中国范儿 62 旅游：诗和远方，中国人的旅途

In the golden season of this October, many people will go on vacation, which is becoming an increasingly popular choice among the Chinese to spend their leisure time. People’s longing for leisure, however, is not something new. As early as in the pre-Qin era, the Chinese have been enthusiastic about vacations. Although vacation in the ancient era is very different from today in its purposes, scale, styles, and participants, they are the same when it comes to finding some leisure and relaxation in life.

As a Chinese saying admonishes, read as much as you can and travel as far as you can. At least for the ancient Chinese, travel is of the same importance as reading. In their mind, travel can broaden people’s perspectives and increase their knowledge.

Words like “sightseeing” and “tourism” appeared in ancient Chinese texts at a very early age. Since the Shang Dynasty and the West Zhou Dynasty, the development of boats, vehicles, roads, inns, and restaurants laid the foundation for the emergence of tourism. According to some estimates, tourism activities were rather frequent among ordinary people at that time. People even traveled as far as to today’s Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Xin Jiang regions. Extensive voyage tourism also appeared during the same period.

Qin Shi Huang is probably the first Chinese emperor who toured extensively in his domain. After unifying China, he traveled across the country five times between 220 and 210 B.C. The Wudi Emperor of the Han Dynasty is one of the most famous travelers during the feudal period of China. The Yang Emperor of the Sui Dynasty once traveled to Yangzhou to watch Joan flowers and the Kangxi Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty once toured south China. All these are well-known stories in China.

When it comes to tourism in ancient China, we should never neglect such poets like Li Bai, Wang Wei, Liu Zongyuan, and Ouyang Xiu. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the scenic poetry was an art in its full maturity. Some poets made very famous pieces during their trips. Such places like Huanghelou, Lushan Mountain, Hanshan Temple only became popular tourist attractions after poets wrote famous poems about them. Since there was no such thing as the camera in ancient China, people had to represent China’s fantastic landscape by painting. Landscape painting blossomed as a result. Thanks to this cultural heritage, people can enjoy some prestigious landscape paintings even today. Xu Xiake, a staunch advocate of in-depth travel, toured extensively across China. Without that, it would become unthinkable for him to write his famous book Travels of Xu Xiake.

In the ancient era, ordinary people most traveled during holidays like today. But they preferred short trips like spring excursions and holiday celebration outings. Almost all Chinese dynasties built a tourist attraction close to their capitals. Typical examples include Qujiangchi of Chang’an of the Tang Dynasty, Jinmingchi of Bianlaing of the North Song Dynasty, and the West Lake of Lin’an of the South Song Dynasty.

Tourism is an ever-evolving lifestyle in human society. Today, tourism has become a spiritual pursuit among the people who tend to search for something beyond satisfying their basic material well-being.

来源：中国网

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