Got Itchy Feet? You Can Now Visit China from Home on YouTube

With strict border controls due to the Covid-19 pandemic, China is now more difficult to reach than ever. Luckily, the creative person behind the YouTube channel Walk East is offering travel-hungry folks an inside look at some of China’s most spectacular locations — and you can watch from the comfort of your armchair.

From the Bund in Shanghai to a remote mountain in Hunan, the channel offers you an authentic, on-the-ground look at China’s most popular tourist attractions (and more!) through filmed walking tours.

If you want an immersive experience, project the channel’s videos on a wall or play on a big screen to feel like you are actually there. The videos are in 4k resolution, facilitating big-screen viewing.

The Walk East channel, which has more than 96,000 subscribers, also offers English-language subtitles on its content.

The video tour of Shanghai’s central area at night, which clocks in at over 57 minutes in length, was the most popular video on the channel at the time of writing, with almost 1 million views. It takes you through some of the metropolis’ most iconic sites, including the Bund, West Nanjing Road, Shimao Square, and the flamboyant M&M flagship store.

Walk East’s adventure in the Forbidden City in Beijing is another must-see video. The popular tourist attraction was built as a royal palace in the 1400s during the Ming Dynasty.

If you are looking for a video adventure in somewhere more rural, look no further than the channel’s walk through a village in Southeast China’s Fujian province. The town is inhabited by the Hakka people, famous for their temples for ancestor worship and their unique clan-housing circular structures known as tulou (which will be familiar to those who have watched Disney’s 2020 remake of Mulan).

If you’re keen on lesser-seen rural areas in China, the channel also offers a fascinating (albeit somewhat dull) drive through Changsha county in the country’s central Hunan province.

A bonus is that this channel’s videos also offer an ASMR effect. In less populated places, all you can hear is the sound of the wind, footsteps, and zippers when the filmmaker is fetching something.

If lockdowns and quarantine measures have got you wishing you could escape to a faraway land, this YouTube channel might be precisely what you need. Traveling to China has never been easier!

Cover image via Depositphotos