While the pandemic has prevented people from traveling afar, there’s a silver lining to that dark cloud: micro-tourism, or mini-vacations.

Micro-tourism refers to short-distance travel in which people drive two or three hours to a nearby destination and spend two or three days. With the pandemic prevention and control measures making long and distant trips less convenient, more and more Chinese people choose to take short trips instead. Mark Hou from Beijing is one of them. Before the pandemic, the 28-year-old preferred taking long trips abroad or leaving Beijing to see places of interest in other Chinese provinces. But the pandemic meant he had to adapt to a new travel style.

“Traveling a long distance means you should take public transportation. But that would be likely to increase the chances of infection, ” Hou said. “To stay healthy, short-distance travel is the better choice.”

After a long and tiring week at work, Hou likes to invite three or four friends and drive to Beijing’s suburbs on weekends. “In the peach blossom season, we go to the mountains with many peach trees. Walking in the mountains, we not only get the fresh air and have exercise, but also enjoy the beauty of flowers,” Hou explained. “When we feel tired, we can put up a tent to rest and have a picnic. That can ease tensions of daily life.”

To adapt to the new trend, many cities also create more opportunities for tourists. For example, in 2020, Shanghai launched a number of micro-tourism products for half-day and one-day tours, including exploring cultural heritage sites in the city experiencing rural life and going hiking. Destinations around cities, parks, campsites and resorts are offering new, specialized facilities and services for RV (房车) camping, jubensha parties, barbecues and picnics.

“With these programs, young tourists no longer look to get ‘distance’, but are willing to find new ways to experience their cities,” Feng Rao, head of Mafengwo Tourism Research Center, told People’s Daily.

Travel doesn’t mean you need to go far away to find a resting place for your heart. That’s also the mission of the micro-tourism.

When Dong Yuhui, a former English tutor at New Oriental, first started to host livestreams (直播) selling products on the company’s Douyin channel, there were only five viewers, which included his parents and the parents of another host.

“For a period of time, I felt quite down because I couldn’t s    51     the point of making the effort. Those were the darkest hours and now the dawn has come. I am glad that I didn’t give up selling vegetables o    52    ,” said Dong.

The clips (片段) of Dong introducing steaks in b    53     Chinese and English went viral on social media as people began to notice that the channel was very d    54     from others that typically feature (以……为特色) hosts screaming about how low the prices of the products are. While talking about the quality of the steak, Dong also t    55     the viewers how to order steak in English at a restaurant.

After the “double reduction” policy was introduced, he started his new job at DongfangZhenxuan as a host. “I was sad knowing that I can no longer teach. It took a while for me to adjust to the new r    56    , he said. “Former teacher, current salesman” is how he d    57     himself on his personal Douyin account.

But people have realized that Dong is no ordinary salesman. On Monday, while selling dried Antarctic krill, Dong told viewers that “krill” is just one of several English nouns used to refer to shrimps and related sea creatures. Comments started to flood in from viewers saying that they never e    58     to learn something from a channel that sells things. Some even said they didn’t know whether they should buy things or take n    59    .

The viewers were also impressed with his views on different literary works i    60     those of William Shakespeare. “I am in my comfort zone when talking about books. I can air my views about them non-stop for three days,” Dong said.