Team Building on China’s Peaks
Team-building trips have long been part of the corporate fabric in the West, but finding suitable destinations for such events in Asia can be a challenge.
One place quickly making a name for itself is Yangshuo. This small town in southeastern China’s Guangxi Province, just a few hours down the Li River from Guilin, has been a popular tourist haunt for years. Once little more than a backpacker hangout and souvenir stop for tourist boats, it now attracts everyone from expats to corporate groups. Its combination of high octane sports, gorgeous countryside and vibrant cafe culture make it an ideal base for a variety of business or leisure trips.
The thing that draws so many visitors to the area is apparent from every street corner and cafe in the village. Rising above the red-tiled rooftops are southern China’s famous karst rock peaks, a classical motif used in Chinese poetry and art. They form a wonderland of rural villages, winding rivers and cycling trails perfect for exploring.
Until recently, setting out on a bicycle was considered the cutting edge of adventure travel here. Then in the 1990s the rock climbers arrived, attracted by the area’s pristine limestone crags. The quality of rock, number of sites and ease of access soon made it a favorite among rock climbers from around the world and across China. Today the area has more than 120 fixed lines at sites with alluring names like Wine Bottle Cliff, Thumb Peak and Screaming Mountain Turtle. In 2001, Chinaclimb (tel:867738811033; www.chinaclimb.com) set up the first commercial climbing operation in Yangshuo. They remain the area’s top operator, offering everything from half-day sample climbs to school trips and corporate weekends. They have an excellent safety record and are rigorous about maintaining all the routes they use. The company was founded by James Kell and Alexander van der Laan, two Australian climbing partners who were quick to spot the area’s potential. In addition to great climbing, Yangshuo’s thriving tourist trade meant that the necessary infrastructure restaurants, hotels was already in place. They hosted their first corporate group in 2002 after a client on holiday asked them to set up a program for his Shanghai-based company.
“Some request that it be a structured team-building week. Others simply wish to reward their hardworking employees with a long weekend away from the office,” said Kell, who ran a construction business in China for six years. “The most popular trip is a combination of work and pleasure.”
As a novice, I was ideally suited to test Chinaclimb’s claims that it can host even total beginners. Arriving at Chinaclimb’s offices in the Lizard Lounge, I was greeted by a groups of muscular climbing guides. “It’s not about strength,” Australian manager Zane Kung-Faust said on seeing my panic-stricken face. “It’s about technique.” I was supplied with a full kit, including a harness, a helmet and bone-crushing shoes. “They should be excruciating,” my guide, James, informed me happily.
We approached our first climb on foot, making our way across rice paddies and farmers’ fields. Twin Gates, a wall of smooth orange limestone popular with beginners, was already busy with a group of Chinese climbers, so we continued on to Treasure Cave, 300 meters, or about 985 feet, above. Sheltered from the sun, with a cool breeze played through the cavern, it proved the perfect place for a climb. Down below, a mosaic of green and yellow fields blanketed the valley. I could spy orchards and newly planted paddy fields and the odd, distant farmhouse. The peaks looked like they had been scattered across the earth by some mischievous nymph, random in their placement, but perfect in execution.
First we had a practice climb up some easy rock. James showed us how to do a basic knot, gave us a few tips on how to move and showed us how to abseil, feet against the rock. Then we faced the main challenge, a 20-meter wall of smooth black limestone. In Yangshuo, this qualifies as a beginner climb. According to a climbing book I had brought, it was a 5.7, or “very severe.” I managed to get a third of the way up before admitting defeat. My climbing partner, Leonard, did rather better and, with a bit of shouting and cajoling from our guides on the ground, got all the way to the top. Then he abseiled to the ground, triumphant. It’s easy to see rock climbing’s attractions as a team-building event. It gives you an immediate sense of gratification and accomplishment. Even getting part way up was an adrenalin rush. And it’s not just about physical prowess (although being fit helps). It really is about tactics and strategy, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, mental flexibility and, most of all, determination.
Rock climbing is also about teamwork and trust. But it is hard work, and at the end of the day we headed down to the Dragon River. Our guides, eager to cool off after a day on the rock, went for a swim, doing back flips from a cement bridge into the clear water. We dined on “sour” beans, stir-fried pumpkin, and local fish, washed down with cold beer, as the sun set behind limestone peaks, turning the river into a fat ribbon of silver. It was an idyllic setting, the kind of classic rural scene that draws so many visitors to Yangshuo. Unfortunately, the village itself has become a victim of its own success in recent years. On West Street, music now thumps late into the night where once you would have heard only echoing chatter and the strains of a lone erhu busker playing on the curb. One way to get around it is to base yourself in the countryside. At the moment, however, facilities are limited. The Yangshuo Mountain Retreat (tel: 86 773 877 7091; www.yangshuomountainretreat.com) is one of the few hotels based outside of the village suitable as a corporate venue. Despite claims that Yangshuo has “all-weather climbing,” the best time to visit is March to June or September to November, when temperatures are in the low 20s Celsius (low 70s Fahrenheit) and there is little rain.