In WildChina’s ten-year history, we have been witness to many amazing and life-changing experiences on our journeys. Recently, one of these incredible stories was uncovered in a conversation with Pan Wei and Christine, two members of our Corporate Services and Special Projects team.

A few years ago, they received a request from an American Chinese family to visit Zhuhai, in Guangdong province – their ancestral Chinese village – in which one of the parents’ grandfathers had lived. After a number of emails and calls, we were able to arrange a visit for the family.

Not only did the family successfully pay a visit to the area, but they were also warmly greeted by local villagers. In fact, the village held a celebration for the family in their ancient temple. All of the villagers brought local dishes for a banquet-style meal, including a chicken that was cooked on the spot.

The family was incredibly moved by their personal experiences with the villagers, especially since one of the older community members remembered the family’s relative vividly.

For us, the fact that we could reconnect a family with their roots and cultural heritage was an incredible accomplishment. Their experiences exemplified how we can enable guests to experience China differently with a personal connection to the people and places that we visit.

I have now entered my final week of work for Changqing Reserve. Not surprisingly, I am feeling a mixture of emotions leaving the place that has become home for me for some time now: Firstly sadness at leaving behind the Reserve, the community of Huayang that has freely welcomed me, my new Chinese friends, the simple way of life, the fresh air, long walks, local food and rice paddy viewed runs. However, I also leave with excitement about the next chapter in my life and more importantly hope for sections of China’s spectacular environment that have ‘survived’ a history of thousands of years, and are now being managed as reserves.

Huayang Town, Shaanxi Province

Upon reflection of this year it really struck me that the achievements, which have been made were due to successful co-operations. For example, the development of the Eco-tourism Action Plan, my main project, was instigated and funded by WWF China, managed by myself (a volunteer from Australia), developed by a team of local Changqing staff members, and the resultant actions based upon recommendations made by all levels of staff, community members, scientists, international experts, local government and previous volunteers.  Likewise, the Reserve’s infrared cameras (as mentioned in a previous blog) are the result of a co-operation between Changqing National Nature Reserve, Dr Dajun Wang from Peking University, Shan Shui Conservation Centre and Conservation International. However, going back a step, perhaps the most successful example of co-operation that I have heard about here has been the establishment of Changqing Reserve. So, at the risk of finishing my series of blogs with what perhaps I should have started them with, I thought I would share with you the history of Changqing National Nature Reserve (CNNR), as I have heard it, threw local verbal accounts, and bits and pieces of information I have gathered during my time here…

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Bamboo newly broken by a Giant Panda, Changqing Reserve

It’s happened!! After months of learning about Giant Pandas, seeing videos about them, writing blogs about them, and constructing an Action Plan to minimise the impact of tourism to them – I have seen a Giant Panda in the wild!!!  Even now, nine days after this experience, I am still smiling when I think about it. Being winter and therefore having an increased opportunity to see them, my former manager, Mr Shi Jian, organised a car for me to spend a few days with one of our best trackers, Zhang Yongwen, in Changqing Reserve.

It is estimated that Changqing National Nature Reserve has approximately 100 pandas within our reserve boundaries. During June to September each year, the majority of these live in the high mountains, descending to the valleys for the colder months. According to Zhang Yongwen, due to their need to conserve energy, Pandas in Changqing often meander around existing tracks such as former logging roads, and Takin tracks. This means, that when tracking pandas in Changqing you walk along these valley tracks, and alongside rivers in search of signs that pandas have been nearby recently. Signs include freshly broken bamboo, a trail of fresh scats and if you’re really lucky the sound of bamboo breaking in the distance. However, as pandas meander off the tracks to find nice places to sit, chew bamboo and sleep – once you think you’re close to one, you often find yourself scrambling hand and foot up steep bamboo covered hills. Some may not like this side of tracking, but not me, I love it! It makes me feel alive, every scratch and bruise making me more determined, heart pumping loudly (‘will I see a panda this time’), it makes me feel like David Attenborough or a BBC cameraman!

Fresh Panda scat, Changqing Reserve

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Travel+Leisure recently came out with their Top Travel Trends for 2010 in their January 2010 issue. At number six is “Exploring Hot New Destinations,” which features Hangzhou (杭州), the capital of Zhejiang (浙江) Province.

