Editorial Standards

How we write Walk Voyage

Walk Voyage publishes curated China travel guides written for English-speaking travelers. This page explains the rules we follow, the sources we use, and the things we deliberately do not do.

About Walk Voyage Contact

Last updated 22 July 2026

Our commitment

What we promise readers

Every claim has a source

Quantitative claims (population, A-grade ratings, opening years, distances) cite a public source. Each city and province page links its sources at the bottom.

No paid placement

We do not accept payment in exchange for coverage. No sponsored content, no paid reviews, no affiliate links in city or theme guides. Editorial content is independent of any commercial relationship.

Practical over promotional

Recommendations are made on editorial merit. If a hotel is consistently overbooked or a restaurant has declined in quality, we say so — even if it means a less flattering review.

Living guides

Published guides are revisited, not abandoned. The "Last updated" date on each page reflects the most recent editorial pass. Material errors are corrected and dated.

Sources we use

Where our facts come from

UNESCO World Heritage Centre — for sites inscribed on the World Heritage List or on the Tentative List. We link the canonical whc.unesco.org page for each site.

China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) — for the official A-grade scenic area registry, which rates Chinese attractions from 1A to 5A.

Provincial and municipal government portals — for city-level background, history, demographics, and tourism administration. We link the official government domain when possible.

China.org.cn — the state-affiliated English-language news portal — for English-language background on cities, regions, and cultural sites.

UNESCO Creative Cities Network — for cities with a UNESCO designation (Gastronomy, Crafts and Folk Art, Design, etc.).

When a fact cannot be tied to a public authority source, we either remove it or label it as editorial commentary. We do not present unsourced claims as fact.

AI & content disclosure

How we use AI tools

Walk Voyage uses generative AI tools to assist with translation, image selection, and editorial workflow. Every guide is reviewed by a human editor before publication. AI is used as a productivity tool, not as a substitute for editorial judgment, fact-checking, or first-person travel experience.

We do not publish AI-generated content that has not been human-edited, fact-checked against an authoritative source, and reviewed for accuracy. We do not impersonate first-person travel experiences we have not had.

If you find a claim that seems unsourced, inaccurate, or out of date, please contact us. We respond to substantive correction requests within 14 days and log the correction in our internal changelog.

What we do not do

Boundaries

No sponsored content. We do not publish articles paid for by hotels, attractions, or tourism boards.
No affiliate links in guides. We do not currently run an affiliate program in our city or theme guides. If we ever do, we will mark every affected page.
No press trips without disclosure. If a future review is hosted by a tourism board or hotel, that fact will be disclosed in the article footer.
No ranking manipulation. We do not reorder recommendations or insert links in exchange for compensation. Editorial order is set by the team.
No scraping of competitor content. Our data comes from public sources or original research. We do not paraphrase other travel publishers.

Corrections

How we handle errors

If we get something wrong — a wrong A-grade rating, a stale opening year, a closed attraction — we want to hear about it. Use the contact form to flag a correction. We log every substantive correction in our internal changelog with the date and the source that supports the corrected claim.

Material errors are corrected on the live page. The page's "Last updated" date is updated when a material correction is published. Minor typos and formatting fixes are made without a date change.