Camping trend goes wild, with room to grow

Polychromatic tents of various sizes and shapes resembling a mosaic have added vibrancy to forests, lakesides and beaches across the country's vast landscape since early summer.

It took Wu Xintao a while before he found an ideal vacant spot to set up camp at Xiangshanhu Park in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, for his first camping trip in June.

The park's grasslands have seen an increasing number of campers spread out equipment and lay back to bask in the sunny breeze while chatting with friends and families.

"The great part about camping is that you can randomly find a mountain or a small river and place some tables and chairs to experience everything nature has to offer," said Wu, who has participated in camping activities for five years.

He has many friends who share his love for camping. Since the weather warmed up, they have gathered to head to campsites and parks or find a patch of grassland away from the city during weekends.

More than 8.2 million posts about camping have turned up on the popular lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu as of the end of August.

As of April, there were about 166,000 camping-related enterprises in China, with 19,000 newly registered camping enterprises, according to business registration tracker Qichacha.