Take me home, county roads

Standing atop Chijia Mountain above the Yangtze River in Chongqing's Fengjie county, known as Kuizhou during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Chen Xiangying finally understood why Du Fu, the great poet, produced hundreds of poems despite spending only about a year and nine months there.

She had not come merely as a sightseer, but as a reader, following the geography of classical Chinese poetry.

Chen, a 39-year-old university lecturer in ancient literature from Yan'an, Shaanxi province, said the experience of visiting the places she had read about was completely different from reading about them in books.

"When I actually got there, I felt very different. Du Fu's poems suddenly appeared in front of me. He wrote, 'The Chijia and Baiyan peaks rise, both piercing the sky'. And then I understood why Du Fu wrote those poems," Chen said.

Chen's experience is part of a broader shift in China's domestic tourism market, as growing numbers of urban residents turn away from megacities and popular ancient towns and toward county-level destinations in search of unpolished landscapes, living cultural memories and a slower pace of life.

In August, Chen and a friend traveled to Fengjie and Wushan counties in Chongqing.

"They're small counties, but the cultural accumulation is incredibly deep. Not only Du Fu, but also poets like Li Bai and Bai Juyi passed through and wrote about them," she said.

What also moved her was the sense of stepping out of time.

"The streets still look like the 1990s or the early 2000s. In a second you're back in childhood. It's completely different from Shanghai or Beijing. Here, you can still see the past, including old restaurants, old buildings and places with stories."

In the counties, Chen noticed that the ride-hailing drivers she met seemed genuinely content.

"They were not exhausted, not like drivers in big cities. One driver warmly shared some local knowledge with us and gave us a glimpse into everyday life in the area," she said.

"Small restaurant owners worked briskly and cheerfully. We'd watch what locals ordered and order the same."

But county rhythms are not urban rhythms. If visitors miss the meal window, there may be no food available. The famous local buns, for example, were sold out by 9 am, she said.

"I had a wonderful time, and I ate very well. It's worth going, not because food and lodging are cheap, but because the experience is real."

She was also impressed by the way the Wushan Museum presents local history.