The 2014 China Self-Drive Route Selection Opinion Leaders Officially Unveiled

     At the launch press conference of the 2014 China Self-Drive Route Selection held in Kunming on June 6, 36 opinion leaders made their official debut.

    To find and create the best route products, the China Self-Drive Route Selection carefully designed the entire selection process: from June 7 to September 6, the selection organizing committee solicited participating routes from across Greater China. In mid-September, the opinion leaders recommended 66 nominated routes via correspondence, which were then made available for tens of millions of users nationwide to experience and vote on from October to December, ultimately selecting 36 annual star routes.

    This process mechanism proved effective in the 2013 selection. Last year, 36 opinion leaders from various fields such as tourism, outdoor activities, automotive, academia, art, photography, and media selected 66 nominated routes from 1,018 entries. This ensured that the final 36 annual routes, voted on by over three million netizens nationwide, were evenly distributed across regions and seasons, covered all themes and content, and largely met the needs of users for self-drive travel throughout the year.

    While thanking last year’s opinion leaders for their contributions, the organizing committee decided to fully renew the selection of opinion leaders each year to maintain fairness and the freshness of the routes. Building on last year’s example, this year’s invitation process was successfully completed within a month, with 36 elites from business, tourism, photography, outdoor activities, automotive, media, entertainment, and other fields gladly accepting the role of 2014 selection opinion leaders.

    This year’s 36 opinion leaders continue to attract big names from photography, outdoor activities, automotive, and media—Li Jianquan, a photojournalist for China Youth Daily who has traveled to over 40 countries and regions; Zhang Fan, a member of the New York Explorers Club who has explored all caves in China; Li Kunpeng, a competition judge for the China Automobile and Motorcycle Sports Association who started solo driving at age 18 and has crossed no-man’s-land alone multiple times; Zhao Yahui, a senior reporter for People’s Daily who has crossed three oceans, hiked the Himalayas, and driven solo across Lop Nur. There are also new faces—business elites: Yuan Yue, Chairman of Horizon Research Consultancy Group and founder of Flying Horse Travel, passionate about travel and food; Liu Chenjun, President of Wyndham Hotel Group China, who enjoys art, food, and fashion at rest and skydiving, skiing, and diving in action; Zhu Yikai, Managing Director of Yunfeng Capital, responsible for investments in Zhang Yimou’s Beijing Impressions series and focused on cultural and creative industries; tourism professionals: Hong Qinghua, Chairman of Joyu International Tourism Operation Group and founder of Lvmama Travel Network, dedicated to tourism innovation; Zhou Tong, Co-founder and Vice President of Qyer.com, with over 200,000 kilometers of solo self-drive mileage; Tang Yibo, President of Zai Shang Lu, a pioneer in China’s leisure travel e-commerce and now exploring mobile travel e-commerce; TV hosts: A’Se, host of Travel Satellite TV, who recently plans to visit every country and region on Earth within five years to become the first Chinese person to travel to all 321 countries and regions; Li Lei, host of Shanghai Documentary Channel and writer, who has written travel columns for many years.

    Compared to last year, this year’s 36 opinion leaders come from more diverse and influential backgrounds. They not only volunteer for the route nomination process, using their professional expertise and experience to select the 66 most recommendable routes, but also contribute to online promotion and offline experiences of the route selection. Yuan Yue expressed his delight in becoming an opinion leader for the 2014 China Self-Drive Route Selection, contributing to helping travel enthusiasts across the country discover great self-drive routes in China.

The 2014 opinion leaders Bao Lihui, Chen Gang, Qian Qian, Yuan Yuan, Zhang Fan, and Zhang Hailü attended the launch press conference, and also participated in the post-conference event “Exploring World Cultural Heritage and Driving Through the Red River Valley,” experiencing the charm of self-drive travel in Yunnan firsthand.

Profiles of the 36 Opinion Leaders (Sorted Alphabetically by Surname)