China on Foot: An Exploration of China Through Travel Writing and Extraordinary Journeys 

Visit faraway places vicariously through this panel conversation focused on how voyages through China fuelled writing processes, created narrative arcs and provided rich content for reportage. Gain inspiration for your own adventures and for how to record, recreate and represent your travel experiences for an audience. Perhaps you're an armchair explorer, a brilliant blogger, a phenomenal photographer or you'd just like to hear more from the accomplished panel members about their experiences. Whatever the reason, join us for this inspirational hour, which is part of our China in Context weekend.

Speaker:

Lord Michael Bates

His book Walk for Peace, based on a 71-day journey from Beijing to Hangzhou last year, was to be published in China this month, partly in English and partly in Chinese. The walk was to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and to highlight the first China-UK Year of Cultural Exchange. Bates set off from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on 27 July 2015 and hiked about 1,050 miles to the eastern city of Hangzhou, raising $110,000 (£89,360) for the Red Cross in China.

In the book he writes about the kindness of the local people, his observations in different cities on the way, the beauty of the countryside and his thoughts on the cultural differences between China and his home country.

Michael Freeman

One of the most widely published photographers worldwide, Michael Freeman has worked for most major international magazine and book publishers in a long career. A leading photographer for the Smithsonian Magazine for three decades (more than 40 assignment stories), Freeman has also published more than 136 books on subjects as varied as Angkor, Sudan, ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia, the Shakers, and contemporary Japanese design and architecture. His 66 books on the practice of photography are standard works, and have sold over 3 million copies in more than 20 languages (4 million for all his books). London-based, Freeman travels for half of each year on shooting assignments, principally in Asia. His latest large-format reportage book is The Tea Horse Road, the result of a two-year exploration of one of the longest trade routes in the ancient world, between China and Tibet.