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WildChina’s Best of China Awards 2010

August 11, 2010 in In the News, News You Can Use, WildChina Experts by Alex G | No comments

It’s been another adventure-filled year at WildChina – venturing to new destinations, revisiting preferred haunts for a second (or third, fourth) time, engaging in rugged hands-on activities, and relaxing in China’s finest luxury spots.

To pay homage to our favorite hotels, sites, and activities in China for the past year, we bring you our 2010 installment of WildChina’s Best of China Awards – a small sampling of the finest that China has to offer, with many new additions (and a few return favorites).

Top 5 Hotels

Our top hotels for 2010 showcase China’s finest urban simplicity and rural grandeur. Chosen through an in-depth survey and client feedback process, these prime accommodations represent the best in service standards, environmental commitment, and unique design.

*These properties also won our Best of China Awards for 2009.

Top 5 Sites

We want our clients to experience China’s most incredible, unique, and unspoiled destinations. Below are our top picks for 2010 that allow for tucked-away adventures and peaceful exploration.

  • Longquanyu Wild Wall, Beijing – a remote section of the Wall that affords travelers a unique look at China’s most iconic monument
  • Xi’an Mosque and Snack Street, Xi’an – religious observation and bustling daily life intertwine in the city’s Muslim Quarter
  • Friday Market, Shaxi – Yunnan’s Yi and Bai minority peoples don their traditional best to trade hard-to-find goods in their mountainous village areas
  • Tea Plantation, Hangzhou [excursion upon request] – the home of Longjing (Dragon Well) tea in lush Zhejiang province
  • Wang’s Residence, Pingyao – A Qing Dynasty-era testament to ancient luxury and wealth in Shanxi Province’s ancient walled city

Top 5 Activities

Personal, once-in-a-lifetime, and hands-on: we love these activities because they bring our travelers closer to the people of China. These make for fun excursions that go far beyond the tour bus.

Miss our top picks from last year? Take a look at our Best of China Awards 2009.

Did we leave out your favorite hotel, site, or activity? Let us know! Send us an email or a tweet.

Travels that changed one’s life

July 27, 2010 in Culture, In the News, WildChina Experts by Mei | No comments

I was munching on my chicken salad sandwich when my colleague popped into my office, “ Oh, sorry. Here you go. Conde Nast Traveler Magazine issue you’ve been waiting for!”.

I probably didn’t look my best in my small office in an old house on East West Highway.  At least, the munching image didn’t quite live up to the dream brought alive on the cover of the magazine:

“135 Travel Experts who can change your life (Trust Us!)”

“FANTASTIC GETAWAYS! Living the Dream in Italy, India, Kenya, Eypt….”

I wiped away the crumbs, and turned the magazine to page 120.  Yes, there I was, for the first time, chosen by Conde Nast’s Wendy Perrin as one of the travel experts for China.

“Zhang wants to show you the “authentic China” beyond anything you’ll read about in guidebooks, and—as a Yunnan Province native, Harvard MBA, and former consultant for The Nature Conservancy—her vast Rolodex of in-country experts in nearly every field can make this happen…and get you farther off the beaten path than any other company can. Her cultural connections run deepest in Southwest China—Yunnan, Szechuan, and Guizhou provinces—where you might find yourself having tea with a practicing shaman, catching a private Naxi music concert at the home of the village head, or camping in luxury mobile tents on the Tibetan Plateau ”

This news reached me last week by email. So, the initial excitement has since settled, but never the less, the pride brought by this listing is still ringing.

It was exactly, almost to the date, 10 years ago that I started WildChina. At that time, I was a couple years out of business school, still owning a couple of black suits that I wore to glassy office buildings in Hong Kong, New York and Beijing. Still was quite used to flying business class.

Somehow, Travel changed my life. I took some time off McKinsey to travel around the world. Puff, 4 months was gone without a blink. I was sitting in the cabin of an oil tanker truck (only choice for a hitchhiker), rocking my way up to the Tibetan Plateau from Kashgar. We rocked and rocked, I fell asleep and woke up. Wow, a whole night was gone. The snow-covered landscape replaced the desert where we started. But the milestones said, 125 km!! A whole night, we covered 80 miles in distanced, but close to 15,000 feet in elevation.

My heart started to beat faster, breathing became more labored, the landscape increasingly looking austere and moonish. The Tibetan antelopes galloped in the distance. I started to cry, for no reason. One was just touched by being so close to pristine nature. I knew there were risks, for me, being the solo woman traveler on that route. But I knew I was one of the lucky few, who had the money, the time, and the right passport (Chinese) to travel to these remote corners of Tibet.

