T H E N AT I O N | F E A T U R E
With Borders Still Closed, Why Not Explore More of… China? By Alistair Baker-Brian
T
he tightened control of China’s borders due to COVID-19 in March 2020 signaled the beginning of uncertainty for international tourism. As of press time, overseas tourists are still unable to enter China. Meanwhile, Chinese tourists avoid traveling abroad due to strict quarantine requirements upon re-entry into the Middle Kingdom. China was previously the largest outbound tourism market, as reported by Reuters. Thailand, a tourism market in which Chinese travelers used to contribute a large portion of revenue, recently announced it would re-open to vaccinated travelers. For now, that re-opening will not include tourists from the Middle Kingdom. However, it’s not all bad news. Those who are ‘stuck in China,’ including many expats, have taken the opportunity to explore more of the country in which they live. 10 |DECEMBER 2021
This trend is reflected by China’s booming domestic tourist market. During this year’s Mid-Autumn festival in September, domestic trips totaled around 88 million, approximately 87.2% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to Xinhua. There are ups and downs, of course. As of press time, those in Beijing are advised not to leave the city, unless absolutely necessary. In addition, intermittent local outbreaks can also make domestic travel difficult. But on the whole, things are positive for domestic tourism. On the frontline of this buoyant domestic travel market is Jeremiah Jenne, founder of Beijing by Foot. What started out as a hobby has now been Jenne’s full-time occupation since 2016. Beijing by Foot provides walking tours around the capital, operating as part of The Hutong cultural center. The destinations may
be familiar to anyone with rudimentary knowledge of Beijing; Jenne takes tour parties to various hutong, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Lama Temple and elsewhere. Yet, the stories he tells of the places are likely unbeknown to many, even Beijing locals and long-term residents of the city. Jenne’s work doesn’t confine him to Beijing. He’s also collaborated with Elevated Trips, a tour company focused largely on offthe-beaten-track eco tours across the Tibetan Plateau, as well as other destinations overseas. Those tours have taken Jenne to Qinghai and Gansu provinces where he introduces the history of the areas to visitors. Recently, Jenne has collaborated with Bespoke Travel Company. As the name suggests, the tours are custom-made with trips to the ancient Silk Road in Gansu, the Chinese-North
Korean border city Dandong, minority villages in Guizhou province and more. Jenne leads the company’s recently-launched Destination Peking tour. The tour is the namesake of British author Paul French’s book Destination Peking , an insight into the true stories of some of the city’s colorful expatriate residents in the early half of the 20th century. The tour builds on the success of the Midnight in Peking tour, also run by Bespoke Travel Company and also the namesake of another of French’s books. Midnight in Peking follows the true story of Pamela Werner, a British schoolgirl murdered in the city’s Kuijiachang Hutong in 1937. That’s caught up with Jenne to talk about Beijing by Foot; the Destination Peking tour; and how being ‘trapped in China’ has afforded many people, both locals and expats, the opportunity to discover more of a country they thought they knew well.
