Tales of the unexpected

In 2018, the foundation received a total of 500 applications, from which five proposals were selected. These included Pamir Mountains by Liu Zichao, Belgrade and Sarajevo by Bai Lin, and bird-watching in the Indonesian islands by Feng Meng-chieh from Taiwan. All of the winning applicants are in their 20s or 30s.

"Travel writing has not been a well-developed category, so far, in China, although there are some established older writers. Decades ago, fewer people had the chance to go outside of China to see the world, to communicate with locals using foreign languages, and to bring their stories and observations back with good writing," Wu says.

However, Chinese people now have an unprecedented chance to travel around the world or to access information about the outside world, whether from books or online, especially before the pandemic, he says. In the past, the world was discovered and written about by travelers largely from developed countries, such as Britain, France and the United States.

Gradually, more Chinese people went to these destinations. First, groups of noisy sightseers and shoppers, and then more independent backpackers and travel writers, including overseas students, have joined in globalization and the literary tradition of travel writing, Wu says.

"Such a trend will reflect on Chinese travel writing," he says. "For example, if you see Liu Zichao's three books based on his travels, obviously the most recently published is very different from the first printed in 2015, with much progress and change."