The scenic beauty of Huangshan or Yellow Mountains has inspired centuries of art and draws millions of tourists.One time, he climbed to the top of the 1,864m range - and began to sing on camera. Another time, he got to the centre of a walking bridge and launched into a popular bodybuilding routine to attract online viewers.
Even in 2020, in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, park authorities had to close the attraction after visitors swamped the trails over the May 1 weekend, their numbers well over the daily limit of 20,000. Tour guides have been forced to adapt, some switching careers and others learning new ways to do their job, such as taking their tours online.
At the time, Yang had already been out of work for a month. To make ends meet, he took a job moving boxes at the local mask factory. When he saw an advertisement for the training sessions he thought he could try live-streaming."When you are leading tours, you take the tourists through the park on a tight schedule," he said. "But while live-streaming, the viewers ask you to stay there until they are satisfied with the view.
But Chinese tour guides have little choice. Xiaoxian is a guide for the Lushan national park in eastern China's Jiangxi province. The attraction has been closed since March when Jiangxi was hit by a fresh coronavirus outbreak.Yao Junjie, a tour guide in Huizhou, a town near Huangshan, said the park put in place harsh Covid-19 restrictions since an outbreak in nearby cities.
Other cities have also turned to alternative methods to promote "cloud tourism". In March, during a lockdown in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, the local government opened up an online channel for people to view the famed rhododendron spring blooms on Wutong mountain.The autonomous prefecture in southwestern Yunnan province, home to the Dai ethnic minority, celebrated the festival with 13 tour guides live-streaming various activities.