China's Landscapes & National Parks - Nature Travel Documentary

China is one of the largest countries in the world, with some of the most diverse landscapes, national parks, and natural scenery. From empty, arid desert landscapes to tranquil forests and beautiful lakes, and from spectacular mountain ranges to powerful rivers.
In this travel documentary, I take you on a journey through some of China’s most captivating landscapes and scenic regions. From the bizarre rock formations of Huangshan and Zhangjiajie national parks to the blue turquoise waters of Jiuzhaigou. From the picturesque mountains and hills around Yangshuo to the impressive Hukou waterfall. From the frozen lakes and mountain peaks of Tibet to the beautiful ‘Rainbow Mountains’ of Zhangye Danxia. From the Yuanyang rice terraces to the mysterious Earth and Stone Forests in Yunnan province. And from the mighty Yangtze River traversing China to the empty deserts of Gansu.
I traveled through China independently for more than a decade, on several occasions. The footage in this video was shot between 2010 and 2019, and is accompanied by relaxing music and background information.
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Copyright of all footage: Hoffer Media
Here’s a brief overview of the content in this video:
We begin this tour in Zhangjiajie, one of China’s most recognizable and iconic national parks. It’s highly popular for its surreal pillar like rock formations, and was the inspiration for many Chinese painters and artists, and later also the directors of the movie Avatar. Getting around the park is part of the experience, with elevators, glass bridges, and walkways cutting right through the mountains.
Jiuzhaigou is known for its blue turquoise lakes and waterfalls, and is immensely popular with tourists well. The contrast with the next destination, Dunhuang, could not be bigger. This arid desert boasts tall sand dunes, and has seen many traders and explorers travel through its inhospitable landscape over the centuries.
We travel onwards to Yangshuo, a small town located in an otherworldly panorama of limestone hills and mountains. Cycling or paddling past these imposing peaks is a once in a lifetime experience. The next destination is the Yangtze river, which traverses China for 6,300 kilometers. Along the way, it meets breathtaking mountain scenery, hundreds of tributaries, and some of China’s largest cities. Here, we also briefly look at the environmental impact on the river, caused by dams, water diversion, and pollution.
From the raging waters in the narrow Tiger Leaping Gorge, we arrive at the beautiful Yuanyang rice terraces. This rural landscape gives a good insight into village life and agriculture, and provides stunning vistas. From here, we reach the peculiar Shilin Stone Forest.
We continue our journey in Western China, to visit the high altitude Karakul lake. After spending the night in a traditional Central Asian yurt, we travel to Tibet, a highly spiritual region that captures the imagination of many travelers. It’s filled with captivating nature, including mountains, rivers, lakes, and glaciers.
After briefly showing the Hukou waterfall, we climb the stark mountains of Yulong, after which we arrive in the surreal Earth forest of Yuanmou, and the Zhangye Rainbow Mountains. Finally, we finish our travels in Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, one of China’s most popular national parks.
Timestamps / video chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:55 Zhangjiajie National Park
4:28 Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve
6:24 Dunhuang Desert
8:37 Yangshuo
11:19 Yangtze River
14:20 Tiger Leaping Gorge
15:15 Yuanyang Rice Terraces
17:35 Yilin Stone Forest
19:31 Karakul Lake
21:31 Tibet
24:30 Hukou Waterfall
25:43 Yulong
27:37 Yuanmou Earth Forest
28:39 Zhangye Rainbow Mountains
29:46 Huangshan National Park
31:12 End

[@stefhoffer]

What is your favorite national park in China?

[@a.d.y8499]

I think Zhangjiajie national park, it looks surreal!

[@Kito9Todd]

Beautiful scenery thanks for sharing 💚🌳🌄💛🌅💙

[@mariadica864]

FANTASTICA CHINA. MULTUMESC MULT

[@TOYOTA.Overland]

Interesting to see another face from China than in common media. This look good :-)

[@aniime6463]

It's common

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you, glad you liked it :)

[@chietbrink3977]

Impressive video ! What a beautiful images and as always a great mix of nature and people!!!! When you don't have the opportunity to visit China we can be grateful to watch your films. Thank you !!!!

