[Photo provided to China Daily]

Qi comes from Yixing, a small city in Jiangsu province that's known for its natural scenery and purple-clay pottery.

As the only child of the family, Qi almost has had no chance to travel so far on his own for a long time, because his parents constantly worry about his safety.

"Except for an internship arranged by the university, I'd never left the Yangtze River Delta (Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province and Shanghai)," he says.

Qi did not tell his parents about the trip until he was in the middle of it.

"I wanted to face the unknown world on my own, and I really enjoyed traveling alone. In Chongqing, it's so comfortable to sit quietly on the bus to circle around the city in early spring that it reminded me of my hometown, Yixing, the best place in the world," he says, proudly.

Qi stayed in hostels, and he really enjoyed meeting a lot of people. Talking with them gave him inspiration.

"There was a man who is over 40 years old and was still pursuing his dream in Beijing. I realized from chatting that people will finally pursue what they really want, so the most important thing is to find out what a person really wants," he says.