NANJING: For Fang Rui walking the streets of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, and taking in the buildings and culture of the historical city is almost a daily routine.
Born and raised in Nanjing, the 28-year-old works as a landscape designer in the city after studying overseas for several years. After she returned home she found that walking through the city, visiting and observing cultural and historical sites, gave her life new meaning. In May, Fang organized a free city walk for around 50 people who came from all over the country to experience a deeper connection with Nanjing.
The city-walk pastime of following planned routes to explore a city’s history, culture and urban environment originated in London. The pastime is now attracting a growing number of followers in China, with many young people taking part. The scale of the trend is hard to measure, but widely shared social media posts document different routes in various metropolises with detailed descriptions and pictures.
On Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle-sharing platform, the hashtag “Holiday citywalk” has more than 470 million views. Data from Tongcheng Travel, a travel agency based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, shows that travel searches related to “city walk” increased by 108 percent in July from the previous month. Walking routes in Beijing, Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Chengdu, Sichuan province, Suzhou and Changsha, Hunan province, have attracted great interest from young travelers. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
