Michael Dobie moved to Liming in September 2010 with two friends who discovered the Chinese village in a travel brochure. Crisscrossed by dirt roads, the rustic setting in the mountains of Yunnan province offered few amenities.

2010年9月，迈克尔·多比(Michael Dobie)和两个朋友搬去了黎明村。正是这两个朋友在一本旅游指南中发现了这个中国村庄。这里位于云南省的山区，泥土路纵横交错，几乎没什么便利设施。

“It was pretty wild,” Dobie said. “People were walking miles into town for supplies. It was kind of just one street, that type of traditional village.”

“非常偏远，”多比说。“进城买东西要走很远的路。差不多只有一条街道，就是那种传统的村庄。”

But the group came with a purpose — to establish traditional, or “trad,” climbing in China — and for this, Liming offered two advantages. First, its endowment of soaring sandstone cliffs was rich with cracks and crevices ideal for the sport. Second, the local government embraced their vision and granted permits to explore the surrounding crags. In the early months of 2011, Dobie set out cleaning routes, removing undergrowth and knocking away loose rock. By the summer, he’d finished more than 40.

但他们来这里是有目的的——在中国推广传统攀岩，而在这一点上，黎明村有两个优势。首先，这里高耸入云的砂岩悬崖上布满了裂口和缝隙，非常适合进行传统攀岩。其次，当地政府支持他们的设想，准许他们探索四周的悬崖。2011年初，多比开始清理路线，清除矮树丛，敲掉松动的岩石。到夏天的时候，他已经清理完了40多条路线。

Traditional climbing differs from other varieties like sport climbing in the method climbers use to protect themselves against falls. While sport climbers tie into a line of permanently fixed bolts, traditional climbers carry along a set of removable anchoring devices that they jam into cracks in the rock face. The skill involved in making placements that will hold a person’s weight and break a big fall adds difficulty, and the extra equipment costs are significant.

传统攀岩不同于运动攀岩等其他攀岩的地方，在于攀岩者用来防止自己跌落的方式。进行运动攀岩的人会把自己固定在一排永久固定的螺栓附近，而传统攀岩者会随身携带一套可拆卸的锚固装置，并把它们卡在岩面的裂缝里。攀岩者安放的装置要能承载自身的重量，在坠落时也能撑住。这其中涉及的技巧增加了这项运动的难度，额外的设备成本也很高。

In part because of these differences, sport climbing became popular in China as early as the 1980s while traditional remained all but unknown. By 2010, other southern cities like Yangshuo and Kunming had cultivated homegrown sport climbing communities, with hundreds of routes developed by multiple generations of enthusiasts.

在一定程度上正是因为这些区别，运动攀岩早在80年代就在中国流行起来了，而传统攀岩依然几乎不为人知。到2010年，中国南方的阳朔和昆明等城市都培养出了本土的运动攀岩群体，几代爱好者开辟出了成百上千条路线。

“I consider Yangshuo the Yosemite of China because it’s where rock climbing started here, and it’s the largest place in China,” said Andrew Hedesh, a Yangshuo-based climber and author of a forthcoming guidebook on the area. But the dearth of traditional climbing frustrated Dobie.

“我觉得阳朔就是中国的优胜美地(Yosemite)，因为攀岩就是从那里开始发展起来的，那里是中国最大的攀岩圣地，”身在阳朔的攀岩爱好者安德鲁·赫德什(Andrew Hedesh)说。他写的一本介绍该地区的指南即将出版。但传统攀岩的稀少令多比感到失望。

“At the beginning I saw it as a service project,” he said. “All the people developing over the last 20 years in China have all been foreigners doing sport climbing. So the Chinese, that was all they knew.”

“刚开始我把它当做是一个服务项目，”他说。“过去20年里，在中国推广攀岩的人，都是进行运动攀岩的外国人。中国人也一样，他们只知道运动攀岩。”

Less than a year after its inception, however, Dobie’s project took on an unlikely life of its own. Word of his efforts in Liming spread abroad, and professional climbers, including Matt Segal, began to notice. Segal visited Liming in 2011 to explore and develop new, more challenging routes, documenting his trip for a wider, international network of climbers with sleek videos and colorful articles.

