On foot · Rural China
Explore ancient towns, traditional villages and quiet mountain communities through first-person walks and practical field notes.
Watch the full walks on YouTube
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Walking Yangtai, an empty Huizhou village in Xiuning, Anhui: evacuated in 2012, roofs open, lanes overgrown, and near thousand-year-old yew trees at the entrance. Free entry, no facilities.
Read the field notes, then continue with the full video walk.
Walking Changkeng in the mountains of Huangshan, Anhui: a Huizhou village whose main street is 100 m of stone steps, with empty houses and almost no visitors. Free entry, no supermarket or restaurant.
Walking Huangtian village in Songyang, Zhejiang: 53 households at 600 m, houses stacked like stairs, hand-made incense and tea terraces below. Free entry, no supermarket or restaurant.
Walking Yanguan in Haining: entry is CNY 60 for one day, single entry, or CNY 80 with the tide-watch park. Hotel guests register a face and come and go freely.
A walk through Shanxiabao in Wuyi county, Zhejiang: cobbled lanes, indigo money, a hall from 1741, and about sixty residents left. Free entry, mountain roads and what to expect.
A walk along Anchang ancient town in Shaoxing: 1,747 metres of covered street, seventeen stone bridges, sauce yards and the hometown of the yamen secretaries. Tickets, boats and when to come.
A 3.7 km walk along Shantang Street in Suzhou, the canal street Bai Juyi built in 825: which sections are quiet, which are crowded, tickets, boats and where to eat.
A first-person walk through Yangchan in She County, Anhui – 367 rammed-earth houses stacked on a slope, the largest earth village in southern Anhui, with access, tickets and tips.
A walk through Gechuanjian scenic area in Anhui – waterfall, gorge and cliff stairs – then down into Zaotai, an abandoned village emptied by landslides.
A rainy first-person walk through Dongpu, Shaoxing’s 1,600-year-old rice wine town: jar walls, working breweries, stone bridges, free entry and metro access.
A first-person walk through Puyuan Fashion Ancient Town in Tongxiang, Zhejiang – new-built Jiangnan lanes, glass facades, a 900-year-old ginkgo and a night programme, with tickets, transport and tips.
A first-person walk through Zhaji in Jingxian, Anhui – the largest surviving Ming-Qing village in China, with three streams, 40+ stone bridges and 140 protected old buildings.
A first-person walking tour of Wancun Village, Shexian, Anhui – the ‘Potala Palace of Huizhou’ with stacked houses and stone alleys. Video, access and tips.