10,000 yuan for six months around China

Author: Wei Ming
Publisher:
Publishing Date: July 1, 2005
Features: Based on the author's real-life China loop tour, this book originates from a popular plan on online forums titled A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan. The slogan "Join Wei Ming on the journey—once in a lifetime indulgence!" was a top-posted topic on Sina Travel Forum and a frequently clicked theme on Sohu BBS, with over 100,000 clicks. This plan drove the shift in travel books from purely provincial guides to route-based, cross-regional tours in 2004. The same plan gained popularity on websites like 21CN, Ctrip, and, and was hailed by netizens as a "bold and excellent travel route." On August 1, 2005, China Youth Press officially published A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan by the author Wei Ming.
Flexible Duration, Customizable Routes A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan includes dozens of classic and emerging travel routes, providing readers with the latest travel information. Whether you choose to spend six months on a continuous loop tour, a four-day provincial tour, or a seven-day to one-month cross-regional trip, this book has you covered. With a fresh, humanistic travel approach, the book has been re-planned by Lin Dong of China Youth Press. Beyond online writing, Wei Ming narrates stories about people and events related to regional, ethnic history, and culture, offering a novel perspective, smooth writing, vivid characters, and strong readability. Lin Dong, who edited the best-selling Tibetan three years ago, successfully showcased Tibet's history, culture, and customs.
A Journey of Spirit and Reality A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan is both a spiritual and a worldly journey. The loop route starts from Beijing, passes through Shanxi and Henan, follows the Silk Road to Xinjiang, then travels to Tibet, Chengdu, the Chinese heartland, Shandong, Northeast China, and Inner Mongolia, before returning to Beijing. Readers can start from any location and still achieve the grandeur of a China loop tour. The total travel cost is 12,878 yuan, including transportation, daily accommodation, and scenic spot entrance fees, using commonly used modes of transport like trains, buses, and ferries.
A Journey of Culture and Enlightenment A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan is also a journey of culture and enlightenment. The author views culture from a diverse, open perspective, objectively recording historical figures and placing them in the broader context of life, survival, and spiritual pursuits. The book showcases the role of traditional Chinese culture like Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in secular society, such as the achievements of monks like Xuanzang, philosophers like the brothers Cheng and Zhu Xi, and Wang Yangming. It introduces the pure ideals of life once described by the writer Shen Congwen and depicts the rise and fall of the Jin and Huizhou merchants. It also highlights the ordinary lives of common people.
The book contains 300,000 words, 350 photos, and 220 color pages, making up half of the 440-page book, printed in a 16K format, with a cover price of 38 yuan. The book's design was completed by the renowned book cover designer Miao Wei's company, Jinxiu Shengyi, with the author Wei Ming participating in the design. Most of the 350 photos in the book are by the author herself, who was responsible for selecting them to ensure consistency between the text and images. During the busiest times, Wei Ming worked for two consecutive nights without sleep, later discovering she had set a personal record of 65 consecutive hours without rest.
Special Cover Design The book's cover features a special design. Wei Ming selected a passage about the water town Wuzhen and arranged it in vertical text to reveal the depth of Chinese culture. To convey a specific mood, she and the designer decided to omit punctuation and replace it with spaces, aligning with the writing style of classical Chinese, while still allowing readers to pause at natural sentence breaks.
Cover Design The cover primarily uses bright yellow, black, and red. The horizontal red text reads "China Tour," while the vertical ochre text reads "A Journey of Spirit and Culture," emphasizing the theme of cultural China beyond just budget travel.
First Full-Page User Comments The back cover of the book features bold design and includes lively comments from eight netizens. Some express skepticism: "Do you know what it's like to keep moving without stopping? Without strong passion and determination, it's impossible." Others express desire: "I will definitely go on this trip. I swear! I must live for myself!" And some praise the plan: "This is a very brave plan. China has so many stories—wherever you go, you can hear magical tales from your ancestors, even from toothless old men who may not even be able to read. This is the culture passed down through generations. You won't truly understand it unless you experience it yourself."
The author records her real-life experience of traveling around China, using common modes of transport like trains, buses, and ferries.
Impressive Routes Before setting off, the author planned a loop route from Beijing to the northwest, then Xinjiang, Tibet, Sichuan, the Three Gorges, and other major scenic spots across China. This includes dozens of practical routes. Over six months, she explored the beauty of China, hiking instead of taking cable cars to see more natural landscapes and encounter more interesting things. Her journey has been praised and emulated as "bold" and "excellent."
Traditional Culture and Rural China Every province in China has unique natural, cultural, historical, and traditional elements. This book helps those who can't travel to understand the endless changes and charm of China's natural scenery. More importantly, the author doesn't just record her travels or list scenic spots like a typical travel guide. Instead, she selects topics based on ecological changes, human survival awareness, and the relationship between rural China and traditional culture.
