Yichang man drives all the way to Paris to chase his dream

By Shen Yuan, Yichang International Communication Studio

Yichang native Feng Chun has driven his Porsche more than 9,000 km from Yidu City to Paris, spending 56 days to cross the 19 countries between his hometown and his dream destination.

When Feng was young, he dreamed of earning a million yuan in order to be able to travel around the world. This year, the 55-year-old Feng set out to realize his dream.

On May 30, Feng set off from Yidu, a small city under Yichang, and entered Kazakhstan via Khorgos in Xinjiang, before passing through Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. He took a vehicle ferry in Germany to cross the Baltic Sea to Sweden, and then returned to Germany via Norway and Denmark. From there he drove to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. On July 25, Feng arrived at his destination of Paris, France. Standing under the Eiffel Tower, he felt proud.



Feng doesn’t speak any foreign languages. He communicated with people through translation apps, and by using gestures and facial expressions.

Along the way, Feng made many friends and left them his address so they could keep in touch. He said that foreign friends are very warm and polite. When he asked for directions, many of them would travel for a long distance to show him the way.

Once, in Norway, Feng pulled his car over to have a rest. Two young Chinese women who had been following him stopped and told him that they were from Shanghai. They said they were very excited to see a car with Chinese license plates and had been trying to catch up with him to say hello. They were surprised to meet another Chinese person so far from their homeland.

Feng said that during the trip, he felt that foreigners were very friendly to Chinese people. They would give him the thumbs up when they met. He took it as a compliment to his brave way of traveling, and it also made him feel that ordinary foreigners were keen to know more about China.



Three Gorges Evening's Zhang Zemu and Shao Jian contributed the original Chinese story for this report.