Visitors observe the sunset over picturesque West Lake. (Photo courtesy of igougo.com)

This city, a mere one-hour train ride from Shanghai, has continually been on the rise for a number of years. Indeed, it is home to the famed West Lake (西湖 Xihu), which simultaneously provides a gorgeous panorama of traditional Chinese landscape for those strolling along the lake, and high-end shopping just a few steps away from the water’s edge. Given its proximity to Shanghai and its beauty, it is no wonder that luxury accommodations continue to be developed in the area.

We’re happy to see that T+L mentions two of our favorite new hotels for clients – the Banyan Tree and Amanfayun – that have recently sprung up amidst the ever-growing tourism industry in Hangzhou. The incredible locations and views of these resorts make them a must-stay for those traveling to the city.

For more information on these accommodations or traveling to Hangzhou, send us a tweet or an email to our Private Journeys director, Barbara Henderson, at barbara.henderson@wildchina.com.

This post is the second in a series by guest blogger Abby Poats. Abby Poats is a Research Associate based in Beijing with the Washington DC-based American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) US-China Program (USCP). She also teaches English at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing through the Princeton in Asia (PiA) fellowship program. Her blog entries contain her personal reflections and do not reflect the views of ACORE USCP.

The city of Wuxi is located in south-central Jiangsu province about 130 kilometers west of Shanghai. A city with over 3000 years of history, Wuxi, known as the “Pearl of Lake Tai,” is home to a host of natural and cultural attractions, including beautiful Lake Tai and artifacts from the Wu era in mid-to-late second century.

Source: http://www.oice.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/wuxi/images/map-wuki1.gif

View of downtown Wuxi on the shores of Lake Tai

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Wuxi’s economy was largely based on agriculture, particularly rice. By the beginning of the 20^th century, Wuxi’s economy had expanded and diversified to include textiles. While Wuxi’s economy is still based largely on textiles and manufacturing, the city’s booming development is increasingly attributed to high-tech industries.

With a total population of about 4.5 million people, Wuxi is a small city by Chinese standards, but with a booming economy driven by its eight industrial development zones, Wuxi today is known as “Little Shanghai.” In fact, in 2008 Forbes ranked Wuxi as the third best business city in China, and a recent national index ranks Wuxi’s economic development ninth out of 659 major cities.

In addition to Wuxi’s recent focus on information technology innovation, Wuxi is a national leader in renewable energy technology manufacturing. According to an official who spoke at the China International New Energy Expo (CINEE) held in Wuxi in September 2009, Wuxi is the leading solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer in China and also hosts over 30 wind power production businesses.

Specifically, Wuxi-Singapore Industrial Park—a joint venture initiated in 1993 between the government of Wuxi and a Singapore-based industrial corporation—is home to the global research and development headquarters of Suntech Power, one of the world’s largest solar technology manufacturers. Established in February 2009, the headquarters in Wuxi themselves are home to an impressive 1 megawatt (MW) solar PV façade, the world’s largest building integrated solar photovoltaic (BIPV), grid-connected system.

Section of Suntech headquarters’ 1 MW Solar Façade, Wuxi

The first privately owned Chinese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2005, today Suntech ranks third in the world for solar cell PV manufacturing and first for complete solar module manufacturing. With third quarter 2009 growth of almost 50% and three new large supply contracts in Europe, Suntech appears poised to further enlarge “Little Shanghai’s” economy and its role in the solar industry.

By Abby Poats

As I was wrapping up my day before the snow hit DC, an email popped onto my screen:

“I have made a gift of $3000 to the Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan program in honor of Wild China. I am so happy to know about this area of China. A magical place that needs and deserves protection. Kristine”

This is the most significant Christmas present I have received from a WildChina client. Kristine just won my respect and heart for donating the refund I gave her for a less than perfect trip to China.

This was Kristine’s first email to me after her trip:

“We loved the route and the scenery of Yunnan and the support staff (cook and driver) were fantastic. However…. Xiao (one of the guide) was very good about talking with Nico in Mandarin. However the first two days on the trail he was talking on his cell phone constantly which interfered with the serenity of the hiking and hampered chances for me to see birds (which he knew was an important objective for me). At the second campsite we were joined by two other large groups. It turned out that one group was guided by Xiao’s brother, and the other group had trekked with Xiao before and had been outfitted by him for this trip. From that point on, we could not seem to escape from these two large and noisy groups. They began hiking at the same time, stopped for lunch in the same places, camped in the same areas and clearly wanted to chat with Xiao on the trail. The noise and the size of the group significantly detracted from our enjoyment of the trekking and any opportunities to see birds along the way. This did not meet my expectation of a private trek and Xiao was clearly splitting his attention between the groups.”

