01 · A LIFE ON THE ROAD
Travel has shaped who I am.
I was born in Chongqing and later spent many years in Tokyo, where I studied and worked. Before travel became the centre of my life, I tried different paths: management consulting, education and starting businesses of my own. Each experience gave me something, but the road was always what kept calling me back.
I love researching somewhere unfamiliar, arriving and trying to understand how it became the place it is today. A building, a meal or a conversation can change the way I see it. Eventually, I realised travel was more than a hobby; it was something I wanted to give a substantial part of my life to.
02 · LEARNING TO LOOK AGAIN
From seeing places
to understanding them.
When I was younger, travel felt like collecting destinations: more countries, famous landmarks and new experiences. I also used to dislike travelling in China, noticing what felt untidy or manufactured for tourists and assuming the most worthwhile places would be in highly developed countries. Later, I realised that what needed to change was the way I looked at the world.
“I’ve been there” stopped being enough. I began asking questions that made me look closer, and stay longer:
Why did this place become what it is? How have these buildings survived? How do people here understand their hometown? What might I see if I stayed one more day?
Travel also gives me a little distance from everyday life. On a plateau or in a village moving at its own pace, worries that felt enormous in the city can seem smaller. There has never been just one right way to live.
03 · PLACES, HISTORY & PEOPLE
A deeper connection
to the places and people.
I rarely arrive without preparing. Before visiting Shanxi, I read about timber architecture, temple layouts and the history around them. Standing in front of a thousand-year-old building, a beam or painted sculpture then becomes more than something to photograph. It connects the place in front of me with the centuries it has lived through.
I am increasingly drawn to small cities, villages and places that rarely make the must-see lists. There may be no famous landmark, but a local breakfast, a shared meal or a conversation at a village entrance can stay with me longer than a celebrated sight. In northern Shaanxi, a mother told me how happily she was saving for her first visit to Beijing. Somewhere familiar to one person can be another person’s dream.
China’s new and old often exist in the same afternoon: a high-speed train, an ancient timber building, everyday life moving at a different pace outside the city. Modernisation has not erased history. Both are still unfolding, and talking to local people helps me understand how they see their hometown, rather than only how it looks to a visitor.
04 · WHY RJJ TRAVEL
Sharing a different
side of China.
Through my own travels and films, I have developed a way of exploring that feels right to me: fewer stops, slower routes, and deciding what is actually worth the time. I want to understand places rather than collect them, while keeping enough freedom for everyday life, an unexpected conversation or another day somewhere that deserves it.
That is why I created RJJ Travel. I wanted to share the China I have come to know, and help curious travellers explore it with a little more understanding and a little less hurry.
Design your journey
A trip shaped around your interests, dates and pace. Choose a personal plan to follow independently, or ask for help arranging stays, transport, guides and local experiences.
Explore our journeys
Choose a scheduled small-group departure or request a private journey for your own group. Some departures are hosted by me, while others are led by local English-speaking guides. Your host or guide will be confirmed before booking.