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you very much, I'm happy you enjoyed the video. And maybe you can visit there yourself one day :)

[@a.d.y8499]

Stunning work once more! You have really seen a lot of China.

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[@fasttimer4879]

Unique as always.... Awesome

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you :)

[@omg_SallyKelly]

A masterpiece documentary. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you :)

[@JeanEDeaux]

👏 👏 👏 BRAVO 🙌

[@petr-podrouzek]

Amazing movie, great job Stef 🙂

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you Petr!

[@gegentibuhong2358]

Thank you

[@stefhoffer]

You too

[@mechannel7046]

Love your China series. Please visit China again and bring us more videos!

[@stefhoffer]

Love to visit China again, hopefully soon!

[@TheRandomScience]

Absolutely amazing. Incredible work Stef! You've been to beautiful places. Nice of you to give us a taste of that as well ;)

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks a lot Eric! I'm glad you liked it, and happy to share of course :)

[@atifkhan2703]

Beautiful video.. Keep it up stef

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it :)

[@khaliltariq1889]

I like this channel

[@stefhoffer]

Happy to read that.

[@LittleTut]

Seth, I always wait for your wonderful videos of the world. You capture them so beautifully from the drone footage, editing and insightful comments. Excellent work as always! 💯💯💯

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks a lot for your kind words! Glad you liked the video :)

[@davidspez7267]

Impressive work Stef. You have once again opened up my eyes to another part of the world. Thank you😊

[@stefhoffer]

Glad you liked it David, thanks for commenting :)

[@U-nique-fn2ni]

wonderful view

[@stefhoffer]

Yes it was

[@adnana.nazzal5149]

Amazing & appreciated work ❤

[@nicolefernandez92]

😊😊😊 wonderful✨ Wish to visit beautiful/amazing China some years

[@stefhoffer]

Hope you can one day, thank you!

[@renzalmadrones5704]

amazing.thanks

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you

[@user-xi2ct6wg5i]

Lvvv u China... From Pakistan.. Rabi. ❤❤❤❤❤

[@suparner3286]

Mantap

[@fleurh4391]

Loved it, as always🥰

[@stefhoffer]

Glad you did :)

[@DaHuang-dd5ru]

amazing video~

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you!

[@lazyllevlogs8627]

6th travel video i watched 😊😊

[@swiftaustin9438]

Glad to see that！Thanks！

[@louisaklimentos7583]

Very good documentary on a most beautiful country .

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks a lot, I'm happy to hear that.

[@kevinlove1530]

Wow! China is majestic!

[@stefhoffer]

It is indeed.

[@caronjessica1512]

absolutely amazing video! thank you for that!

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks for your kind words!

[@mobingholami7826]

Nice

[@tylercoombs1]

I really love this channel, Stef goes to some of the most demonized places on the planet to show there's always a bright side. There are places on my bucket list now that 2 years ago I would never visit.

[@stefhoffer]

Hope you can visit some of them Tyler, safe travels!

[@sajidayub8864]

❤❤

[@sajidayub8864]

Thanks 😊

[@gracedymarska5497]

Great.

[@olenapechena1985]

I enjoy watching your videos, they are amazing. Thank you for your work.😀 Can I ask you, where are you from?

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you for your kind words, I'm from the Netherlands.

[@ivyrabena]

Thank you❤

[@stefhoffer]

You too

[@parvinesm954]

Love china from iran

[@Ali-kj8xl]

thank you

[@stefhoffer]

You too.

[@jouvary]

Great video! and also accompanied by awesome music.........anybody knows whos playing, and produced?

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you, I licenced the music via Artlist.

