Travel writer Paul hiked China from Sichuan, Shaanxi to Shanxi
After nearly a year of trekking, travel writer Paul Salopeko, who is currently crossing China on foot, has entered Sichuan from Yunnan. On the evening of September 12th, the documentary series "Forever Walk: Meeting China", which tells the story of his hiking journey with Chinese hiking partners from Sichuan, Shaanxi to Shanxi, will premiere on Oriental TV's new documentary slot. It will be broadcast to hundreds of millions of households in more than 170 countries and regions covered by National Geographic worldwide.
Documentary poster
In the previous episode of the documentary "Encountering the Minjiang River" aired tomorrow, viewers will see Paul and his hiking partner Li Hewlett Packard walking on the land of Sichuan. His first stop was the Sanxingdui ruins not far from Chengdu. Upon entering the archaeological excavation site, he was shocked by the ancient Shu civilization that had existed for thousands of years. Starting from Sanxingdui and heading north, Paul continued to walk along Minjiang River, one of the largest tributaries of the Yangtze River, to Dujiangyan Irrigation Project City. Professor Luo Xin from the Department of History at Peking University also joined the journey. He had known Paul many years ago and paid tribute to him in his own book. In the hot summer, the three people walked along the Minjiang River to Dujiangyan Irrigation Project, experiencing the complementarity between the river and human civilization.
Paul came to Sanxingdui to witness the long history of civilization
Paul's journey to the world of hiking began in January 2013. He set off from Ethiopia in Africa and embarked on a global hiking journey. He plans to spend more than a decade following the human route out of Africa, crossing four continents, and walking all the way to Tierra del Fuego in South America. In September 2021, Paul embarked on a hiking trip in China in Yunnan. He planned to walk through Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and even the China Russia border.
Documentary stills
In the next episode of the documentary "Between Qin and Jin" to be aired on September 19th, Paul will enter northern Shaanxi from Sichuan. Accompanied by his hiking companion Liu Lifeng, Paul embarked on his tenth year of hiking on the Loess Plateau. They traveled north from Shaanxi, crossed the Yellow River, and entered Shanxi. Walking between the Qin and Jin dynasties, Paul set up a tent near the Yellow River to experience the natural scenery along the Yellow River. He also met Xi Fangqin, a folk artist of Paper Cuttings, Bai Mingli, a inheritor of Shaanxi folk music, and Wei San, a farmer in Shanxi.
Documentary stills
"Forever Walk: Meeting China" is jointly created by the Documentary Center of Shanghai Radio and Television Station and National Geographic. It revolves around the journey of renowned travel writer, National Geographic explorer, and two Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Salopeko, who travels through China on foot. Through his hiking and observation, he showcases a trustworthy, adorable, and respectable image of China to the world. This project has been selected as a key topic in the 14th Five Year Plan for documentaries by the State Administration of Radio and Television. It is an annual Sino foreign television co production project of the State Administration of Radio and Television, and has received funding support from the State Administration's key international exchange and cooperation projects, as well as major literary and artistic creation funding from the Shanghai Cultural Development Fund.
During Paul's travels in China, Shanghai Broadcasting and Television Documentary Center, National Geographic, and Paul's 14 overseas social media accounts simultaneously posted hiking content on overseas social media. They have sent over 3000 tweets, gained over 6 million interactions and views, and reached hundreds of millions of overseas users.
Overseas social media tweets
