Instead of spending the hot Chinese summer enjoying ice cream and air conditioning like her friends, four-year-old Wen Wen will travel with her father in the mountains of Sichuan and Tibet to learn, as her mother says, the things that aren’t taught in school.
Called “China’s youngest backpacker,” Wen Wen, as her family refers to her affectionately, has been making such trips by foot three months after she learned to walk. For three years, instead of attending preschool, she has spent months on the march—eating wild herbs and sleeping in tents while making 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) daily.
Wen Wen’s parents say that the backpacking trips are a valuable part in her upbringing and will keep having her walk until she has to attend elementary school, the West China Metropolis Daily reported on June 16.
