 2… 1… 🤭

I’m surprised we actually made it nearly until the end of p1 of comments before the crazy misinformation appeared. I lived in China for 2 years almost a decade ago. We have recently come back for work. China is advancing so fast, and the western news just loves to take potshots at the fastest growing economy in the world (how is democracy working out in America right now? 😂) it is a very different place to what people believe.

This is the kind of nonsense I am talking about. The China in the imaginations of people from the west who have never been is hilarious and so far from the reality. Please go and see for yourself before making such melodramatic, insane statements. Not everything you see on the news in the UK is accurate.

I am in China now, have lived and traveled here for years. It is SO safe. I have never felt safer in my life. Ever. I can happily walk alone at 3am should I wish (and sometimes do if i cant sleep!). I have never met anyone who has experienced violent crime (expat or otherwise).

People are SO kind and helpful. I have never even seen a single fight in over 10 years of living and visiting. People sometimes approach me all the time to welcome me to China and to even invite me for meals with their family, interested to make a 'foreign friend'. I always accept these invitations and have a wonderful time.

I cannot even express how lovely it is. It is incredibly clean, beautiful places to visit, amazing food, the most breathtaking scenery and nature.

I always tell people, PLEASE dont believe everything you read in the news about China. See for yourself and you will be amazed.

As a Black Brit of African Heritage, I'm not sure I'd feel safe in either country.

Guns/mass shooting/stray bullets/violence? US.

Racism? China (more overt than USA due to lack of PC culture, other human right issues).

If you think ICE is bad, when the Chinese find any North Korean who has managed to escape over the border or from one of the slave labour camps within China itself, it deports them back to North Korea where they will be executed or placed in a concentration camp and any pregnant woman will have a forced abortion, even if she is almost at full term.

What the actual crime rate in China is is anybody's guess. It's not like their press can freely report on these things. If you've had your phone snatched in the last few years then visiting China will probably be the nearest you'll get to reuniting with it. If you've fallen victim to a banking scam you might walk past the call centre where the scammer made the call. If your town centre is full of homeless people zonked out on lab-manufactured illegal drugs then you'll be in the country of origin. There's obviously criminals but they are tolerated in a way that political 'criminals' aren't, especially if their crimes are directed at Western countries.

The only reason id even consider the US as safer is that the language is obviously much easier for me.
But right now not even that wins it.
I'd much rather go to China.
The gun ownership and violence in the US is terrifying to me.
I've been to the US multiple times when younger, and another thing that has always set me on edge is the massive poverty. There's a stark difference between the wealthy and the poor in a way there just is not in the UK.
I saw hundreds of street homeless.. people living in their cars and tents etc.. whole areas of cities derelict or unsafe.
This is not a thing really in the uk. You see the odd homeless person especially in cities.. and there are certainly shady areas. But its just not on the same shocking scale. This was literally streets upon streets of homeless people
Obviously theres that present in China too im told but its sort of less expected in the US which tries to present itself as the leading country in the world.
But its shockingly '3rd world'
I think parts of America are absolutely beautiful. I think theres tonnes of wonderful things and people there.
I had wanted to visit again but not with Trump in power. It's turned a place that already made me feel uneasy into somewhere that feels genuinely dangerous.
China id certainly have some fears about visiting. I'd be vulnerable due to the language barrier. But I do actually view it as a more stable country. Currently less likely to erupt into violence

China is an extremely repressive dictatorship. Everything is censored, and you can't speak freely for fear of retribution. Comparing the US with a repressive regime like China, Russia, or Iran is absurd. You won't be sent to a reeducation camp in the US for expressing the "wrong" opinion.

China, like the absolute monarchies in the Middle East, is fine for tourists until something goes wrong.

This discussion couldn't take place openly in China.

Safety aside, I'd rather visit the country that doesn't look set to introduce mandatory production of social media account details and DNA sample production on-demand for entry.

That's a strangely selfish and self involved evaluation. Who cares about your hypothetical vacation. What about the people who live there.

China imprisoned its feminists. They're still in jail. Abortion limits are shitter than the UK. Domestic violence is unprosecuted. China executes more people per year than any other country. They do business with Iran and Russia. Your average woman on the street is vocally in agreement with invading Taiwan. Xinjiang is an open prison.

Glad it checks out for your tourist needs though!

Why do you think China is unsafe for you?

I hope this happens, for the sake of UK travelers. The Chinese visa is a hassle to obtain, and this is one area where the UK can perhaps catch up a bit with its EU and EEA counterparts, who have had a tourist waiver for China since 2023/2024.

However, China and the USA are separate destinations, not easily or intuitively interchangeable. Each has issues, and each should be carefully evaluated in its own right before and during any trip. China does have dangers, including the risk of foreigners being arrested and held for inadvertently violating laws and policies that may be opaque to an outside. There are also environmental issues such as pollution and major traffic jams that are likely to cause extreme inconvenience, if not danger. And the situation of the Uighurs is not trivial; it is deliberate, well documented, and long term.

The 2 Micheals ?

Or the coffee shop owners ?

I think the jury is still out on the former, even amongst the anti CPC side.

The latter.. hmm.. they were breaking the law by evangelizing.