Because of travel, our planet is no longer lonely

Because of travel, our planet is no longer lonely

    The new media working group of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau joined hands with Lonely Planet to document the light and shadow of Henan

 

    In 2014, based on previous marketing efforts, the new media working group of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau actively leveraged the existing influence of the "Hometown Henan" brand and fully launched the marketing concept of "Hometown Henan: Return of the Prodigal Sons." Collaborating closely with Dejianjie Global Consulting Group, they meticulously planned and successfully executed the first phase of the "Fellow Villagers Take You to Explore Henan" campaign during the spring–summer transition. The innovative format of the first phase achieved great success, attracting nearly ten thousand netizens to sign up, while related activity reports, travelogues, web pages, and social media reached a dissemination volume in the tens of millions.

It is reported that in the golden autumn of September, the new media working group of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau once again partnered with Dejianjie to launch the second season of "Fellow Villagers Take You to Explore Henan" titled "Light and Shadow Henan." This event continued to embody the spirit of the host—locals guiding out-of-town visitors through Henan. The theme focused on "visuals and imagery," recruiting "photo and video enthusiasts" online to invite skilled photography and videography tourists to Henan. Through their visual works and the power of grassroots community sharing, the campaign aimed to promote Henan's tourism resources more precisely, with higher quality, and in a more vivid way.

    As soon as the recruitment was launched online, it received an enthusiastic response from netizens. Leveraging the viral effect of the internet, the recruitment information quickly spread and even attracted travel enthusiasts and photographers among overseas Chinese, drawing the attention of the globally renowned travel media magazine Lonely Planet. Founded in 1973 by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, Lonely Planet—originally known in English as "Lonely Planet"—is an essential guidebook well known to travel lovers worldwide.

    Thus, the new media working group of the Henan Provincial Tourism Bureau, together with Dejianjie, collaborated with Lonely Planet magazine to carry out the second season of "Fellow Villagers Take You to Explore Henan" titled "Light and Shadow Henan." Led by local Henan residents, renowned overseas Chinese photographer Louis and Lonely Planet editor Teacher Sun visited the long-admired city of Luoyang for a three-day exploration of its food, scenery, and culture.

 

    Surrounded by mountains and located in a basin with little rainfall, Luoyang’s local cuisine features many soups to combat the dry and cold climate. Old-timers in Luoyang even refer to meals as "drinking soup," showing just how deeply soup culture is ingrained. When you have the chance to visit Luoyang, be sure to immerse yourself in the ambiance of "soup culture." There’s beef soup, chicken soup, donkey meat soup, mutton soup, non-flip soup, and all kinds of soups—all delicious.

    Among the soup dishes, the most astonishing is the "No. 1 Feast in the World"—the Water Banquet. This banquet mostly uses economical yet healthy ingredients such as starch, lotus root, yam, radish, and Chinese cabbage to create a richly soupy feast that is uniquely characteristic of Luoyang. The two friends were full of praise and immediately posted on Weibo to share with friends, leading to widespread reposts and likes by many netizens.

    “One mountain has four seasons, ten miles bring different skies. Snow remains at the northern foot of Junshan Mountain, while flowers bloom brilliantly on the sunny side of the Yi River.” This is a vivid depiction of Laojun Mountain. Named after Laozi, the founder of Taoism who retreated and cultivated himself here, Laojun Mountain has long been revered as a famous mountain and sacred site of Taoism.

    On the day of the exploration, Laojun Mountain appeared dreamlike, picturesque, and like a fairyland, leaving the team in awe. The dedicated photographer Louis couldn’t stop taking pictures.

    The lovely Lonely Planet editor Teacher Sun made plans with Laozi to return next time and even said she would bring a photography team to shoot. Beyond the scenery, the profound Taoist culture of Laojun Mountain also fascinated them. Teacher Sun had an in-depth exchange with Taoist Master Wu Xiuping—who had been interviewed by CCTV—about Taoist culture. As night fell, she remained immersed in the weighty culture of the Dao De Jing, contemplating carefully.

 

    The Longmen Grottoes, one of China’s Four Great Grottoes (the other three being the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu; the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi; and the Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui), are located on the banks of the Yi River in the southern suburbs of Luoyang, on Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain. As Bai Juyi put it: “Among the scenic landscapes of Luoyang, Longmen takes the lead; among the temples and monasteries of Longmen, Xiangshan leads.” The Longmen Grottoes still house over 2,100 caves and niches, more than 100,000 statues, and over 3,600 inscriptions and steles. Standing among them, one feels infinitely small.

Looking up at the Longmen Grottoes, besides marveling at the ancient exquisite carving art and profound Buddhist culture, we modern internet users, when looking at the Buddha statues, find that even the Buddha can be cute—many of them are simply adorable.

    The Longmen Grottoes span a long period and multiple dynasties, using a wealth of physical artifacts and textual materials to reflect changes in various aspects of ancient Chinese politics, economy, religion, and culture. The tour guide explained everything in detail and earnestly, and Editor Sun listened attentively and absorbed it all.

    Of course, in front of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, across multiple dynasties, before the ancient masters’ exquisite carving art, and in the presence of the sacred Buddhist realm, photographer Louis didn’t dare slack off in the slightest. He brought out his most professional equipment and shot with exceptional focus and care.