Eager to explore the real China?

Rural China is where you will find that authentic Chinese experience many travelers crave. From quaint villages and towns to friendly locals and delicious, fresh food, uncover some of China’s hidden charms by experiencing a Chinese way of life that is in many ways unchanged since ancient times.
———————————————–
Friendly locals
———————————————–
Many Chinese villagers have never met a foreigner and will be extremely curious about any foreign visitors. It is not uncommon for villagers to invite people into their home for a cup of tea or even a home-cooked meal.

Don’t worry about the language barrier – communicating through sign language and smiles is part of the fun. Chinese villagers are down to earth and usually very warm and welcoming to visitors who show a true curiosity about their lifestyle.

Bring some small tokens for village children – stickers, pencils, erasers – and you will have new friends for life; friends who will eagerly show you the best climbing trees and swimming holes in the village.
———————————————–
Rustic scenery
———————————————–
Rural China is the China we know from pictures and movies – farmers in rice hats driving water buffalo across misty rice paddies, mud-brick buildings with ceramic tiles, lazy rivers snaking through imposing mountains. China’s cities, with their skyscrapers and rows of block apartment buildings, are often indistinguishable from one another, but rural China is unique and picturesque.
———————————————–
Farm-fresh cuisine
———————————————–
In rural China every dish is farm-to-table. Vegetables are seasonal and locally grown, so rest assured everything is fresh.

Even meat will, for the most part, be from local cows and pigs, which means no preservatives or additives. In many locales you will even be able to sample some of the wild edible plants that grow nearby, such as wild mushrooms, ferns, and various types of flowers.
———————————————–
Hiking and biking trails
———————————————–
It goes without saying that China’s best hiking and biking trails are not in the cities. However, in a country with a population the size of China’s, you won’t ever go too long without seeing another soul, and its rural villages can make great stopping points on a long and tiring journey

———————————————–
Ancient architecture
———————————————–
While most older buildings in China’s cities were torn down in the mid-90s to make way for large, modern construction projects, in China’s villages many centuries-old structures are still standing. Almost every village will have a local temple – some modern, some ancient. Other structures to look out for are old bridges and the old market square, the familial home of the old village heads.

Every building has a story so, if you speak Chinese or are traveling with a translator, be sure to ask the locals to tell you about the histories of these structures
———————————————–
Fresh air, clear skies
———————————————–
Rural China largely avoids the environmental problems that plague the cities and, while the streets may not always be exactly clean, the skies are usually blue.

If you’re far away enough from the city, you should also be able to stargaze on clear nights. Depending on the location, there may even be forests surrounding the village, providing fresh, clean, country air, which is just what the doctor ordered for the smog-clogged lungs of city-dwellers.
———————————————–
Peace and quiet
———————————————–
While it is true that the rooster crows even before dawn, and during Chinese New Year firecrackers constantly boom and bang, overall rural China is a good escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.

During the day farmers, take to the fields, leaving only the elders and small children behind and, to a casual observer, the village might seem almost empty.

For writers and artists, the quiet of the village can be the perfect place to get those creative juices flowing. Sit down on the riverbank with your sketchpad or doze in a sunny spot under a tree – chances are you can spend a whole afternoon in relative solitude.
———————————————–
0:00 Intro
1:09 Walking In rapeseed fields
14:03 Walking in a rural town
21:41 Walking along the rural riverside
35:44 Walking In Cherry Blossom Garden
1:00:52 My friend’s filming job in Cherry Blossom Garden
———————————————–

#Hunan
#Countryside

source

Comments are closed.