The photo shows "hikers" from the Dawn Emergency Rescue Association.
Cycling in Hainan, crossing the Lop Nur Desert, retracing the "Journey to the West" route... 35-year-old Zhang Jie gestures lightly with his hands, casually recounting thrilling outdoor adventure experiences.
His other identity is one of many busy professional managers in Xi'an High-Tech Zone. In a suit and tie, he chats and laughs with ease in business settings; in camouflage gear with a travel bag, covered in mud but "unrepentant on hiking trips"—nowadays, more and more "urban white-collar workers" like Zhang Jie move between these two vastly different life experiences, finding their own joys, emotions, and insights along the way.
The "Qualification Exam" for Managers
Within the agreed 60-minute interview "slot," Zhang Jie frequently takes phone calls, and his slim iPhone 5 looks unusually bulky due to an added external battery. "I have quite a few clients, so the battery barely lasts a day," said Zhang, who has worked in sales management since graduating from Xi'an Jiaotong University and now serves as the Key Account Director at Lenovo (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. "The annual business volume is 1 billion yuan, with 270,000 units of computers and laptops."
In 2004, one of Zhang Jie’s colleagues was getting married and planned to drive to Tibet for their honeymoon. "He asked if I wanted to join, and I was tempted. I bought a book called 'The Sichuan-Tibet Road for Two' to do some prep work." Due to a busy schedule, Zhang could only spare a couple of pages each day. "My future mother-in-law saw the book and absolutely refused to let me go, saying it was too dangerous." Although he didn’t end up going, "the inner urge was ignited—I wanted to experience adventure and challenge myself," which became the starting point of Zhang’s passion for outdoor sports.
But the most unforgettable outdoor experience for Zhang Jie was the Dasi Hiking Trip, known as the "Qualification Exam for Hikers" in Shaanxi. The village of Dasi is located on the Qinling watershed, 65 kilometers south of Xi'an, and is extremely remote. "The Dasi Crossing" is one of the most classic wilderness trekking routes in Shaanxi. "Walking along steep cliffs in the deep mountains, the path is only as wide as a single footstep, surrounded by primeval forest trees that take several people to encircle, with scenery resembling a paradise on earth." However, Zhang Jie had no mood to enjoy the scenery along the way. "The mountain weather is unpredictable. It started raining in the afternoon and by evening had turned into a downpour." Trekking 38 kilometers through the rain, they emerged from the Gaoguan Valley of the Qinling Mountains late at night. "The Dripping Rock Cliff at the valley entrance had turned into a waterfall, and huge lightning bolts tore through the pitch-black rainy night of the mountains, seemingly grazing your scalp." That scene remains vivid in Zhang Jie’s memory to this day.
More than 20 hikers who were with him on that trip came from the same team—the Shaanxi Dawn Emergency Rescue Association, whose leader is nicknamed "Shark."
"Shark" and His Friends
"Shark," whose real name is Chen [name partially redacted], is 36 years old and a 1.86-meter-tall man from the Guanzhong region. "'Shark' is my online alias—friends in the circle all like to call me that," said this burly man, who has the qualifications to compete in China’s National C-Class Rally Car Racing. Regardless of the season, he always wears a set of outdoor camouflage, without fail.
In his younger days, he drove a taxi, worked as a bartender in a nightclub, later sold computers in a large retail store, and did marketing for a computer company... Chen [name redacted] climbed the ladder step by step through hard work. After gradually achieving financial stability, he chose a path different from many others—in 2008, he started his own outdoor shop, and a year later, even co-founded a purely non-profit, civilian Xi’an Outdoor Rescue Team with friends.
"In recent years, outdoor sports have become increasingly popular, and accidents have also increased. We hope to offer help within our capabilities," said Chen. Over the years, this outdoor rescue team evolved into the Shaanxi Dawn Emergency Rescue Association, which now has over 600 official members, composed of volunteers from various professions such as civil servants, corporate professionals, and individual merchants. They have collectively participated in 56 emergency rescue operations, successfully rescuing 316 people who were lost or injured in the mountains.
Wang Xinhong, a "hiker" the same age as Chen, graduated from Xidian University in 2002. In 2011, he participated in a highly publicized successful rescue mission—the Snowy Rescue of a Female Hiker on Ao Mountain. In February 2011, a female hiker encountered a severe snowstorm unexpectedly during her crossing of Ao Mountain in Taibai County, Shaanxi, and lost contact with the outside world. Upon hearing the news, the Xi’an Outdoor Rescue Team sprang into action. "As soon as I got off work on Friday, I drove overnight to Taibai County," Wang recalled, spending the weekend stationed at the frontline command post set up deep in the mountains. "The search team in front had no signal. My job was to ensure the relay station functioned properly and maintain communication between the frontline team and the overall command post in Taibai County." He brought a tent and sleeping bag, cooked instant noodles with a stove, and ate compressed biscuits. "The mountain was blocked by heavy snow—it was an especially tough time."
The highly professional civilian outdoor rescue team, with assistance from relevant authorities, eventually succeeded in locating the female hiker who had survived in the wild for 21 days. As part of the rescue team, Wang believes, "Using fragments of personal time to contribute enthusiasm and energy to help others is also a way of tempering oneself."
Returning to Nature, Returning to Joy
Having known each other for years, these outdoor enthusiasts still habitually refer to each other by their online aliases. To them, it’s a purely friendly circle where rank, business dealings, or social networking don’t matter. Beyond experiencing adventure, releasing stress, seeking joy, and offering care, this sport seems to carry deeper meaning in their lives.
Zhang Jie said that outdoor sports used to be just a "stress reliever" outside of work for him. "Now it’s become a lifestyle, bringing many changes to my family and those around me." Not long ago, he took people to the remote mountains of Lantian County and Ziyang County in Shaanxi, and aside from fitness, he also brought books and warm clothing to the children at a local school. "It was a sense of peace and joy from the bottom of my heart."
"The more you engage in outdoor exploration, the more you realize how fragile and precious life is," said Wang Xinhong, who has now mastered survival skills such as CPR, wilderness camping, and finding water sources. "Living in the city for a long time, you might never use these skills in your lifetime, but at the very least, you should establish a mindset: respect nature, and even more so, respect and cherish our own lives."
"Nowadays, people from all walks of life are participating in outdoor sports, and their professional backgrounds are very diverse," said Ren Zhen, a retiree from Xi’an International Studies University who is over 60 years old and still likes to wear camouflage. As early as 1976, he initiated Shaanxi’s earliest outdoor sports team on campus. In 1990, he publicly recruited mountain climbing enthusiasts in the province for the first time, and in October 2008, he founded the Shaanxi Outdoor Sports Alliance. He is considered a "godfather-level" figure in the Shaanxi outdoor community.
"The alliance currently has over 60 registered outdoor sports teams, and the Dawn Emergency Rescue Association is one of them," said Ren at a summary meeting of the Shaanxi Outdoor Sports Alliance. He proposed the philosophy of "Humanistic Outdoor, Natural Outdoor, Safe Outdoor, and Eco-Friendly Outdoor," hoping to further standardize the sport. He joked, "Whether you’re an urban white-collar worker or a laborer in another industry, everyone should take the opportunity to get into nature, return to nature, and enjoy the pleasure of fitness."