Bai Chongming Walks Across China for Integrity
The Most Persistent of 2011
A 41-year-old man set out on foot from Beijing on June 15, 2011, walking to Shanghai, then to Kunming, and from Kunming to Chengdu. Recently, he was crossing the Qinling Mountains, planning to reach Xi'an before the Spring Festival and finally return to Beijing in the spring. The entire journey lasted nearly a year, covering over ten thousand kilometers. This man, Bai Chongming, is not a traveler nor a vagrant — he is a painter with some fame in Beijing. His work “The Appointment” has drawn attention, and he hopes to hold an exhibition once it’s completed.
A Thousand-Mile Journey to Keep a Promise — All Because of One Missed Appointment
While others were still basking in the joy of New Year reunions with family and friends, Bai Chongming, who had just left Sichuan, was trudging along the rugged mountain paths of the Qinling Mountains, accompanied by cold and fatigue. In a phone interview with Huaxi Metropolis Daily, Bai said, “This isn’t a simple trekking trip. I’m creating a piece of work called ‘The Appointment.’ As I walk, I visit friends along the way. The inspiration for this work came from a missed appointment last May, and I want to convey the friendship between friends in the simplest and most sincere way.”
It turned out that during the 2011 Labor Day holiday, Bai Chongming had promised to visit a friend in the Huairou mountain area, but his son suddenly fell ill, causing him to break the promise. Later, he learned that his friend had waited at home for him those days.
Bai felt deeply guilty. Later, he decided to walk to Huairou to “atone” to his friend. He set out from Beijing at 6 a.m., walked the 65-kilometer journey in 18 hours straight, and arrived at his friend’s house at midnight with blisters all over his feet. His friend was deeply moved — not only did he prepare hot water for Bai to soak his feet, but he also wrote him a four-character poem as a gift. That incident inspired Bai, and he decided at the time to spend two years walking ten thousand miles to visit friends scattered across the country.
Pulling a Cart and Singing Along — Not Hardship, But Joy
“I set out from Beijing on June 15 last year, passing through Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan, and I plan to return to Beijing around March or April this year,” Bai explained. He originally intended to complete the trek in two years, but after smoothly reaching Longquan, Zhejiang, from Beijing, he found that it took less time than expected and that both his physical condition and mental state remained good — so he decided to continue and compress the plan into one year.
“My trek is different from ordinary backpacking trips. Because the journey is so long, carrying a backpack all the time can cause skin problems, so I found a small cart to put my luggage in and pull it along the way.” Bai isn’t doing this alone — a friend named A-Bing joined him in the trek, and the two often write poems to encourage themselves along the way, finding plenty of joy in the journey.
Bai is from Shenyang. Fifteen years ago, he went to Beijing to develop his career and later became a well-known oil painter in China. Zhou Bin, a friend in the circle, speaks highly of “The Appointment,” saying, “In ancient times, people would walk thousands of miles to deliver a feather for a friend. So I’m especially moved by the simple and unadorned quality of Bai Chongming’s work.”