Malaysia has never had so many Chinese tourists. It wants more

Jane Lyu flew to Malaysia on Tuesday to visit a city that she had never heard of until recently. The 32-year-old engineer from Guangxi, southern China, first spotted it on Weibo.Now, standing outside the pink-domed Putra Mosque in Putrajaya, she explains through a translation app how the country’s administrative capital, a planned city barely three decades old, ended up as the first stop on her Malaysian itinerary.Lyu, who arrived as part of a company trip that began in Singapore, is one of millions of Chinese tourists poised to visit Malaysia this year – and Malaysia is counting on all of them.Hot air balloons float near Putra Mosque (left) in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: EPA-EFEHer group decided to look beyond the buzz of Kuala Lumpur in favour of Putrajaya’s staid grandeur, long, empty roads flanked by government offices and the Putra Mosque’s lakefront arches opening onto a wide ceremonial square that is perfect for photographs.