00:00
00:25 tollgate
02:05 overtaking right is legal
03:30 Anting, home of VW China
04:20 G50 Shanghai- Chongqing expressway
05:15 Huawei R&D Center
07:10 Drone shot Huawei Plant and Dianshanlake
08:40 crazy elevator test building
09:40 Taihu ( Tai Lake)
10:20 Huangshan foothills
12:25 Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge
15:10 Map of China’s Topograhie
15:46 Tongcheng
17:15 Dabie Mountains
Driving time: May 24th. 2025
Weather: overcast, rainy
In May we planed a trip to the Yangtze Gorge and Shennongjia
It turned out the Yichang / Wujiagang was the perfect base for our daily roadtrips but the highway led only through flat land
So we decided a small detour and crossed the Dabie Mountains to Wuhan where we stayed one night .
Part 1 leads us from Shanghai to the Dabie Mountains . I kept the driving footage over flat land short but tried to give some more informations about the land and driving in China not only with captures but also down in the description
Hope you enjoy it 😊
No 1 Basic driving rules in China
• You need a Chinese driver’s license; an international license is not recognized.
• Minor violations (wrong parking, line violations) result in 3 points.
• Violations of traffic lights or driving in emergency lanes result in 6 points.
• Speeding over the limit by up to 20% – 3 points;
30% – 6 points;
40% – 9 points;
50% – 12 points (license revoked).
If you accumulate 9 points within a year, you must pay fines, and your points reset to zero.If your score is 12 points, your licence is gone
If you try to cheat and claim another one was driving and get caught, both drivers licences are revoked and both spend 15 days in prison .
In case of an accident causing harm, jail is possible.
Driving under the influence of alcohol is strictly forbidden; a BAC over 0.8‰ results in immediate license revocation and potential jail time.
No. 2 The empty 8 lane highway
The plain next to the Yangtze River was one of China’s first industrialized areas, alongside Zhejiang and the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong.
It wasn’t high-tech in the beginning. After Deng Xiaoping opened China to the world and relaxed restrictions, farmers banded together to build simple production facilities, acquire machines, and produce affordable daily goods—textiles, plastics, basic metal parts, decorations, and more. These goods were shipped via the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers to major ports long before highways were built. This laid the foundation for what became the workshop of the world.
To give other regions similar opportunities, China started constructing an extensive highway network across the country. Today, the highway system (minimum 4 lanes) spans over 140,000 km, with total road length exceeding 3 million km.
From Deng Xiaoping to Hu Jintao, China invested the wealth generated in its coastal regions into the inland, lifting approximately 800 million people out of poverty within 15 to 20 years.
This dedication benefited not only the Chinese population but also people in Western countries, who enjoy inexpensive goods readily available at stores like Walmart—thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of China’s rural workers.
All of this began here. I drove this highway last time before COVID, in 2019, and back then, it was only 4 to 6 lanes—often caught in traffic jams.
It’s sad to see how complex policies and stupid tariffs harm the lives of innocent people on both sides of the Pacific !
No.3 Boring highway driving
Shanghai is far away from the beautyfull Chinese mountain ranges
Please see a list of ranges and Peaks where we want to go and the distances for us to drive
Mountain range Highest peak Height Distance from Shanghai
Huangshan Lotus Peak 1864m 440km
Wuyishan Huanggang 2158m 690km
Dabie Shan Tiantangzhai 1729m 702km
Dabashan Da Shennong 3106m 1270km
Qinglin Shan Taibai mt 3767m 1570km
Taihung mts Wutai Shan 3061m 1400km
Dieshan mts Cuo Daixi 4990m 2300km
Minshan mts Xuebaoding 5580m 2300km
Hengduan mts Gonnga shan 7509m 2200km
Hengduan mts Jade snow Mt 5596m 2900km
Qilian Mts Kangze Gyai 5808m 2400km
Tienshan mts Peak Pobeda 7439m 3980km
Altai mts Youyi Peak 4374m 4400km
Tangula mts Basudan Ula 6100m 3000km
Kunlun mts Amne Machin 6282m 3500km
Himalays Mt Everest 8849m 4800km
Karakorom K2 8611m 5300km
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