From Guilin's karst to the high light of China
Top grew up among the karst hills of Yangshuo and graduated in 2000 from Guangxi Normal University in Guilin with a degree in English — the language he now guides in every day.
He spent two years teaching elementary school, then three building websites for a travel office, before finding his true calling: in 2006 he became a licensed national guide, leading journeys across China for CYTS, CITS, CTS and LJITS for a decade.
In 2016 he stepped off the tour bus for good and turned full-time landscape photographer. Three years later he founded China Photography Trip; in 2025 he relaunched it as chinaphotographytrip.com to share the landscapes he knows best.
He holds a CNTA guide licence, is a member of the Guides Association of China, and still shoots every week — because the light never repeats.
“I spent ten years showing travellers China. Now I spend my days showing photographers its light.”
— Top Huangxu, Founder