The book emphasizes cultural depth and historical significance. The author seeks to understand the ancestors of people living at different altitudes and in various natural environments, where they came from, what hardships they endured, why some left to migrate, and how later generations learned to coexist with nature. In chapters like "Ecological Hongcun" and "The Spring and Autumn of Earthquake Houses," readers can see how ancient people fought against natural and man-made disasters.
Along the way, readers encounter breathtaking landscapes like Shangri-La and paradise on earth, representing humanity's spiritual home. This is why we now show great passion for protecting world heritage and the environment.
Along the way, readers also face harsh natural environments and man-made destruction, some of which are shocking. The book frequently discusses the harmony and conflict between paradise on earth and environmental protection, such as the return-to-lake initiative in Guizhou's Caohe Lake and a girl selling cacti fruits by the beach in Sanya while working part-time.
The Baiyue Ethnicity and the Three Teachings Culture China has undergone thousands of years of cultural integration, including the fusion of northern nomads with the Central Plains and southern Baiyue ethnic groups with the Han. Meanwhile, China's ethnic minorities still retain deep historical roots and customs. Understanding the differences in ethnic customs can make the journey more enjoyable. For example, the tradition of celebrating weddings in various ethnic groups may inspire insights from the Li ethnic group in Hainan.
Why do many ethnic groups celebrate "March 3" (near the solar term Guyu)? Why do so many love playing the reed pipe? Why do so many encourage free love? The book provides answers.
The author views culture from a diverse, open perspective, objectively recording historical figures and placing them in the context of life, survival, and spiritual pursuits, achieving "thorough and empathetic understanding." The book showcases elite culture like Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, such as the role of monks like Xuanzang, philosophers like the brothers Cheng and Zhu Xi, and Wang Yangming in cultural construction. It introduces the life ideals once described by the writer Shen Congwen and highlights the secular lives of ordinary people.
Although traditional culture built by elites is gradually fading and some has been buried in history, it still leaves traces and once inspired our sense of justice and cultural conscience.
Beyond Huizhou and Jin merchants and martial arts culture, the book also explores the economic lives of ancient people, especially the Huizhou and Jin merchants who valued cultural education.
In the section "Ancient Pingyao's" (banking houses), the history of is revisited to reveal the early development of China's financial industry. In Shanxi, the book describes how bodyguards from escort companies roamed the martial arts world, combining the mystique of martial arts with the practical role of safeguarding ancient economic development. Wang Zhengqing, who founded the Tongxing Gong escort company, practiced martial arts for fitness in his youth, maintained social order in his adulthood, and opened an escort company for a living in his later years. Such individuals should not be overlooked by history.
The book offers in-depth content and fresh themes, rare in travel books.
Practical Information This book is also ideal for avid travelers. Many travel books rely on others' travel diaries, lacking personal experience, which often leads to discrepancies between descriptions and reality. A 6-Month China Tour for 10,000 Yuan is based on the author's firsthand experience, providing reliable and practical information. It is not a detached fantasy but offers detailed and thoughtful arrangements, including transportation between scenic spots, accommodation, and phone numbers.
The book carefully calculates and breaks down costs to save money and time. Many scenic spots offer half-price discounts for students, so young readers can stretch their budgets further. Following the hand-drawn route in the book, the cost is slightly less than 12,000 yuan.
Cost Breakdown Transportation: The book prioritizes convenience and practicality. The 10,000 yuan includes transportation, entrance fees, and accommodation. The train ticket prices listed are not from the author's original tour but based on the latest information. At the beginning of each chapter, the author provides a budget for necessary expenses, listing them in detail. These include transportation costs between scenic spots, such as: in the table of the second chapter, the transportation cost is the fee for traveling by car and train from the last scenic spot in the first chapter to the first scenic spot in the second chapter. Train fares are calculated based on hard sleeper prices for trips over six hours and hard seat prices for shorter trips. In summer, air-conditioned express trains are used. Local short-distance transportation is not included in the 10,000 yuan since it is part of daily life.
Entrance Fees: The book provides prices for most scenic spot entrance fees, based on the peak season prices as of June 2005. Some information comes from the author's recent travels and phone inquiries, while others are from news about price adjustments. Since China tours are mostly planned for spring to autumn, the author provides peak season prices.
Accommodation: The book offers extensive accommodation information. Prices vary, based on the bed rates of youth hostels, family inns, and guesthouses in different regions. Generally, the current actual prices of specific inns are used, with peak season prices or average prices of both seasons taken into account.
Other specific information is included in the book in "Special Notes" for easy reference during travel.
Meals are not included in the 10,000 yuan. Generally, 10-30 yuan per person per day is sufficient.
Time Arrangement: According to the book, you can spend six months on a continuous loop tour, or as little as four days on a provincial tour, or seven days to a month on regional travel.