‘Pay to humiliate others’: Chinese travel influencer carried in sedan chair on human backs in tour area triggers online debate
- Sedan chairs are common in tour areas in mainland China, especially for people who have difficulty navigating treacherous terrain
- The influencer said he carried the chair himself to see what it was like and paid the workers extra as they need to make a living
A Chinese travel influencer has been attacked online after hiring men to carry him up a mountain in a sedan chair, with many accusing him of “spending money to trample on the bearers’ dignity” and “paying money to humiliate others”.
Sedan chairs, enclosed chairs mounted on horizontal poles and carried on the shoulders of two porters, are common in tour areas in mainland China, especially for people who have difficulty navigating tough terrain.
But this human-powered form of transport, which has been in use in various forms since early antiquity, also makes many people uncomfortable and serves as a reminder of the exploitation of peasants by wealthy landlords in ancient China.
It is also seen as a racist form of colonial oppression in much of Asia, where Europeans often used local people to carry them about in sedan chairs.
On the weekend, a Chongqing-based tour influencer posted a video about a geological park in Wulong county, southwest China. The man, in his 20s, hired a sedan chair, called a huagan in southwestern China, to help the bearers after being told they had not had any customers for some time despite there being many tourists in the park.
