Silk Road tourism new way to learn about China

[File photo]

For Heinrich Schultz, a 77-year-old German retiree, this is a chance of a lifetime. Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

Speaking of his trip, he says: "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child, but now I finally have a chance to experience it."

The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. They will then enter China from the country's western border.

Liu Guosheng, chief of China Tours, which co-organized the trip, says: "It will be an unforgettable experience to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific."

According to him, nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer trip will be inside China.

From Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities.

"We have been running this trip for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries, have been joining us," says Liu.

Nearly 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and some 5 million of them were from Europe.

Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and the Yangtze River are traditional Chinese travel destinations for European tourists.

Speaking of what he wants to see, Schultz says: "Compared with modern cities, western China is more attractive for me. The culture, ethic minorities, their lives ... all these are very interesting."

The China National Tourism Administration sees "Silk Road Tourism" as a new brand to attract foreign visitors, and have made this its leading tourism promotion theme for the past two years.

As Shi Xiang, the head of the China National Tourism Administration office in Frankfurt, says: "It is good for people to know more about China, especially the northwestern part of the country."