Where We Come From | Cangshan Hiking Family

We are not a company; we are friends from the community who gradually gathered together but work independently.

2019

The beginning of the travel experience. At the start of the year, to pass the time, I often took Nomi (my little dog) hiking in the mountains and met new friends. I launched a "hiking experience + home-cooked dinner" on Airbnb, and the travelers who joined loved it and recommended it to friends. In the same year, because we needed to provide guests with some travel and activity information, we opened a public account: Cangshan Hiking Family. Airbnb experiences perfectly suited someone like me — personal interests, sharing life, and a solo traveler can join. This tradition has continued to this day.

2020

A few friends joined. Because I was sometimes away, travelers hoped that trusted friends could lead their hikes, so Honghong, Caifeng, and Xiaojing started to join. Like me, they did it as a joy of life and a small supplement to their income.

2021

Travel guests steadily increased. In July, Xiaojing began learning about wild mushrooms and happened to meet Dajie (a local sister) on Cangshan. She learned from her, went into the mountains together, and gradually practiced leading guests to pick mushrooms. But her main job was still as a photographer. Although we had recommendations from past guests, the pandemic caused a sharp decline in Airbnb guests, so we opened an account on Dianping (a local review platform) and started having guests find us from there.

2022

The team began to grow. During the pandemic, the number of guests skyrocketed: many people came to Dali, which was seen as an ark (because of its good natural conditions, no major outbreaks, and important open policies). This was a trend of the times. The suppression of the pandemic made more people cherish what matters beyond work, such as nature, the outdoors, and time with family. At the end of June, during the summer, more friends joined: A'cheng, Xiaochun, and Xiaoli all came to help temporarily to cope with the growing demand from travelers. That summer, Xiaojing formed a foraging group, and Yanzi joined the foraging group. We also expanded from hiking on nearby Cangshan to rural trips in Eryuan, paddleboarding, and camping. In August, Wangyue and Wangwang joined. In that first year, we entered a busy working period. As the lead guide and also the main customer service person, I was overwhelmed under this primitive way of working. I began to doubt whether this business, even if it became better, had lost its joy, and whether I should continue. Under this pressure, in August, a month later, I created a small program (Tiantian Yuyue, or "Daily Booking") that allowed bookings by date and activity. This greatly relieved the pressure and laid the foundation for absorbing more partners in the coming year. Also that year, Airbnb withdrew from China, partly due to the pandemic's pressure and a lack of confidence in the future.

2023

An even busier year. Members of the "Late Night Diner" gradually returned. In January, He Chen, after much persuasion from Xiaochun, returned to Dali from Chengdu and began to try joining, though with no clue and little confidence. Xiaochun told me that if there wasn't enough work, he could share his own work with He Chen. Later, Li Zhenhao also came to Dali because of He Chen. In March, Aruna joined through Honghong's introduction. We prepared for the summer in the spring. In March, Atu joined us to lead stargazing activities after being recommended by a guest, and Chunyu also joined in April, just before the summer holiday, because of Xiaochun's recommendation. Huanhuan also joined during the summer as a way to adjust from her busy work at Huanque Restaurant. That summer was particularly busy. The new team, having prepared well, went through a busy summer and grew quickly. Because of gout, I stopped leading tours and focused entirely on customer service. Despite the support of the mini program, it was still very exhausting. Apart from sleeping, all my time was occupied, and I again reflected on this bottleneck. In October, we began to form small groups. Activities were divided into different groups, each led by senior guides who were already familiar with the execution. Each group had its own name and set up its own social media accounts, such as public accounts on WeChat and Xiaohongshu. They handled their own customer service, tried to operate independently, and grow. The guides are freelance guides and can join the activities of different groups; they can lead in one group and also serve as a leading guide in another group. So, it was just modular independence and decentralization, which could overcome the central bottleneck and rigidity, but without restricting or binding people. This achievement was also thanks to the technical support of "Tiantian Yuyue," which allowed groups to be managed independently within the mini program. That was a huge help.

