China Needs More Foreigners

For decades, China has sought to expand its "soft power," or the ability to extend influence through non-military means. It spends some $10 billion a year promoting language schools and building universities overseas. It's pushing entertainment companies to expand in foreign markets. And it has long been hoping to lure foreign travelers, just as the U.S. and Europe do.

State media have said that the plan is to "develop tourism into a major driver of economic transformation and upgrading." But that effort is faltering: Inbound tourism last year rose by only 3.8 percent, with roughly 80 percent of those visitors coming from Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan. One reason is that, for all its global aspirations, China isn't at all welcoming to foreigners.