Beijing school administrator Li Shouen and her husband, Fu Jianhui, a security camera supplier, are great advocates of the benefits of travel.
'We believe in the old saying 'It's better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books',' says Li, 35. 'Travel can facilitate brain development in young children.'
That's partly why the couple take their six-year-old son, Fu Ziheng, along on trips as often as they can. Usually they travel with Li's in-laws, Fu Mangmeng and Cao Jinrong, who relocated from Jiangxi province to live with them in Beijing when Ziheng was born; the grandparents would take over household chores for the busy couple and look after the child while they were at work.
The three generations made their first trip as a family in the summer of 2007, when Ziheng was one, visiting the popular seaside resort of Beidaihe, three hours' drive east of Beijing. Since then, they have travelled all across the mainland, from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the beaches of Hainan.
'We prefer driving if it's within a distance of seven hours,' Li says. 'It is easy to manage the itinerary and gets round the hassle of booking train or airline tickets.'
Quality time with the whole family is hard to come by when parents have demanding careers and children face similarly challenging schedules at school. In recent years, travel has increasingly become a way for busy mainland professionals to make up for lost time with family members - and give their children an edge in school at the same time.
China is fast becoming the world's largest market for domestic travel, with an estimated 2.2 billion trips made across the country. The boom in domestic travel began after 2005, when the National Tourism Administration shifted its focus from overseas visitors, who were supposed to bring in foreign currency, to encouraging Chinese to travel domestically.