[@gaddhelloo6398]

Today 17juil you are in tunisia and exactly in sfax . WelcomeBro

[@stefhoffer]

Thank you! It was wonderful to meet the people of Sfax, very friendly city :)

[@mayushkushmi3184]

Visit Nepal Stef ❤❤

[@stefhoffer]

Would love to come back to Nepal again, beautiful place!

[@hayatali2678]

PLEASE SHOW MAP TRACK TOO WITH AREA PLASES ...

[@stefhoffer]

Great suggestion, thank you!

[@imd.football]

Come to Türkiye 🇹🇷

[@earthflash]

Where are the maps of each region? Felt lost. Gracefully integrated maps (even if briefly) --- between scenes ---would have made my viewing experience much fun, entertaining, and down-right educational. For many years, you have been among --- the finest drone photographer's in the world! Too bad ---you cannot create equally slick maps to go with your "eyes of the Gods." Perhaps delegate future map-insert technology to another creator. You don't need to be a one-man band. Hopefully, I come off as sympathetic creative feedback --- and not as know-it-all, grumpy criticism --- as truly you are a KZbin hero for me.

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate that. Completely agree with you that maps would add context to some of the places I visited. And it's exactly like that, I do prefer to do everything myself, at least for the YT channel, while I should probably be more open to collaborate... Glad you're enjoying the videos though, best wishes!

[@idrioualid-xm4ng]

Oks monsieur zhongguo

[@coasters4life388]

Hi

[@glnassa5589]

Dear Stef, Of late, I find almost all your videos are perfect in all respects. However, I somehow get irritated as the logo inserted by you is too big. Would earnestly request you to kindly reduce its font and size to the minimum possible. Thanks for considering this concern of mine and sharing this video. Best regards, Nassa

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks for your input Nassa, I appreciate it. I will consider that, although it's also there to 'protect' some of the footage from being copied too easily.

[@glnassa5589]

Many thanks for your prompt consideration. Would love to see the change and watch all your videos which you kindly share from time to time. Once again, I am personally thank you for the needful. All the very best. Best regards, Nassa

[@idrioualid-xm4ng]

Pass port Visa? Qǐng yòng nǐ de yǔyán shūrù wǒ lái biǎodá nǐ de yìsi

[@zjk6549]

BGM 😢.... sad feeling

[@stefhoffer]

The music you mean?

[@zjk6549]

@@stefhoffer yeah.

[@idrioualid-xm4ng]

Olson chufu mèster zhongguo

[@idrioualid-xm4ng]

Je vous remercie d'avance pour votre réponse à votre disposition pour moi de te voir à quel moment vous pouvez me joindre à nous contacter pour l'annonce de dá'àn de votre entreprise dans les années

[@user-xi2ct6wg5i]

ALLAHH G... please give me lots of money for visit to China... And whole World.. Please ALLAHH G...Mai INSHA ALLAHH sari nemazay waha bhe parhoo gi na.. Plz😢

[@ecychan1]

The videos are dim and greyish. The real landscapes should be much more beautiful.

[@stefhoffer]

These colors are as real as possible. Maybe you watch a lot of videos with unrealistic filters.

[@haitrieuphan3832]

Video color look dull.

[@stefhoffer]

Sorry you feel that way

[@JeanEDeaux]

Must be your device babe. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Evelyn.Schwarz]

Ich glaube man sollte sich Asien als Vorbild für einen Garten nehmen wegen deren Religion

[@NotFound-um6nr]

你的滤镜是学习了BBC吗？拜托，永远不要再来中国。

[@stefhoffer]

Which filters? I did use an older drone in some areas, and had some trouble color correcting that footage.

[@idrioualid-xm4ng]

Is thinkyou to commentaires sur le site Internet

[@sisyphusvasilias3943]

Thank you

[@stefhoffer]

You too

[@abdulmotab6414]

Nice

[@stefhoffer]

Thanks