There was more…

The email simply broke my heart. How, could this ever be possible? Generally, when clients seek me out to send me an email, I am used to reading the ones piling praises on our guides and staff. They make me happy, and remind me again and again why I am in service industry and not in fund management as most of my HBS classmates are. I just love the human contact and love the smiles we bring to clients. Also, negative on this trial? I could never have imagined that. I took my whole wedding party on this hike from the Salween Valley to the Mekong valley and it was the last frontier of China. Xiao was the best local villager I could find. How did this all change? But, I was in no position to defend WildChina but to apologize:

I am terribly sorry that you had such a negative experience, and I am sorry that our guides were not as considerate or professional as you expected. Let me investigate on this further and I’ll get back to you on this specifically. If I may, let me tell you a story about Xiao.

I personally insisted for the team to bring Xiao onto your trip, because I remember the first day when I met him. I went to his village with my backpack (after days of travel on the road, not 10 hours), and simply asked around a group of villagers if any of them would be interested in a job of guiding me through the mountain ranges across to the other side. Nobody except Xiao raised his hand. I don’t think any other traveler went to the village with such a strange request before. At that time, the village didn’t have electricity, and xiao’s house was dark and small. He had a bright and sincere smile, so I hired him on the spot. He guided me through the mountains for 4 days, and was the most attentive helper I could ever find.

Following that journey, I decided that it was such a wonderful experience, I took my own wedding party there, and xiao couldn’t be more attentive, and so were our Tibetan guides and chef. Xiao was so entrepreneurial that he called me up afterwards to see if I would invest in him to build a lodge. He had to make the call from the village pay phone, since he didn’t have one in his house. I appreciated his entrepreneurial spirit, and gave him the money. For me, it was a simple way to give back to the community, and if he could succeed, great, if not, I tried.

To help him develop a sense of customer service quality, I sent two American interns there over the next two years to work with him, helping him develop menus, helping him purchase sheets and mattresses and set up the first computer. Then, he emailed me one day, and said, “hey, I am online! And I have a new cell phone”
A year later, he sent me a message, “hey, check out my blog!”

Earlier this year, when I logged onto Flickr, I found his pictures there!

I haven’t been back for a while, and was simply delighted that someone would take the opportunity and develop a successful business out of it.

Then your feedback came. I could just picture him talking on the cell phone and busy talking to all the other guests. I just never imagined that would ever happen on that trail, and I don’t think our operations team could foresee that either. Imaging hiking crowds on that trail came as such a complete shock. The only reason I could see if October 1st holiday when travelers from Kunming also decided to discover the beautiful wilderness of Yunnan.

The fact this area is now covered with cell phone signal and popular with travelers, I don’t know if I am supposed to be happy about or not. The fact that your experience was negatively impacted upsets me tremendously. Xiao and our Tibetan guides may have become victims of their own success. How to deal with that, how to take it forward from here? I’ll have to pursue the answer.

After confirming the facts with our local guides, I sent Kristine a heartfelt note and a refund check of $3000 (needless to say, WildChina lost money, but that’s not the point):

“Our brand is about excellence, and our mission is to deliver excellence. On your recent trip, we did not deliver. There were forces at play, some we could control, some we could not. But the fact remains we are committed to excellence.”

She donated the check to TNC in honor of WildChina. What a beautiful thing!

As the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference winds down today in Copenhagen, many questions have been raised and numerous reflections made on China’s stance regarding climate change and sustainable development. Since China has often been frowned upon for its less-than-stellar environmental record, it is thus interesting to read an article by guest blogger Scott Moore, from the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, on Green Leap Forward regarding the significant measures China plans to take in order to grow sustainably in the future while reducing damage to the environment. Moore writes,

From increasing the share of renewable energy to promoting a new “low-carbon mentality” among its citizens, China has made a name for itself as the first industrializing country — ever — to make serious efforts to limit the contribution of its economic development to climate change. By some estimates, these measures will reduce China’s emissions by an amount greater than the total reductions achieved by all parties under the Kyoto Protocol.

