Beijing - Front Gate to Tiananmen Square

China

China is the world's most populous country, covering a vast area of the landmass of Asia. Over the past two decades It has a global economic power and has opened up to visitors who can enjoy a wide variety of walking routes in cities, countryside and mountains.

There are great contrasts between the dynamic 21st century cities and the more traditional rural towns and landscapes. These offer many different hiking experiences. You can find your own route around a city, aided by a map, whereas many hill climbs are along fixed hiking routes built for monks and pilgrims to reach religious locations.

The first four walking stories for China were provided by Catriona Llanwarne. Those from Yangshuo in Guangxi province, and Zhaoxing in Guizhou province, both in South-West China, give an impression of the more rural and traditional face of China today. They also draw attention to the remarkable landscape of that part of China. A third covers a hill in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, and a fourth comes from the tropical island of Hainan.  More have been added from a tour of China in May/June 2005, when Catriona was joined by her brother, Owen, and father, Andrew. 

To read a little advice about walking and visiting China, click on this link to take you to the China Background page one which follows on to pages two and three.

A map with the initial walks from China is shown below...

To find out more about Catriona's time in China as an English-language teacher in Chongqing in 2004-5, visit her weblog.

Cities

Stories

(To order the stories by name, date, country or type click on the appropriate heading)