Thumbing a ride to adventure across the nation

Li Shengbo, 24-year-old undergraduate in Beijing, stopped school for a year to hitchhike around China.

Starting in February 2011, Li spent 10 months on the road going to almost all the major cities and the most remote corners of the country, including the snow-peaked mountains in the Tibet autonomous region, and Mohe, the northernmost county in China where the aurora borealis glows in the night sky.

More than 200 people gave him a ride. Their vehicles ranged from a brand new black Hummer to a creaky dray pulled by a horse. In a video he took on the trip, Li was sitting in the back of a pickup truck.

"Finally I got a ride," he shouted at the camera while a strong wind blew on his unshaved face. "It's a dung-cart! I have cow poop all over me," he laughed. "Not bad!" The road was so bumpy that his joyful face was constantly thrown out of the frame.

Before sticking out his thumb for a ride, Li thought that if he asked 50 people for help, at least one would give him a ride.

"I was so naive," he said. "In fact, it was common to be rejected more than 80 times in a row.

"People laughed at you, doubted you, rejected you, or didn't even stop at all," he said. "After being turned down too many times, you started to doubt the world and feel helpless."

His first attempt failed. He waited at a highway entrance, hailing a ride from Beijing to Tianjin. Dust and exhaust fumes made him choke. It was embarrassing to stick out his thumb: Every car roaring by was like a slap in the face.

After two hours, the only driver who stopped said he was not going to Tianjin.

"Finally, I gave up and took the train," he said.

"I was so frustrated."