Glamping It Up

By Yuan Yuan

When he is not at work， he is busy with his camping business. Yu Sanshui， a 31-year-old digital product engineer in Beijing， spends over 70 percent of his spare time on camping-related activities. He rented a 12-square-meter warehouse space in northwestern suburban Beijing as his “base” and goes there almost every day.

The engineer slash vlogger slash camper originally rented the space to store his extensive camping equipment， which simply cannot fit into his apartment. Since his first camping experience back in 2018， he has spent a total of roughly 150，000 yuan （$23，190） on gear. Every time he goes out camping， he picks up differently composed kits from his base.

China has seen a boom in glamping， a portmanteau of “glamorous” and “camping，” since last year and Yu wants to up his game in this industry. He set up his own camping brand， Water Glampro， and created an account on Douyin， a major short video platform in China， together with five other people. He goes to the base on weekdays after work to shoot videos evaluating camping gear. On the weekend， the team member spend their time visiting campsites around the capital to produce introduction videos. Today， their account has over 14，000 followers.

The camping boom

Trapped by the pandemic， many Chinese urbanites are turning to glamping as a new pastime. The year 2020 was considered by many to be the making of glamping in China.

It is a sooner-or-later find for urban residents in pursuit of a quick retreat from the concrete and steel jungle， as Yu claimed， and the pandemic just offered a strong push and made the trend develop earlier.

This outdoorsy engineer has been making weekend trips around Beijings downtown since 2009. At the time， he didnt have a car of his own and used to rent one almost every weekend to indulge in his hobby. He had heard of camping years ago， but only gave it a first go in 2018， together with his wife， in Zhangjiakou， a city that is just a two-hour drive from Beijing.

“Camping， in earlier years， was mostly for those exploring the rough outdoors， like people trekking through the desert，” Yu told Beijing Review. “The equipment they use is more for surviving than for enjoyment. The image of camping thus was a pretty tough one， far removed from the daily lives of ordinary people.”

Urban explorers， in recent years， have turned their sights to camping as they grew tired of hotelstay travel style. They started spending their money on quality facilities and shared their camping pictures on social media. The idyllic views of tents in a grassland or by a river soon attracted growing public interest in camping. Facilities that allow people to get close to nature while still able to enjoy the comforts of modern luxury have given wings to a novel camping style—glamping.