The backpacker said he had just arrived from Kunming by train, and is planning to go to Hong Kong. He claims to only have RMB 40 on his person, and is relying on the generosity of others to cover his train tickets and accommodation.

The backpacker follows in the steps of 25 year-old Victor from Poland who was seen begging at Guangzhou East Railway Station last November. Victor said he ran out of money while backpacking, and relied on the kindness of strangers, while police and workers at the station claim Victor is a professional panhandler who can make as much as RMB 1000 a day.

Much like the Russian backpacker, Victor said he intended to use the money earned from begging to travel to Kunming, and then continue onwards to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

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Most people would like to crawl into a big, comfy bed after a long day of sightseeing. But for some Chinese, the perfect way to end their days when traveling is to fall asleep in a room full of books.

As reported by the People’s Daily Online, bookstores doubling as hostels is a growing trend that may become mainstream in China. Mephisto Bookstore in Shanghai has experimented with renting out a pair of rooms, and ten bookstores have expressed an interest in pursuing the idea in the future.

But of all the places to fall asleep in, why a bookstore? We could guess that there’s familiarity in books, or that bookstores are already associated with being a quiet place, or that spending more time in a literary environment can make one smarter through osmosis.

But Lian Zhen of the Fengyasong Bookstore in Qianzhou has a more heartfelt answer: romance. Lian said that she has missed out on visiting a number of famous international bookstores due to a lack of time, and theorizes it would be more ideal if bookstores would destinations to stay at, rather than visit:

If a bookstore was the very last stop of my day (while traveling) in which I could put up my feet, read, and then go to bed, then that would be an exquisite experience.

Author Pan Caifu has long called for bookstores to serve as accommodations:

Bookstores are the most beautiful places to stay in. Why not have bookstore managers become landlords and accept book-loving backpackers as temporary tenants?

Bookstores around the world have been impacted by electronic publishing, as brick-and-mortar bookstores have had to contend with competition from online booksellers who don’t need to contend with retail spaces and customers who browse their products all day without making one purchase.

At the same time, accommodation-sharing services like Airbnb have leveled the playing field, allowing backpackers to seek out overnight vacancies in bookstores. Some backpackers have set up tents on bookstore floors during their stays among shelves of books. Because even if you can’t get to sleep in a bookstore, you can always find something to read until you do.

The post Introducing China’s Newest Accommodation Hotspot: Bookstores appeared first on The Nanfang.

The 25 year-old Polish man, identified as “Victor”, said he arrived in Guangzhou last week and quickly spent the $500 he had saved to backpack throughout Asia. With no money, Victor has had to rely on the kindness of strangers who have been willing to help him buy the 200 yuan ticket to Kunming, where he plans to continue onward to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

Knowing no Chinese, Victor sits at the No. 1 entrance to the train station with a sign that reads “Ticket to Kunming” (seen below).

However, locals say Victor is lying, and that he’s always at the train station panhandling. A janitor named Zhang claims he even knows how much Victor makes in a typical day:

Don’t believe him, he’s been here for about ten days now. Foreigners are generous and give him one or two hundred yuan while Chinese usually just give him ten or twenty yuan. In a day, he can usually make about a thousand yuan.

An unidentified police officer confirmed Zhang’s account saying, “He’s been here for about a month now. I saw him before I went on my vacation on October 10.”

When a reporter with the Southern Capital Report confronted Victor, he immediately came clean and explained, “I’ve been here for ten days, but if I were to explain that I’ve been here for so long, people will get mad.” When asked how much money he has made from begging, Victor would only say that Guangzhou residents are “really friendly”.

If it seems like Victor has worn out his welcome in Guangzhou, no one appears to be showing him the door. Guangzhou police have admitted there’s little they can do:

He hasn’t caused a public disturbance, so we can’t force him to leave. Sometimes we have a communication problem (with him).

The fluently-English speaking Polish expat said that he has decided to leave for Kunming very soon, but then cryptically ended the interview by asking:

Out of a hundred percent, how much of my story do you believe?

Related:

• Giant LED screen in Shenzhen broadcasts footage of alleged fake beggars
• Beggars in Shenzhen living secret lives of luxury? Some say it’s true

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A British man backpacking his way around the world in his wheelchair has found the Chinese leg of his tour to be the most challenging out of the dozen countries he has visited so far.

Blogging on BBC News, James Ballardie writes that Chinese facilities for disabled people are lacking. “Carrying out even the most basic of tasks in a wheelchair in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an and Shenzhen felt like I was competing in The Hunger Games,” said Ballardie.

Ballardie had a lot of trouble crossing the roads in China, an act that was a case of “life and death”. Ballardie noted that he was prevented from using many pedestrian walkways due to stairs, and that elevators were often not available. Barred from crossing the road except at intersections due to pedestrian fences, Ballardie said the dangers of crossing the road was part of China’s “aggressively Darwinist approach” throughout society.

One barrier Ballardie was constantly faced with is the men kan (门槛), the wooden beams at the bottom of doorways of many traditional Chinese buildings. While he acknowledged the traditional purpose of the men kan is to keep out evil spirits, Ballardie was forced to get out of his wheelchair several dozen times a day during his visit to China:

Men kan are not a lack of facilities – they are an obstacle created by people. It would cost less to not build men kan, with the only drawback being an excess of evil spirits in the house. To me, men kan summed up the Chinese attitude to accessibility I experienced – not a priority.

Ballardie also observed that he attracted a lot of attention wherever he went, something that many foreign visitors to China may experience themselves. Calling it “totally inoffensive but utterly exhausting,” Ballardie said he was often photographed throughout China, with one person even going so far as to pinch his knee in Shanghai.

[It] left me feeling more like a C-list celebrity than an exhibit in a freak show. It’s like being in a strange parallel universe where everyone around you has lost their inhibitions.

Even though many Chinese cities offer handicapped facilities such as Braille signs at subway stations and raised pedestrian markers on sidewalks, acceptance of handicapped people has been a long time coming in China. For the first time on May 1, seeing-eye dogs became legally allowed on Beijing subways and trains throughout the country.

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