How does China plan to do so? China’s method necessitates a complete developmental overhaul. As such,

Traditional heavy industry, and the highly-polluting, resource-intensive model of development which sustains it [China], will be replaced by a vision of nimble green enterprises, poised to lead China into the world’s economic future. At Copenhagen, China’s leaders make no secret of this ambition: they speak of building an energy system which is less polluting, more secure, and more efficient, and of an “innovative” development pattern that is higher-quality and lower-emitting.

What does this mean for China? Read about the implications of these plans for China’s development in the rest of the entry.

This week has been a somewhat inspiring one for me from a professional perspective. As I think I have mentioned in a previous blog, China often gets bad international publicity when it comes to their environmental decisions and practices. I am not saying that this publicity is unfounded nor unwarranted, but rather that ‘good news stories’ about China just seem to be lacking in the international arena.

Changqing Staff who attended training

This week, Changqing National Nature Reserve, the reserve that I am working for, held a training program for its field staff and also a small number of its office staff. The focus of the training was ‘Eco-tourism’, and it was supported financially by WWF. The training was one of the priority actions that came out of Changqing’s recent ‘Ecotourism Action Plan’, a plan that focuses upon what Changqing Administrative Bureau hope to achieve in the coming three to five years.

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Entrance to Shaolin Temple tourist site, Henan

Kung fu is synonymous with China. Not unlike giant pandas, dumplings, Mao, The Great Wall and Qingdao beer … eventually, it will creep into conversation. Perhaps this has become even more the case since 2008, when the DreamWorks animation ‘Kung Fu Panda’ was released (which I confess to seeing at the movies and also watching numerous times on DVD after receiving it as a birthday present!).

With only a few days to travel on my recent holiday break, and having already travelled extensively throughout China, I decided to head northwest into Henan Province, to explore the home of Kung Fu.

Almost immediately after my arrival, I felt that Henan was different from some of its richer coastal neighbours. As I only spent a few short days in Henan I don’t want to make too many assumptions, however living here appeared to be ‘harder’. Signs of this could be seen from my bus and train windows, with heavy industry causing significant air pollution, agriculture (in sometimes difficult conditions) being the main form of employment and a visible poverty. I do want to be quick to point out though, that the people, just like the rest of China, were really lovely and friendly, and the food – just as delicious!

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What happens when two friends combine their love of biking with a desire to understand the existence of the common man in China? Portrait of an LBX, or laobaixing.

WildChina’s Alex G spoke with Andy and Evan, two-thirds of the three-man Portrait of an LBX team, to find out more about their project, goals, and how their perception of the laobaixing - or common Chinese person, abbreviated by the Portrait team as ‘LBX’ – has evolved over the past few months.

Follow the Portrait of an LBX team on their blog and Twitter account for updates, photos, and bike routes.

A broom maker in Zhejiang province. (Photo courtesy of www.portraitofanlbx.com)

WildChina: Tell us a little about Portrait of an LBX.

Portrait of an LBX: Portrait of an LBX is a project to find humanity and beauty in the daily lives of common people living in both urban and rural areas of China. We – Andy, Evan, and Alexis – are three American and French professionals in China who wanted to see a side out China outside of our corporate existences in our sprawling urban homes. As such, we are biking through China’s urban and rural areas for the next year to document and reflect on the lives of ordinary people in ordinary communities across the Middle Kingdom.

WC: What inspired the project?

LBX: When we [Andy and Evan] first came to China to work, we brought with us a set of preconceived notions about what China would be like. After living here for some time, we realized that China’s value systems, culture, et cetera were drastically different from how we thought they would be. Furthermore, we were getting tired of the daily grind that comes with living in large Chinese cities, and needed something new. When we were biking in Yunnan province, we found what we had been looking for in China: Chinese people who are more representative of a simple lifestyle, doing the best that they can do for themselves despite their circumstances. We didn’t, and don’t, want to be critical of China – we want to find the beauty in everyday life here that we’ve dreamed about witnessing.

WC: What about laobaixing intrigued you, and made you want to find out more?

LBX: While we were in Yunnan, we witnessed very traditional communities because of their remote locations. There was no way to get to these areas to develop them, and so they were steeped in traditional Chinese ways of life. There was an elusive quality to the environment and people here. Unlike urban areas where the mad rush for development continues to increase at break-neck speed, these rural pockets seemed to quietly possess the secrets of the common man’s existence. We wanted to explore and understand that existence.

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