“Wish us success, friends!” A couple of days ago, netizen @Dadonggui posted: On June 1, my friend and I will set off from our hometown, Anxi, pass through N cities, and eventually reach Lhasa. We’ll travel by hiking and hitchhiking. Some friends will sponsor part of the expenses, and the rest we’ll cover by busking and other means. We’ll livestream the entire journey on Weibo. Our goal is to travel at least halfway across China without spending a penny on personal safety—provided nothing unexpected happens—and finally reach Tibet.
Two Youths Hike to Tibet “Zero Yuan”
He said this is a journey even more barebones than budget travel. @Dadonggui is Wu Minghui, 22, who graduated last year from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and returned to his hometown of Anxi to work as a freelancer. His companion, Huang Zhenbin, works in a tea company. The two met in high school as bandmates—Wu Minghui plays guitar, and Huang Zhenbin is the drummer. Their shared love of music brought them back together.
On the Road, Fulfilling “Ideals and Love”
This is a long-buried dream. Wu Minghui said that early on, he listened to Xu Wei’s music, read the book *On the Road*, and later listened to the song *Highway Song* by the band Tangyue. All of these served as “catalysts.” “Maybe rock music and Jack Kerouac changed my view on life, or maybe they didn’t change it at all but simply resonated with me.”
He had been planning this trek to Tibet on foot.
In early May, his friend Huang Zhenbin said he was willing to quit his job and join him on the road. Wu Minghui decided to act immediately, setting the date for June 1.
Why choose such a way to travel to Tibet and Lhasa? Wu Minghui said it’s a journey of thousands of kilometers, and money wasn’t something he hadn’t considered. “So far, the only way I can think of to keep ‘everything’ fresh is to ‘be on the road.’” He said people might not understand, and he himself could hardly find a concrete reason to convince others, so he could only say it’s because of “ideals and love”—all kinds of love: love for one’s partner, for life, for the world, for freedom.
No Deadline, Dreams Are on the Road
Wu Minghui said he told his parents about his general plan, but his family still doesn’t quite understand his actions. “I’m an adult and know what I’m doing.” He said he would have a good talk with his mother before departing.
Wu Minghui said the “zero yuan” trip mentioned on Weibo isn’t entirely clear—their journey may not be entirely on foot, they might hitchhike too, and expenses might be covered by friends’ sponsorship or earned through busking. Of course, the instrument for busking will be his beloved guitar.
“We haven’t set a deadline for this trip. We’re just ‘on the road,’” Wu Minghui said. They plan to use a DV to record everything that happens along the way. “The dream is on the road.”
