Lonely Planet and Chinese publisher SDX Joint Publishing Company have launched a new series of original Chinese-language guides to China’s provinces.

Published: 24 May 2010

Lonely Planet and Chinese publisher SDX Joint Publishing Company have launched a new series of original Chinese-language guides to China’s provinces.

The new series of guides represents a significant step forward for Lonely Planet as it moves to expand its offering in languages other than English.

The guides have been designed to help Chinese travellers shape their own independent travel experiences and written by three local authors trained in the Lonely Planet style.

The first guide to be released focuses on the south-western province of Yunnan. Six more titles in the series - covering other provinces in China’s unique south and north-western regions - will be published over the next few months.

“This is the first time we have embarked on a project of this scale with our Chinese partner. We helped SDX recruit and train authors in the Lonely Planet style and this was a mutually rewarding experience. In return, SDX gave us deeper insight into China and many new content ideas for our English language products on China,” said Lonely Planet CEO Matt Goldberg.

The new Lonely Planet guidebooks will be available from major bookstores across China. In addition to Yunnan, forthcoming titles in the series include Sichuan & Chongqing, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Guizhou, Gansu & Ningxia, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang & Shanghai.

The two companies had announced their travel publishing partnership in 2006. They first started publishing Chinese editions of Lonely Planet guides. Around 50 Chinese-language titles are currently available, covering Europe, USA and Southeast Asia, as well as new and emerging destinations for Chinese travellers such as Turkey, the Maldives and South America.