Sometimes, I, woke from sleep in that rocking truck, stared out the window, and asked myself, “What if the truck tumbled over the edge? Is there one thing I would regret for not doing?”

The answer came back loud and clear, “Building my own business”.  That was the beginning of WildChina.

Travel, somehow, has had magic powers over me. I met my husband hiking the sacred pilgrimage trail around Mt. Kawagebo in Yunnan, I took my wedding party to hike from Salween River to the Mekong.

Then travel helped to change other people’s lives.  Recently, two clients got married on a WildChina trip. Two clients got engaged on a WildChina trip. We’ve helped families retrace the Burma Road commemorating their father’s journey in WWII.

After all the years of traveling, I think I am starting to understand the magic of travels. Somehow, when one’s on the road, one’s attention is so outwardly focused, that all you notice are people and things around you. After the outward focus, the inward reflection of oneself is much gentler, and not so judgmental of whether my office is in an old house or a shishi building downtown, or whether my munching is embarrassing.

Travel elevates one above the daily routine, and allows one to see the beauty of other people’s daily routine. One of my favorite moment recently was jogging in front of Shangrila’s Songtsam Lodge, while watching the Tibetan farmers shepherding their cattle to the fields. I am sure they didn’t think of their life was poetic and charming, as it was just hard work. But as a traveler watching them, I was loving that moment. That’s the illusion of distance- distance of reality, distance of geography, and distance of time. That’s probably the art of travel.

Anyway, back to my sandwich. I didn’t think my munching a sandwich at desk was any bit poetic, but more embarrassing. But, I know, give it another 10 years, I will reflect back on this moment, as one of the defining moment of launching WildChina in America.

Are taiqi and fan-making lessons tourist traps?

July 12, 2010 in Culture, Travel Tips, WildChina Experts by Mei | No comments

I saw a client email to my staff another day, requesting a series of changes to the itineraries we proposed. The client’s email read:

1. There is a scheduled visit to the Temple of Heaven in the morning of the 3rd day, and it says learning Taiqi from a master. Please delete that, we are not interested in activities contrived for tourists.
2. There is a visit to a sturgeon farm in Yichang while I only want to go see the 3 gorges, and have no interest in sturgeons.
3. Day 16 is a visit to Fuli. Fan making is of limited interest to us. What makes this an interesting place to visit?

As I read along, I knew we that we had found the ideal clients – they are engaged, well traveled, and want to make sure they see the authentic China. Yet, I cringed, knowing very well that if my staff followed the email instruction to delete these activities, the clients would miss out on exactly what they were seeking – the real China experience. So I hopped on the phone.

Activities like traditional Chinese shoemaking: opportunities for cultural exchange, or activities simply organized for tourism profits?

The clients told me that they were seeking a couple of things: a) a basic understanding of the history of China; b) a contrast to the developed and developing parts of China to understand its diversity; and c) exposure to the unspoiled, traditional China.

Why would WildChina staff arrange the guests to go to Temple of Heaven early in the morning to learn Taiqi? I remember that when I lived in Beijing, one of my favorite activities was to go to Ritan Park at 6 am and simply observe the Beijing residents do their morning exercises. Some would sing at the top of their lungs, some would do fan dances, some would throw their bodies against a tree, and some would do Taiqi. It’s simply the best time to people watch and connect.

I went back to the park again with my 1-year-old daughter strapped on my back in a carrier. Those old ladies in the park would walk up to me, grab my daughter’s thigh, and ask me in amazement, “孩子怎么这么胖？喂什么了？就喝你的奶呀?” (How can this baby be so fat? What do you feed her? She just drinks your milk?”) I’ll save you the answer here, but the point is, these parks in the morning are the real China. Fresh from a full night’s sleep, people connect as real people, with little inhibition or consideration of “cultural differences.”

Now, the sturgeon farm near the Three Gorges. I was delighted to know when my staff first added this visit to the itinerary. My distaste for the Yangtze Cruise is well known at WildChina, and I even spoke about this at the New York Times Travel Show on Sunday, February 28th earlier this year. There are better places to see the Yangtze River, but it’s most interesting to understand the environmental and economic challenges brought about by the dam. Visiting a sturgeon farm, for me, is a time when I get to meet the local entrepreneur to understand how their way of living changed because of the dam. When did they start the business, and to whom do they sell? How has that changed with the dam? To understand the real China, one has to get to these places that are off the travel industry route to find out.

