For Chinese, Paris is far from a city of romance

An epidemic is gripping Chinese tourists visiting the French capital: Paris syndrome.

Like their Japanese counterparts, first-time visitors from China — fed on media reports and movies like An American in Paris — arrive expecting to see a quaint, affluent and friendly European city with smartly dressed people.

Instead, they discover the grittier side of Paris — packed metros, rude waiters and pickpockets intent on robbing cash-carrying tourists.

"Chinese people romanticize France; they know about French literature and French love stories," said Jean-Francois Zhou, president of the Chinese association of travel agencies in France. "But some of them end up in tears, swearing they'll never come back."

For France, continuing to attract Chinese tourists, about a million of whom visit Paris every year, is key to rekindling an economy that stagnated in the second quarter, according to the national statistics office.

Tourism accounted for 7.2 percent of France's GDP in 2012.

Concern grows

Now, the boom in Chinese tourists is beginning to slow, partly because of reluctance to spend large sums in the face of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption crackdown, and partly because of concern about the welcome awaiting them in Paris, Zhou said.

For 20-year-old Jiang He, disappointment set in soon after landing in Paris. The college student from Shanghai, who chose the French capital for his first overseas trip last year, was told soon after landing at Roissy Airport that a fellow Chinese tourist's luggage had been stolen.

"I thought Europe would be a very clean place, but I found that Paris is quite dirty and French people don't really care about cleanliness," Jiang said.

Although less numerous than visitors from the United States, 900,000 Chinese tourists descended on Paris last year out of the 1.7 million visitors to France from the country, Thomas Deschamps, head of the Paris Tourism Office, said. This was a 23 percent increase from 2012.

This year, growth has been 11 percent compared with the same period in 2013.

Pickpockets threat

Chinese tourists also aid the economy as consumers. About 60 percent of them went shopping in Paris in 2012, according to a report by the city's tourism office. They spent 59 euros ($79) a day on average, slightly more than the 56 euros spent by the Japanese and more than double the average 26 euros.

Because they carry large amounts of cash, Chinese tourists are often targeted by pickpockets.

The pickpockets have been so numerous in Paris that last year staff members at the Louvre museum went on strike to demand a greater on-site police presence.

Chinese media reported that 48 tourists were robbed in May as they headed to their hotel in a Paris suburb. In France, the problem was highlighted by the mugging of a group of Chinese tourists in Le Bourget, near Paris, said Muriel Sobry, police chief of the 8th Arrondissement in Paris, which covers the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

Safety is a primary concern for Chinese. In 2012, Paris had excellent satisfaction ratings for everything from food to service and cultural events. But it failed on two counts — safety and cleanliness. The two categories had satisfaction levels of 58 percent and 64 percent respectively, according to a survey by the Paris Tourism Office.

A few months ago, China offered to send some of its own police to Paris to help tourists, Deschamps said. This didn't happen, because the two couldn't agree under whose rules the Chinese police would operate, Sobry said.

This summer, Paris has deployed mobile police stations in buses parked near major landmarks.

"Don't put your mobile phone on the table at the cafe," and "avoid wearing expensive jewelry," are among the advice given in the Paris Safety Guide, which has been available in Chinese since the year of 2013.

The Paris Police website is also now accessible in Chinese.