ABSTRACT
A significant phenomenon has lately emerged in the tourism landscape of China: groups of young Chinese backpackers, often with expensive gear, have become a ubiquitous sight. The absence of the Chinese backpacking phenomenon from the tourism literature in the late 1990s shows how recent this phenomenon has been. Superficially, these Chinese backpackers – usually carrying haversacks and donning outdoor adventure attire – seem similar to their Western counterparts. However, the particular historical moment that led to the emergence of the Chinese backpackers, and the specificities of the political and social environment within which they conduct their various activities, make the study of the Chinese backpackers especially useful for the comparative study of backpacking in tourism studies. Such a study is also illuminative of the broader cultural transitions that China is currently undergoing. I argue in this chapter that while the Chinese backpackers manifest certain features common to backpackers portrayed in tourism studies, they do exhibit specific ‘Chinese characteristics.’ This study highlights the importance of examining the backpacking phenomenon in its diverse cultural and social contexts, as well as the necessity of examining the impact of the Internet on the formation of travel communities.