As for Fuli village near Guilin: potential clients have never heard about this village. It’s not in tourist guidebooks, as most tourists on the Li River Cruise would bypass the village. That’s a blessing for the villagers, who still live a very traditional agrarian lifestyle, while hand crafting Chinese paper fans as a side business. Seeing how the local artisans carefully paint those fans is almost a Zen moment for me.

I remember when I was little, people told me that Westerners pay more for hand-made things and less for machine-made things. I couldn’t understand why, because I was eager to trade in the cotton-soled shoes (棉底布鞋), which my grandmother made under a dim light, for a pair of pink plastic sandals! Now, I would be willing to pay whatever to have one more pair of her 布鞋，if she were still around.

Strange how time changes, and how I long for the China I grew up with.

Follow Mei on Twitter: @yunnangirl.

TIES and Tourism in China: Why I’m proud to be a new Advisory Board member

June 25, 2010 in In the News, WildChina Experts by Mei | 2 comments

During my recent trip to China, I was hosted by the authorities of one of China’s largest scenic parks, which I won’t identify by name as I believe this is representative of all of China. The dinner was over the top, with exquisite dishes, and camera was rolling, documenting our discussion on the scenic park’s pursuit of sustainable development. The leadership of the park has done a remarkable job building roads and hotels inside the park, and made certain parts of the area accessible to more than 2.5 million visitors a year. Somewhere along the way, they mentioned that managing a crowd of 30,000 visitors a day is a piece of cake, as this is something the park is used to on a daily basis. I honestly admire their capabilities in hosting so many visitors a day. In China, the population press is truly the one unique factor that makes sustainable tourism there more challenging than anywhere else on earth.

Over dinner with my hosts, I asked, “You’ve done a remarkable job meeting the needs of the mass market, but are you able to in anyway offer access to the unknown parts of the park to hikers or birders who may prefer a different way to appreciate your park? For example, most people drive by the Grand Canyon, making a stop at the viewing point, and move on. But, with a permit system, it is possible for hikers and white water rafters to explore the deep valley for days.”

He told me politely, “Maybe my understanding is not 100% right, but I believe the economic lever is the most powerful tool to market differentiation. We are upgrading the facilities on the mountain tops, so that the day visitors cannot afford to stay at the top, and only those high-end clients can stay at the mountain top.”

I held back my disagreement as I was one of the guests of honor, and I didn’t want to offend my hosts. I personally believe in a more universal access and feel really sorry that those young students who are more likely to embrace the joy of outdoor camping and hiking most probably won’t be able to afford staying at those mountain top hotels. Yet, there won’t be any other way for these young people to explore the wonders of that world cultural heritage park without the crowd.

I find there is a huge gap between the western standards of sustainable tourism standards and Chinese sustainable tourism practices. The Chinese parks being developed to cater to millions is a necessity because of the large population of China. Often, these parks are very well organized to provide such services on a massive scale. However, how to do so sustainably is a question for which I don’t have an answer.

As the gap between the rich and the poor in China is rapidly widening, I am also interested in making sure Chinese national cultural heritage is shared by all and accessible to all. How to do that is a question for which I want to find an answer.

So, it’s with many unanswered questions and much respect for what my peers have done in China and around the world that I join the TIES board, hoping to learn, to collaborate, and to make a tiny bit of difference.

Learn more about Mei’s role on the TIES Advisory Board.

Yunnan and beyond: My interview with Chris Horton of GoKunming

May 28, 2010 in Culture, WildChina Experts, WildChina on the Web by Mei | 1 comment

I just did an interview by email with Chris Horton, Founder / Editor of GoKunming. His questions brought back so many nice memories of Yunnan. Thought I’d share them here:

Chris Horton: Where in Dali did you grow up? What are some of your strongest memories of that time of your life?
Mei Zhang: I grew up in Dali until I was 9. That’s when my family moved to Kunming. My memories of that time that keep coming back are many. We used to go to a hot spring for baths near Xiaguan. There are always camellia blooming, and we’d climb the mountain behind the hot spring to pick big white flowers (Rhododendrons as I learned later). There were so many of those white flowers that we’d cook them for dinner! I remember people in Dali loved flowers, there are wild jasmines and other fragrant flowers for sale in the market all the time. Talking about market, that’s my favorite. Many different ethnic people would also come to the market, the Yis or Bais, wearing beautiful clothes, selling fresh vegetables and eggs. I still come back to Yunnan to search for those moments. (By the way, thank you for asking this question, it brought back so many nice memories.)

