More than 40 Chinese tourist spots lose accreditation because they're dirty and everyone is mean

"The problems involved include toilet cleanliness, garbage disposal, bullying tourists and forced shopping." Those are the words of the Chinese tourism agency, which has revoked the accreditations of 44 tourist sites after they realized had essentially just been giving out gold stars willy nilly.

China has a 5-tier tourism rating system: 1A - 5A, with 5A being the best. A majority of the destinations that lost their credits were 2A and 3A establishments, but nine 5A spots lost their ratings as well.

The Nanjing Confucius Temple is apparently in need of some repair (and/or toilet upgrades or etiquette classes) as is the Hangzhou Qingdao and Sanya's Meitianya Tropical Ocean World.

The troubled tourist traps lost their marks after "undercover investigations" were performed by the state tourism agency, which presumably just means that they showed up without telling anyone.

5A tourism spots are meant to be few and far between - Tiananmen, Terra Cotta Warriors, etc. - if you swing by any of these fine establishments and find yourself accosted by bullies and surrounded by unclean toilets, you can bet somebody's going to lose an "A" or two pretty soon.