然而，开始不到一年后，多比这个项目的命运出现了意想不到的变化。有关他在黎明进行的多项活动的消息传到了国外，包括马特·塞加尔(Matt Segal)在内的一些职业攀岩者开始关注。2011年，塞加尔前往黎明村探索和开发更具挑战性的新路线，并用优美的视频和引人入胜的文章记录下了自己一路的见闻，向更广大的国际攀岩社区介绍了这里。

The next year, Liming held its first trad festival, backed by major sponsors. Segal returned to participate.

第二年，黎明举办首届传统攀岩交流大会，得到了大型赞助商的支持。塞加尔重回故地，参加交流大会。

“It was crazy to go back to this area where I felt like I was developing routes for myself, to see dozens and dozens of Chinese climbing these 5.9s that I was like, ‘Nobody’s ever going to be climbing these,’” said Segal, referring to the Yosemite Decimal System which ranks climbs on a scale from 5.0 to 5.15.

“我曾在这个地区开发路线，当时感觉是在给自己开发，觉得‘没人会来这儿攀岩’，而今我回到这里，看到很多中国人在攀登这些难度系数为5.9s的峭壁，我觉得很兴奋，”塞加尔说。他指的是优胜美地登山难度系数(Yosemite Decimal System)，范围是5.0至5.15。

“Liming is turning into a world-class climbing destination.”

“黎明正变成世界级的攀岩目的地。”

For most of China’s modern history, a tumultuous political climate and strict regulations left the country closed off to any would-be foreign explorers. But as restrictions were eased in the late 20th century, its vast interior and potentially exceptional terrain have captivated the interest of climbers and outdoor enthusiasts worldwide. Mark Synnott, a professional mountaineer who was one of the first foreigners to climb in a newly opened Tibet in 2002, is among them.

在中国现代历史的大部分时间里，政治环境动荡，政府管制严格，任何外国探索者都无法进入这个国家。但是20世纪末限制放松后，中国广袤的内陆和潜在的独特地形引起了世界各地登山者和户外运动爱好者的兴趣。职业登山运动员马克·辛诺特(Mark Synnott)是其中之一。他是2002年西藏开放不久时第一批去那里登山的外国人之一。

“One thing that stuck with me since that trip is how much of China, back then and still today, is unexplored,” he said. “China may be the place that holds the biggest treasure trove of unexplored mountain territory in the world.”

“那次旅行之后，我一直在想，中国还有多少地方无人涉足——不管是那时还是现在，”他说，“中国未开发山峰的宝库也许是世界上最大的。”

Segal, who has retuned to China several times to scout other areas outside Liming, agreed. “You can just kind of like point your finger at a map of China and find good rock, and some of it’s getting developed really fast,” he said.

塞加尔后来几次回到中国，探索黎明之外的其他区域。他和辛诺特的想法一样。“你随便在中国地图上指一个地方，就能在那里找到很好的峭壁，有些地方开发得很快，”他说。

Given the scale of China’s unexplored inland, Liming’s evolution under Dobie might suggest a coming boom in new climbing areas. But the same ruggedness that makes China’s outback so enticing also creates obstacles to new development.

由于中国内陆未勘察的地方还有很多，所以黎明在多比的开发下所取得的进步可能意味着会出现一大批新的攀岩地点。但是中国内地令人着迷的崎岖不平也给新的开发带来不便。

“Yangshuo is in Guangxi province and within Guangxi there are already about 12 different climbing spots,” Hedesh said. “It’s just that nobody goes to them because they’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“阳朔在广西，其境内已有约12处攀岩点，”赫德什说，“不过中很多地方就是没人去，因为地点实在太偏僻。”

For this reason, some more-established climbers doubt that the sport is moving away from its traditional centers, at least for now.

也正是因为这个原因，有些名气更大的攀岩家对于这项运动正在远离它传统中心的说法是持怀疑态度的，至少目前是这种情况。

“I think Yangshuo is going to continue to be the epicenter of climbing in China,” said Adam Kritzer, the owner of Climb Dali, a climbing club in central Yunnan. “There are probably a few dozen potential Limings in China, but they aren’t going to get developed any time soon.”