Mei Zhang: Yunnan native, WildChina founder, China travel expert, entrepreneur and mother

CH: What was the chain of events that led you from Dali to Harvard?
MZ: If this didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t have believed events like this would ever happen. So my Dad, who was a worker building the hydropower station in Xiaguan, decided that the best thing he could do for me and my brothers was to give us the best education possible. He moved us to Kunming for better education. When I was testing for high school, he made me apply to the Foreign Languages school affiliated to Yunnan University, hoping that if I couldn’t get into college, at least I’d have some English to be a secretary. I got it, but I cried and cried, believing that he robbed me of the opportunity to become Madam. Currie of China. After that, I got into Yunnan University, studying English and Law. I started taking part time jobs as an interpreter since college to pay for school. Then one day, at an usual official banquet hosted by Yunnan Government for Krung Thai Bank from Thailand, my life changed. The president of the bank decided to give a spontaneous speech. None of the government interpreters were willing to go up to the stage with him, as there was no preparation, no script. They all recommend that I go up onto the stage, as I was the youngest interpreter with nothing to lose. So, I did. After that, the officials from the Bank invited me to sit at their table, and offered me a scholarship I couldn’t resist. The rest is history.

CH: What was the inspiration behind founding Wild China in 2000?
MZ: See here: http://www.wildchina.com/application/assets/img/press/pdfs/World-of-Chinese—See-a-Different-China.pdf

CH: What are the most surprising or amazing places you’ve discovered in China since then?
MZ: There are many, so I’ll just pick a few from memory. I remember seeing the villages near the Yellow Mountains for the first time. I was struck by how beautiful the traditional architecture was, and how much history the places endured, and how sad the current state was – all adults gone to work in the city as migrant workers, with only grandparents and kids left in the village. Guizhou Province also struck me an unbelievable place. It’s also in the Southwest of China, but incredibly poor and lack of development. In a way, it reminds me of the Yunnan I grew up with. Rice terraced fields with ethnic hamlets scattered here and there. Traditional lifestyle that’s so beautiful and the hardship so challenging. That’s the China I knew and loved.

CH: What notable changes have you seen in China’s travel industry since 2000?
MZ: The extraordinary growth of domestic travelers spurred incredible growth in the travel industry. There have been some great advances, for example, I just visited Heshun village near Tengchong in Yunnan. I have to give the development company a lot of credit and respect. I think they did an amazing job keeping the beauty of the place while making it accessible to the general public. The landscaping is beautiful and tastefully done, and the written materials are interesting and well done. There are more and more lodges and hotels that are also tastefully done around the country. These are all great. But, I feel sorry for sites and places that are too quickly run over by tourist crowds. Lijiang old town is a prime example.

CH: How often does Yunnan figure into your clients’ travel plans? What are the most popular destinations?
MZ: Very often. It’s one of our top destinations. Before I traveled the world, I thought I was just biased because I was from Yunnan. Now that I have been to Mt. Everest, South Africa, Italy, Peru, you name it, I know Yunnan IS one of the most extraordinary destinations in the world!

CH: What are your favorite places in Yunnan?
MZ: My favorites are: Cizhong in Diqing, I find the catholic Tibetan cultures fascinating; Shaxi Jianchuan Grottoes, I loved the long history behind the whole Tea and Horse caravan road; Tengchong and Gaoligong Mountain, I love the incredible bio diversity there and the WWII history. I just hiked across Gaoligong from Baoshan to Tengchong last week, and thought it’s one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever had. After the hike, I called Gaoligong Nature Reserve, and told them that I’d sponsor them in publishing a birding book! Look for it, it’s coming out next year.

CH: Wild China has carved out a niche for itself as a provider of sustainable and socially responsible tourism in China for foreigners, do you see these concepts ever becoming important to the domestic tourism market?
MZ: Absolutely, we want to get involved in the domestic tourism market as well, but we have a wait a little bit for the demand to build up more. In the meantime, we are speaking at different forums etc to influence Chinese travelers.

CH: Spending much of your time between Beijing and the US, you’re usually far away from Yunnan… what Yunnan dishes do you miss the most?
MZ: I actually make it to Yunnan a lot! At least twice a year, and spending some solid time in the mountains. Yunnan Rice Noodles (mixian) is probably the one dish I miss most. I am a good cook, so can fabricate most items including suancai (pickled greens) myself, but the noodle is beyond me.