2024

Another busiest year. In the initial stage of the groups' independent operation, activities were no longer under unified customer service and scheduling. The lead guides of each group began to contact guests directly at the beginning, accumulating experience in direct customer service. Based on their experience, they planned routes, arranged guides, and made their own choices. The original routes were generally maintained, but adjustments and updates were already made by each group. Some new routes were explored by the groups themselves, such as the Fengyu Country Fair, picking green plums to make wine, Nuodeng, the two-day trip to Shaxi, Kuosongping hiking, Muxiangping hiking, and Shangri-La travel. The groups began to take responsibility for writing their own activity descriptions and launching them. Under the new working method, we encountered some difficulties but also gained a new understanding of the overall work. DD joined in the summer of this year through Wangyue's introduction. Captain (Chuanzhang) found us through friends, and Lini also joined that year, introduced by Captain. Ding Dage, Laoshuai from Shengkai Bicycle Shop, and Randi joined in October.

2025

Many new changes. At the beginning of the year, we created and launched a multilingual website, dalitrip.com. The country entered a big visa-free opening, which means more foreign travelers will come to China. There will be a time lag from the mainstream tourist cities to our southwest. We prepared in advance so that foreign travelers can learn about us. That same year, a small number of foreign travelers began to find us through Google and joined our activities. Guides started learning English to meet this change, many from scratch. Besides the few guides who were already good at English, such as Honghong, Feibi, and Huanhuan, Li Zhenhao and Xiaojing also studied hard and quickly grew into guides who could lead in English. Many other guides also started learning English. Hanhan and Shitou joined the leading team this year; they respectively run the Gucheng (Old Town) and Hilton branches of the "Late Night Diner." The summer was still busy, but the groups operated more and more orderly. Due to the Cangshan mountain management restrictions after some outdoor safety incidents, we began to explore beyond Dali. Because of He Chen's deep knowledge of Yunnan's geography and culture, together with Wangwang (for route discussions and copywriting, and online support), we newly developed the Yunzhishan Ridge hike in Yongping, and trips along the Lancang River and Nu River. Although it was just a new start with not many guests, there was a vibrant spirit of going outward. Moreover, these routes pursued the rich nature, daily life, and local culture of the area rather than famous scenic spots. A true traveler would understand the simple and rare significance of this. The foraging group also developed a remote deep-mountain mushroom picking activity that gradually matured. The young women went from just leading nearby hikes and foraging to being able to drive a van on their own, camp by themselves, and cook outdoors. Female guides now account for half of the total, with irreplaceable qualities in resilience, aesthetics, and creativity. This year, we changed some of the community's third-party alliance booking partners to recommendations, with guests going directly to their platforms to book. They are excellent, but we need to focus back on our own, more aligned direction.

2026

The trend and wave are gradually receding, bringing new changes. This year, the hiking group, thanks to Wangwang's exploration of new routes, accumulation of natural knowledge, assistance from other groups, and hard work, saw new development. It rose again from a traditionally weak activity type, and both old and new hiking routes were welcomed by many guests. Besides effort, it was perhaps a sign of a return after the trend. Chunyu drove his truck to Yili to continue beekeeping, and our activities will also continue and expand through such life changes. In June, while traveling in Thailand, I came into contact with the AI community. Because of the possibilities brought by vibe coding, we began to build our own mini program. According to our needs, we developed new features, hoping to make daily work smoother and bring convenience to guests, and we entered testing. This change will allow us to build a separate mini program for each group in the future, enabling a richer presentation of their unique characteristics and truly achieving independence in terms of operational meaning. I believe that freedom will bring new creativity.

Jason

July 16, 2026

To learn more about each guide, please read: Guides in Our Community

If you have any questions, you can also email me: jason.lingjiec@gmail.com

Or WeChat/WhatsApp: 13636360694