Comments on: Traveler’s Guide to Camping in China in 2025

By: Josh Summers

Josh Summers — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 01:55:08 +0000

In reply to Romain. China is a massive country, and no one person, contact or website has information on all the wild camping spots. You'll need to see if you can find localized information, which more than likely will be in Chinese. If you can't read Chinese, you either need to use Google Translate or just hope for the best.

By: Romain

Romain — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 13:50:20 +0000

HI JOSH,
thanks for the great article about camping in china. we are planing a road trip leaving from shanghai mid august, we are traveling in suv and have no special plan or direction, we just want to drive and sleep in nature, waking in middle of wildness. i would like to check with if you have any contact / website or advice on where to find nice spots to wild camp, (basically to help us building our itinerary) knowing that we are very open on the destination. we plan to leave for around 2 weeks. thanks a lot. cheers

By: Josh Summers

Josh Summers — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 01:58:13 +0000

In reply to Cameron. A law selectively applied is not really a law. I can't share with you a specific Chinese law because the police could never show me a specific law (and I asked). Sometimes they would tell me I'm find, other times they would tell me it's "against the law".

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 28 May 2020 03:06:24 +0000

Inconsistencies in enforcing the law doesn’t mean there is no law. I think it is quite irrisponsible for you to claim that it is “both legal and illegal” without pointing to any specific laws. Perhaps you are right, but I’d like to see the evidence. Like me, you are someone who lives in China, so we both know that in practice, this is what often happens – the law exists, and is selectively applied.

The loophole that you can take an overnight train (a ticket you must purchase with your passport) doesn’t mean that all other forms of “non-registered” residency are permissible.

By: Josh Summers

Josh Summers — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 06:42:43 +0000

In reply to Jerome. Thanks so much for the comment, Jerome! I'm glad to know you had a good time in the Taklamakan. You guys were brave :)

By: Jerome

Jerome — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 03:36:10 +0000

Hi, I camped in the Taklamakan Desert with my bike – yep Josh, that’s me 🙂

And I can only agree with what Josh said. No issue until you get discovered and indeed, on my last day, a patrol saw the tent and escorted me to the nearest hotel…60 kilometers away at 1am in the morning. Being in Xinjiang probably made it worst. Take all your trash and respect the nature and it should be ok. Thanks Josh for the advice!

By: Krasen Jelyazkov

Krasen Jelyazkov — Mon, 20 May 2019 10:35:45 +0000

Yes, camping in China is a really exciting experience. I have made it many times- in South China Karst hills areas, in Eastern Tibet (Western Sichuan and Qinghai) and on the beaches of Guangdong. We have never had any problems with camping. Actually, there are places on the beach that the local park managers allow camping. For example, we had camping on Xichong beach in Shenzhen. The beach has entrance fee and they offer tents for rent. We had camping at the coast of Yilhun Lha Tso Lake in Eastern Tibet, with is again a national park with entrance fee, and the local park managers just require paying a small fee for camping. We have camped also in completely wild areas, and honestly, I don’t know how dangerous it is. We hadn’t any problems, but I can’t say is it because the place was safe, or because just we were lucky.

By: Josh Summers

Josh Summers — Fri, 10 May 2019 15:55:10 +0000

In reply to Trip to the Wild. I would bring one that you don't mind having confiscated if it came to that.

By: Trip to the Wild

Trip to the Wild — Fri, 10 May 2019 13:42:02 +0000

That’s scary that you can be picked up for spying for just having a GPS. would it be recommended to bring a pocket knife for camping purposes?

By: Josh Summers

Josh Summers — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 01:06:34 +0000

In reply to Nicholas. The only place I know of would be an outdoor hiking store.