The village travel has become a fashion in Shanghai. On each weekend, hundred of thousand of people go to suburbs to enjoy the amusement that they get from the nature and experience a real pastoral life.

The village travel in Shanghai can be traced back in the early of 1990s. The Chongming County first promoted the village travel project on the basis of the local pastoral scenery and ecological environment, which lured a great many travelers from urban city during the preliminary operation on the National Day Holiday last year. During the Labor Day Holiday this year, more travelers poured in and its visiting number was even over 4 times than the last whole year.

The reason that urban people are in favor of the village travel is that it is totally different from traditional ones. Travelers are arranged to cultivate land, go fishing, watch folk costumes and live in cottages. All these make travelers feel they are the hosts themselves in the pastoral life.

It is learned that many other counties in Shanghai will follow the Chongming County’s step and begin to prepare village travel projects right now. Some experts point out the village travels should be particular and colorful in contents. For instant, some can make costal village travel and some can handle particular agricultural travel. Some can even open the reviewing village travel for the educated youth, the young people sent to the countryside for reeducation during the Cultural Revolution from 1967-1976.

Generally to say, features are key fundamentals in travel. People should pay attention to it when developing the village travels

(china.org.cn 06/08/2001)