Traveling your own road

Yangko, a popular folk dance in Bazhou. Photo provided to China Daily

Jumping in the car, winding down the windows and feeling the wind whip through your hair as you hit the open road on a sunny summer day is a feeling like no other.

Road trips have inspired and been the backdrop for many Hollywood blockbuster movies and in the United States are seen, by many, as a national right of passage, or as the comedy Road Trip describes it "the greatest college traditional of all".

Stop at any service station the world over and you are bound to see groups of girls who hit the highway belting out pop songs stopping to stock up on snacks, or families listening to story tapes and filling their cars with gasoline.

Every road trip has its challenges, whether it's getting lost, arguing over directions or dealing with backseat moans of "are we there yet?". 

However, with the freedom to explore where you want and when you want road trips remain one of the most popular holiday choices. As people have become more cash-conscious, they are more popular than ever.

In China, the concept of a road trip as a holiday option is still emerging but it has huge potential, according to Li Jinping, president of the Hebei Self-driving Tourism and RV Camping Association.

Li says last year, there were 3.22 billion journeys made in China and more than half of them, 1.73 billion, were independent driving ones.

"Self-drive travel has just begun in China, but the activity has a long history in European developed countries, which have comparatively complete systems worth learning from," he says.