Having been in the capital city for 11 years, I was a bit taken by surprise when Beijing was listed by the readers of Travel + Leisure as the 11th most unfriendly city across the globe, as the city was said to be too crowded, have poor air quality and bad traffic congestion. Then I came across an interesting article entitled "The two sides of Beijing" on your newspaper that interviewed several foreigners from different countries on whether Beijing is indeed unfriendly and to try to figure out what makes a city friendly.

I agree that some problems pointed out by the interviewees in your article, such as pushing in queues, public spitting and travel scam are indeed annoying for not only travelers but also residents here.

In fact, the impression of a city is often decided by simple and trivial things.

During my trip to Nepal in March, I didn't expect Kathmandu to be such a crowded, unclean and shabby capital city with traffic congestion and terrible road conditions.

But back from the nine-day tour, I never think of Kathmandu as "unfriendly," as what comes to my mind is always the kind smiles and greetings from local people.

I was pretty impressed that in Kathmandu, a female student said "I hope you will love our country" after she took me to the post office that I had been looking for and listened to my complaints about the unpleasant environment on the route.

While it takes time to improve the infrastructure of a city, it's much easier and instantly effective to behave oneself and therefore create a good impression on visitors and others.

The other day in Beijing, I met a foreign girl who was trying to pass the security check in the subway.

She was found to have a bottle of liquid in her purse by the machine and supposed to have the bottle tested. But the security staff couldn't speak English, so they just nudged each other and repeated Chinese words while the girl stood there confused.

I helped translate. During our chats, the girl said she came from Italy to study Chinese for three months in Beijing, but her rather limited knowledge of Chinese often caused her some problems in daily life, as what just happened. I think such case happens a lot.

In Beijing, people hardly have patience and time to slow down and help those in need due to intense lifestyle. The listing by Travel + Leisure may not tell the whole story, but it does alarm people in the city what their individual behaviors have collectively brought about. If people in the city can all pay attention to their behaviors and learn to speak some basic English, foreign travelers will be less likely to consider Beijing an unfriendly city despite the air pollution and disastrous traffic. Just start small.

Shen Xiao, an interpreter based in Beijing