“我认为，阳朔会继续成为中国的攀岩中心，”云南中部的攀岩俱乐部大理攀岩(Climb Dali)的所有者亚当·克里策(Adam Kritzer)说，“中国很可能还有几十个地方具有黎明那样的潜质，但它们在短时间内得不到开发。”

Yet while the familiar sport climbing hubs still dominate China’s climbing scene today, others see a transition ahead. Driven by a growing Chinese middle class that can afford to travel, rock climbing has become increasingly popular as an outdoor recreation sport.

不过，虽然如今的中国攀岩业仍以常见的运动攀岩地点为主，但也有人认为未来会发生变化。随着有财力旅行的中国中产阶级的壮大，攀岩变成一种越来越受欢迎的户外休闲运动项目。

“Climbing has been in parts of the Chinese community for the past 15 years, and it’s really been in gyms and Yangshuo, but now people want the adventure part of it,” said Colin Flahive, a founder of Dali Bar, a natural food company in Kunming that sponsors China-based climbers. “With climbing there’s the exercise and there’s the drive to reach new levels, so going to the gym is almost as exciting as going to the crag. But when you move past that, the excitement of going to new places and exploring new spots is the second phase of climbing, and I think that’s where everything is moving at this point.”

“在过去15年里，攀岩已经出现在中国社会中，主要是在健身馆里和阳朔，但现在人们想获得攀岩的冒险体验，”昆明天然食品公司达力巴(Dali Bar)的创始人科林·弗拉海夫(Colin Flahive)说。该公司为在中国的攀岩者提供赞助。“如果人们攀岩是为了锻炼身体或达到更高水平，那么去健身房和去峭壁几乎同样令人兴奋。但是当你过了那个阶段，下一阶段就是想获得去新地方探索新攀岩点的兴奋感。我认为，现在一切都在朝那个方向发展。”

This expansion into new areas has been helped along by a number of entrepreneurs who have seized on the sport’s growth as a business opportunity. “There are these Chinese outdoor companies that want to become larger names, and so what they do is they hire people to go develop routes,” Hedesh said. “They get an entire team of famous rock climbers, travel around for a month and put up 50 routes in an area.”

向新地区的扩展得到一些企业家的帮助，他们从这项运动的发展中看到了商机。“有些中国户外运动公司想更出名，所以他们雇人开发新路线，”赫德希说，“他们请来全部是著名攀岩者组成的队伍，四处旅行一个月，在一个地区开发50条线路。”

While this business-driven model feels unnatural to some western climbers, others see it as the realistic next step. “I think a lot of it has to do with the culture of China and the way that a lot of Chinese people think, maybe more in terms of business rather than the joy of climbing,” Kritzer said. “But it’s basically worked really well for the development of climbing. It’s made it a little more commercialized, but it’s enabled people to develop areas that wouldn’t otherwise be developed.”

虽然这种商业驱动的模式在一些西方攀岩者看来不是自然发展，但也有人认为那是下一步的现实步骤。“我觉得这与中国文化以及很多中国人的思维方式有很大关系，他们更多的是从商业角度而非享受攀岩的角度出发，”克里策说道。“不过总体来说，它对攀岩的发展很有用。它虽然让攀岩变得更商业化了一点，但它能让人们去开发原本得不到开发的地方。”

The relatively free license to develop far-flung rural areas for rock climbing is another aspect of China that many find exceptional. Where other countries have rigid national laws governing public land, China’s land administration system gives a great deal of authority to leaders at the local level. So particularly in the mountains, where agricultural and commercial interest is minimal, climbers are generally welcomed.

相对来说，中国政府对在偏远农村地区开发攀岩项目没有限制，在很多人眼里，这也是中国的一大优势。其他国家对公共土地管理制定了严格的国家法律，但中国的土地管理制度赋予地方领导者很大的权限。尤其是在几乎毫无农业和商业价值的山区，攀岩者总的来说是受欢迎的。

“The freedom we have here is really nice,” said Peter Mortimer, a researcher at the World Agroforestry Centre and a Kunming-based climber. “I’ve bolted and climbed a bit in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, and there there’s always issues — there’s a lot of red tape. But here I’m just kind of free of all of that, which appeals to me.”