Learn more about Mei Zhang and the WildChina story.

Go to the interview link on GoKunming.

Interview with Jeff Fuchs, first westerner to traverse the Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road

May 12, 2010 in On the Road, WildChina Experts by Alex G | No comments

WildChina’s Alex Grieves recently interviewed Jeff Fuchs, the first westerner to traverse the historic Tea Horse Caravan Route, author of The Ancient Tea Horse Road: Travels with the Last of the Himalayan Muleteers, and WildChina expert. The route, which spans from Nepal, through China’s Yunnan province, and finally into Tibet, has for centuries been mysterious to outsiders, at best, but is usually simply unknown.

Jeff Fuchs: Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road explorer, author, WildChina expert, and avid tea drinker

Fuchs explains his collaboration with WildChina on the series of unique, once-in-a-lifetime journeys on the Road; why this route is profoundly important, historically and culturally; and how Himalayan nomads may be the key to understanding climate change.

WildChina Travel: How did you begin your partnership with WildChina? How will you both collaborate?

Jeff Fuchs: I first met Mei [Zhang, founder of WildChina] after a good friend mentioned to Mei at the PURE conference in Morocco and to me (later) that we should meet at the PURE conference in 2009. I had done work with the Spanish Geographical Society, and Mei was close with a Spanish travel company whose founder had long been an admirer of my work. Mei had also heard about me through press on my expedition on the Road, since I was the first Westerner to have traveled the entire route. We bonded over a mutual interested in the Tea Horse Road – we both have passion for this incredible route that’s received little press in the United States, and we wanted to bring its incredible story to light. WildChina doesn’t just want to promote the route, but rather has a deeper purpose to give travelers an intimate look at China – I believe in that. Mei put me in touch with Jia [Liming, WildChina’s Director of Operations and Business Development] to put itineraries together for the Road.

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What We’re Reading: “In Shanghai, Preservation Takes Work”

May 9, 2010 in What We're Reading, WildChina Experts by Alex G | No comments

It seems that Beijing is not the only Chinese city whose rapidly-changing aesthetic and identity have visitors and residents alike thinking about its past and present.

Recently, a New York Times article, titled “In Shanghai, Preservation Takes Work,” explored Shanghai’s development in light of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, whose pavilions opened their doors to the public on May 1st.

A modern, European-style building on Shanghai's Wujiang Road (source: New York Times)

The article quotes both Anne Warr and Peter Hibbard, two WildChina experts on architecture and history (respectively). On Shanghai’s disappearing past, Warr notes that there is still an impressive amount of history to be seen, saying, “For a city which has developed as rapidly as Shanghai, the number of historic properties that have managed to survive is a miracle.” Hibbard comments on the remarkable restoration of the city’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, a famous 1800s-era monument built by the Bund.

We were also particularly interested in the section regarding Shanghai’s Jewish neighborhoods, as WildChina is offering a one-day Shanghai Expo Tour, titled “Shanghai’s Jewish History.” For more information, a complete listing of this and other one-day tours can be found on the WildChina website.

WildChina’s Jia Liming to speak at Mekong Tourism Forum 2010

May 4, 2010 in On the Road, WildChina Experts by Alex G | No comments

WildChina’s Jia Liming, Director of Operations and Business Development, will give a talk on innovative tourism at the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010, held at Siem Reap, Cambodia’s Angkor Century Resort and Spa from May 7 to 8, 2010.

The Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 will be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Focusing on WildChina as a case study, Jia’s lecture is part of the panel discussion “Pioneering Mekong Tourism Products,” on which regional experts discuss innovative tourism experiences in Asia.

Jia speaks between 9:15 and 10:45 am on Saturday, May 8, 2010.

More details on Jia’s talk and the event can be found on the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 website.

Mei Zhang joins Adventure Travel Trade Association’s Advisory Board

April 13, 2010 in In the News, WildChina Experts by Alex G | 1 comment

WildChina is pleased to announce that our founder, Mei Zhang, has recently joined Adventure Travel Trade Associaton (ATTA)’s 15-member Advisory Board.

Mei is proud to join the Adventure Travel Trade Association's Advisory Board this month

In the company of other innovative leaders in the adventure travel industry, Mei looks forward to bringing her passion for travel, as well as commitment to cultural and environmental sustainability, to the Advisory Board.

