Travels are not romantic in the wilderness

The remarkable growth in outdoor travel in China became part of public consciousness in a dramatic way recently when more than 100 tourists camped on a "boardwalk" high up on a cliff-face of Laojun Mountain in Henan province. The camping party, which was widely covered by the media, had the luxury of being at a spot covered by WiFi, and one can imagine many of campers coming out of their tents early in the morning, taking photographs of the mist-swathed valley and uploading them instantly on social media, adding to the sensation of outdoor travel in China.

Indeed, the rise in outdoor travel is nothing short of a sensation: over the past decade I have seen remote tracts of wilderness develop from the haunts of outdoor fanatics to the playgrounds of droves of travelers. The majority of these recent travelers are not the outdoor types. They may value the aesthetics of the landscape, the fresh clean air, the rural sights, but they also tend to indulge in drinking and smoking, singing and playing cards, and wherever there is WiFi access it's common to see many of them glued to their smartphones, watching soap operas or engaged in social media. For them the landscape is just a backdrop; they don't immerse themselves in the full splendor and experience of their natural surroundings.

This phenomenon of camping for the sake of hunkering in a tent somewhere with a view has grown in popularity not only in China, but also in much of the world. In the West the growth has been more gradual, and the percentage of those who camp in the wilderness to feel nature by engaging in pursuits such as trekking and bird-watching is greater. In China, camping is a new pastime for youths and - bizarrely for someone who grew up in the West - most Chinese prefer to camp on hard surfaces, not grassy land.