Anne Zhang

    zhangy49@gmail.com

    CHEN CHAOSHENG has spent most of the past two years cycling more than 28,000 kilometers along the coastlines and borders of China. During his journey, he enjoyed the changing scenery and the different cultures — and he also tried to raise awareness of green issues.

    For Chen, travel is not just about sightseeing. “The aim of travel is to explore the unknown, seek knowledge, observe society and provoke thinking,” he said during an interview.

    Starting a green life

    Chen, 55, worked in finance for 30 years. He previously saw himself as a foodie, and tried more exotic types of food including pangolin and bear’s paw. But in 2000, after he learned about the eco-friendly lifestyle — more common in Northern Europe, he opted for a much more simple diet.

    “To be honest, the taste of these exotic foods is nothing special. I think people eat them because they see it as fashionable or something they can boast about,” Chen said.

    Chen is an outdoor enthusiast who participated in the city’s annual 100-km hike on seven consecutive years and has climbed the stairs of many buildings in Shenzhen with 30 floors or more.

    In 2004, Chen decided to quit driving to become more eco-friendly. He started to ride a bike to work and gradually became addicted to cycling after he made many friends who are keen on outdoor activities through doyouhike.net, an online forum about outdoor sports and backpacking.

    Chen said he had dreamt of cycling around China for years, but busy work kept him from putting his plans into action. In his spare time, he cycled to places in the east of Guangdong Province and Hainan Island, which was good practice for this latest cross-country cycling.

    In 2010, Chen left his thriving career and retired ahead of schedule from his post as vice director of a bank in Shenzhen. The decision shocked and puzzled his relatives and friends. But he has never regretted it.

    Chen said he spent the past 30 years of his life making a living, “And in the next 30 years I would like to pursue my dream and practice a new low-carbon life,” he said.

    A dream journey

    After months of preparation, Chen set out on his cycling journey around China from Dongxing City in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in April 2011.

    Chen’s family was initially worried and opposed the trip. But Chen said he was confident he could carry out his plan successfully. The journey took him along the eastern coastlines in the north, around the country’s five largest freshwater lakes, into the Inner Mongolia’s prairie from northeast China and across northwestern and southwestern areas along the border lines, including the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    Chen said he had a rule to cycle about eight hours a day with some spare time for sightseeing and keeping journals. In his two journals he wrote about the scenery and local customs and also his thoughts about industrialization and exploration of new energies.

    Bittersweet experience

    Chen returned to Shenzhen last September and, though he did complete his trip successfully, he called it a bittersweet experience.

    He often ate only steamed buns and dried pickles, and slept under bridges, in railway control rooms, on the bed of a small countryside clinic or in a yurt.

    Some of his friends were amused at his choice of such an ascetic life, and Chen admitted that he did feel lonely sometimes, but he also had many surprises and experienced warmth from people he met.

    He spent more than four months in Mohe, the northernmost settlement in China, where he endured temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius below zero and welcomed the first day of the Year of Dragon in 2012. He suffered from high altitude sickness on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau — but he also enjoyed the incomparable beauty of the sunrise over the plateau.

    He recalled many seemingly small events that stayed in his mind, such as passing by a small village in Anhui Province, where a little boy by the road clapped his hands — cheering him on. He remembered the owner of a motorcycle repair shop in a small city in southern Jiangsu Province who repaired his bike for free and then invited him to have dinner with his family. Chen said that such moments made the loneliness and hardships worthwhile.

    He also tried to increase awareness about the environment and healthy living. For example, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local people tried to persuade him to capture and eat wild birds and they tried to sell swan meat to him. Chen refused the offers and tried to convince them to protect wildlife.

    In the Xinjiang city of Karamy, where he saw thousands of derricks exploiting oil day and night, he expressed concerns about the exhaustion of this non-renewable energy source.

    Journey to be continued

    For many people, cycling around China might seem like some sort of heroic adventure. But Chen said: “I just did something I should do, can do and love to do”.

    And he has not finished yet, as this month he started a new trip, cycling along China’s two longest rivers — the Changjiang River and the Yellow River — a journey which he thinks may take him about eight months.

    His other ideas for the three decades following his early retirement include cycling around Taiwan Island, hiking across the Luobupo Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and spending one summer in Xinjiang.

    For Chen, the road ahead is never-ending — as if there were no boundaries and no limits.

    “The aim of travel is to explore the unknown, seek knowledge, observe society and provoke thinking.”

    — Chen Zhaosheng, who has spent 17 months of the past two years cycling more than 28,000 kilometers along the coastlines and borders of China