Journey of love and loneliness

The 7,000-km tour ends up with a coauthored Chinese-language book, A Journey of Love and Loneliness. Photo provided to China Daily

From 2008 to 2012, Dou and his friend took in about 100 children with autism and spent more than 4 million yuan ($650,000). "Most families who send their children to us are already very poor, so we charge nothing," Dou tells China Daily.

In the center's fourth year they ran out of money and had no choice but to close the doors.

"Originally, I planned to make a cross-country journey to do some final fundraising for the children," says Dou. "Like a farewell tour."

When the mother of an autistic man, Chen Meng, learned about Dou's plan, she asked the businessman to take Chen along on the trip.

"I initially agreed, thinking they were joking but it turned out they were serious. I was a little bit worried," says Dou. "However, we decided to give it a try."

Dou says that it is difficult to tell if someone is autistic simply by looking at them, so when they behave childishly or unusually, they are often misunderstood and criticized.

"If more people start to understand autism and are therefore patient and understanding of the abnormal behavior of people with autism, it will be helpful for their rehabilitation," says Dou.

On Aug 24, 2012, Dou and Chen set off from Mohe, the country's northernmost county in Heilongjiang province, and traveled all the way down to Sanya on Hainan Island－the southernmost city of China.