The ATTA’s complete press release is as follows:

WildChina’s Mei Zhang Joins Adventure Travel Trade Association Advisory Board

(SEATTLE) – APRIL 13, 2010 – Entrepreneur, China native and founder of internationally acclaimed sustainable adventure tour company WildChina, Mei Zhang, today was named to the 15-member Adventure Travel Trade Association Advisory Board.

Zhang, a native of Yunnan province in southwest China, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and worked for McKinsey & Company before creating Beijing-based Wild China, which offers distinctive, ecologically sensitive journeys in China. While consulting for The Nature Conservancy, Zhang witnessed the push and pull between economic development and conservation of both nature and culture in Yunnan. She strongly believed that there was a for-profit solution to this: providing sophisticated interpretation of Chinese culture and nature, and therefore creating experiential travel that was unheard of in China.

“The ATTA represents big and small businesses alike, and particularly for adventure tour operators, most which are small operations driven by passion, there are not a lot of other venues of associates that address their needs,” said Zhang. “Many of us face similar business challenges, such as understanding product trends and social media and addressing sustainable operations. So, with my involvement in the ATTA, I hope to contribute international and small business perspective to operators worldwide, and also possibly contribute in a way to organize small Chinese adventure travel operators.”

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Interview with Fred, WildChina guide

April 7, 2010 in On the Road, WildChina Experts by Alex G | No comments

At WildChina, we really value our guides and the incredible work that they do to give our clients unique, bespoke, once-in-a-lifetime experiences all across China.

WildChina’s Alex Grieves recently sat down with our guide Fred to talk about guide training, problem-solving, and why he’s passionate about showing guests a different side of China.

WildChina's guide Fred He, based in Beijing, is known for his colloquial American English, extensive guiding expertise, easygoing personality, and great smile.

WildChina Travel: When did you start guiding with us, Fred?
Fred He: I began guiding with WildChina in 2005. My first group was made up of MBA program students. I still remember being extremely nervous and excited for that tour. Gradually, though, I became relaxed and the trip was a lot of fun. Since then, I still become excited for trips, but don’t get as nervous.

WCT: Since being a WildChina guide, what training have you received?
FH: You start with the basics: how to interact with people according to specific needs and requests, how to handle pressure well, that kind of thing. After initial basic training, we worked on other issues in subsequent trainings: teamwork and uniting to serve clients even in the face of problems.

WCT: What is your favorite aspect about these trainings?
FH: I would say interactive learning, getting to know fellow guides, and topic-specific training sessions. Training is not just a show – what benefits you is what comes after you learn these skills. So, during training, it’s really great that as a group, the guides come up with commonly encountered problems, brainstorm solutions, and discuss our various methods of improving situations. At first, you intentionally exercise these skills on trips and put them into practice, and then eventually, you don’t have to think about it. I’ve also really enjoyed getting to know fellow guides and learning about how we can best work together, given our leading styles.

WCT: Tell me more about “topic-specific training sessions.” What do you mean?
FH: Trainings on Chinese history, art, architecture, and more. My favorites have been on history and culture. WildChina hires experts in their field to conduct these trainings – for example, David Spindler gave us a presentation on stories, myths and rumors relating to the Great Wall. Details like these really help spice up your storytelling and bring magic and enthusiasm to each trip that you lead. Specifically, I remember a tour led at the Forbidden City by an old Chinese man who knew everything about the historical site. Even though I thought I knew a lot about it, 90% of what he told me was new to me. Rather than just telling us official information and facts, he enhanced our training with colorful stories that really bring the Forbidden City to life. These sessions help us hone our knowledge, inform us in the subjects where we don’t know as much, and give us a comprehensive understanding of the lesser-known aspects of China.

WCT: What has been a recent challenge for you when guiding?
FH: Recently, during the Communist Party’s conference at Tiananmen Square, it turned out that Tiananmen Square was not available for tours, but this was not publicized. When I arrived there with my guests and realized the situation, I decided to take a long detour around Tiananmen to the Forbidden City, and spoke to them about the historical sites while we walked. This experience, while not a disaster, made me think that next time I should foresee special circumstances such as this, call in advance and do research to be fully aware of your limitations for a tour.

WCT: Despite the challenges, why do you love guiding?
FH: I thrive on the challenges and the new experiences that come with this job. I love the smiling faces, making people happy through a funny anecdote and an interesting visit, learning more about my country, and being an ambassador for China. For me, money and achievement are not the most important things; rather, it is most rewarding for me to show guests what China has to offer.

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