“我们在这里真的拥有很大的自由，”世界农林业研究中心(World Agroforestry Centre)的研究员、驻扎在昆明的攀岩者彼得·莫蒂默(Peter Mortimer)说道。“我在老挝、越南和泰国攀过岩，总是有各种问题，需要很多审批手续。但这里几乎完全不需要审批，这一点很吸引我。”

He added: “The easy access and the low level of restriction in terms of development just means it’s going to take off.”

他补充说：“从开发角度讲，这里很便利，限制少，那意味着它会蓬勃发展。”

With growing numbers of well-off Chinese able to travel in search of newer and better terrain, some believe this coalescence of natural advantages will make China’s hinterland more appealing to the next generation of climbers.

越来越多有财力旅行的富裕中国人在寻找更新、更好的地形，所以有些人认为，所有这些因素会使中国内地对下一代攀岩者更具吸引力。

“Krabi in Thailand, which used to be all Europeans and Americans, it’s now almost all Chinese climbers going down there,” Flahive said. “In that search for adventure, there’s going internationally, but then there’s also developing the local stuff. In Yangshuo, the rock is getting polished. People are craving something new.”

“泰国的甲米府(Krabi)原来到处都是欧洲人和美国人，现在那里几乎全是中国攀岩者，”弗拉海夫说道。“追求冒险已成为全球趋势，但人们也在开发地方特色。阳朔的岩石正被磨光。人们渴望新事物。”

Mortimer, who continues to develop outside Kunming, said: “I noticed that in some of these areas I’d been developing, people I’d never even seen before had somehow heard of it and were appearing at the crags. Ten minutes from one of our favorite crags here we just followed a new farm road and came across a new cliff that’ll yield another 60 climbs. It’s just been sitting there like 10 minutes away. Who knows what else is in the hills.”

莫蒂默继续在昆明之外的地方开发。他说：“我注意到，在我开发的一些区域，一些我从没见过的人不知怎么听说了它，出现在那些峭壁上。我们从最喜欢的一块峭壁出发，沿着新建的乡间公路走了10分钟，发现一块新的峭壁，它有潜力跻身60个经典攀岩点之列。它就在10分钟路程之外的地方。谁知道山里还有什么。”

Now back in the United States, Dobie is quick to admit that despite his work in Liming, traditional is still very much a niche part of China’s climbing scene. “It rings true for the rest of the world — most people are really into sport climbing,” he said. “I don’t think Liming will ever be as popular with the Chinese as sport climbing.”

已经回到美国的多比承认，虽然他在黎明做了很多工作，传统攀岩在中国攀岩界仍是小众市场。“在世界其他地方也是如此——大部分人真的喜欢运动攀岩，”他说。“我觉得，黎明在中国人中永远不会像运动攀岩那样受欢迎。”

But even among this small community, he has already witnessed a growing appetite for new undertakings. “Some of the Chinese climbers who’ve been to Liming have started developing another area called Beiliu in Guangxi, so that’s an example of them finding something of their own, in their own country, that I’d never seen, and then starting to develop,” he said.

但是，即便在这个小圈子里，他已经看到了人们对新项目越来越大的兴趣。“去过黎明的一些中国攀岩者开始在广西北流进行开发，这个例子证明，他们在自己的国家自己找到一个地方进行开发——那是我没见过的地方，”他说。

“People in Yangshou once said the Chinese would never get into sport climbing, and now you go there and there are like 40 people sharing a crag,” Dobie said. “I think there’s this sense of disbelief about something new. I think it’s human.”

“阳朔的攀岩者曾经说，中国人永远不会迷上运动攀岩，现在你去那里看看，一块岩壁上能有40个人，”多比说道。“我认为，这是因为人们对新事物有一种不信任感。我觉得这是人的本性。”