Chinese tourists slammed for 'animal behaviour' 

Chinese tourists abroad have gained a bad reputation for misbehaving, forcing some countries to blacklist them.

But China itself seems to be facing the same problem after a museum in Shanghai, which opened just last month, issued a stern warning to visitors.

The reason: A starfish was killed and a model was broken at the Shanghai Natural History Museum.

Officials said "uncivilised behaviour" was to blame for the sea creature's death and a toe being snapped off a plastic Komodo dragon, the Mail Online reported.

Photos have also emerged online of a child urinating in a display, TimeOut Shanghai reported.

Chinese media said the starfish died after it was pulled out of a pool by visitors who wanted to take pictures of it.

Mr Gu Jieyan, director of the display service department at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, which oversees the natural history museum, told Shanghai Daily: "We didn't have many volunteers and staff supervising display areas at that time and they lacked experience. Some visitors took starfish and fish out of the pool for taking pictures.

"We asked them to put them back and taught them how to properly touch the sea creatures."

NEW SAFEGUARDS

Now, the museum has taken some precautions to protect its exhibits.

It is fitting glass tops over its pools outside of the limited "touching time" and increasing patrols, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The plastic Komodo dragon's broken claw has already been replaced.

A post on the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum's Weibo page urged visitors to treat exhibits with respect and follow the guidance of staff.

Meanwhile, China's national tourism authority has added four people to its blacklist so far.

They include a woman who threw a cup of hot water and noodles at an AirAsia flight attendant in Bangkok, and her boyfriend, who was accused of threatening to blow up the plane.

The third person forcibly opened an emergency door on a domestic flight, and the fourth is a man who was photographed sitting on top of a Red Army statue at a memorial park.

This article was first published on May 15, 2015.
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