Color hunters take stress out of city life

NANNING — For years, Zhong Zimeng walked the same route through Nanning, the humid, bustling capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Like most urbanites, she saw the city as a backdrop to her commute — until the day she decided to hunt for the color pink.

Equipped only with her smartphone and a mission to find a single hue, she spent an hour scanning a riverside park. Suddenly, the "invisible" city came into focus: the neon-pink shock of blossoms against a concrete path, a pink bench, and even the fuchsia deck of a visitor's skateboard.

"I often walk by here," Zhong said. "By searching for colors, I now see so many scenes I usually missed in the past."

Zhong is part of a massive recent trend in China known as Color-Walk. It is a low-stakes scavenger hunt that has become the breakout outdoor trend of the season. On the lifestyle platform Rednote (Xiaohongshu), ColorWalk-related topics have exploded with over 310 million views and 1.88 million discussions.

The rules are simple: pick a color, leave your destination behind and let your eyes lead the way. It is "street photography meets meditation", and for a generation exhausted by digital fatigue, it is a potent antidote.

"The whole process relieves the fatigue caused by fragmented attention and eases tense emotions," said Dai Jian, a clinical psychologist at Jiangbin Hospital.

"In color psychology, green symbolizes vitality and peace. It helps slow down the heart rate, relax tense nerves and quickly ease anxiety, irritability and fatigue," Dai said.

He added that blue tends to feel cool and serene; yellow brings warmth and energy; and pink conveys gentleness and sweetness.

Dai said that posting photos online, which involves photo taking and selection as well as text composition, helps to relieve stress and reinforce the sense of calm gained from ColorWalk.

Encouraging people to explore a city on foot and notice its details up close also turns the whole city into an exciting new destination that is just waiting to be discovered.

ColorWalk's growing popularity has prompted tourism authorities and businesses across China to launch recommended routes, such as routes that integrate scenic spots, shops and cultural landmarks along the way.

Lin Shanshan, an associate professor at Zhejiang University, said that the spring economy is moving up from pure sightseeing to more combined activities.

These efforts align with broader national goals to upgrade services and nurture new areas of consumption growth. By turning the city into an "exciting new destination", the movement makes the urban environment more walkable and lovable.

Huang Huazhao, vice-chairman of the Guangxi Artists Association, said that the spontaneous observation and documentation of color subtly sharpens people's sensitivity to color and cultivates their awareness of beautiful details in daily life.

"Everyone can capture color with their eyes and freeze beautiful moments with their cameras. Everyone is an artist in their own life," Huang said.

XINHUA