2019 China Jilin Car and RV Rally kicks off

The 2019 China Jilin Car and RV Rally, a major highlight of Jilin province's Third Summer Leisure Season, kicked off at Lotus Mountain Scenic Area in Changchun on August 3.

The event was jointly sponsored by the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of China, the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the city government of Changchun, the city government of Baicheng and the city government of Songyuan.

In the coming days, nearly 100 drivers from 15 Chinese provinces will drive along a tourist loop route in western Jilin featuring views of rivers, lakes, grasslands and wetlands.

Chen Shoujun, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, attended the launching ceremony.

This year marks the fourth edition of the event. One hundred and sixty-four cars and RVs from Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Liaoning and other provinces will take part.

The rally has four stages and six camps, with a total length of 994.64 kilometers.

Drivers will pass through cities and counties including Changchun, Tongyu, Baicheng, Zhenlai, Da'an and Songyuan during the rally, where there are both amazing natural scenery and famous scenic areas like the FAW Red Flag Cultural Exhibition Hall, Dancing Cranes at Xianghai Nature Reserve, Chagan Hot Grassland, Nenjiang Bend Wetland, Lush Reeds at Niuxin Taobao Wetland and Locomotive Exhibition Hall.

With the growing need for free, personal and comfortable tours, self-driving tours are witnessing booming growth. Against this background, Jilin, through hosting such internationally popular auto sports event as the car rally, has launched self-driving tour routes over the past few years together with professional guidebooks for those who enjoy self-driving tours.

In recent years, Jilin has been vigorously connecting the rivers and lakes in its western part with increasingly noticeable results. Water levels are rising, there are more plants, fish grow bigger and birds are returning. With the amazing grassland and wetland scenery as well as the Mongol and Manchu ethnic cultures, the western Jilin tourist loop route has different views to offer to tourists all year round.

Jiang Zuhui, deputy head of marketing at the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said the rally represents an effort to stimulate high-quality tourism growth in western Jilin by integrating ecological protection and eco-tourism.