For many foreign companies, China is a goldmine. But to find real gold is not easy. We are like ducks that look like they’re gliding smoothly along the water, but underneath their feet are paddling furiously.

I first got in contact with Lonely Planet’s office in China in 2009. At the time, Lonely Planet had entered a partnership with Joint Publishing to publish a series of travel guidebooks. At the same time, Lonely Planet was also starting a new project, getting Chinese travellers to write Chinese provincial travel guides. This was the most difficult, but fun part of Lonely Planet in China; no longer were these guides just translations of travel guides from a foreign viewpoint. These were books written by Chinese writers for Chinese travellers with their habits and interests in mind. Lonely Planet’s Hong Kong and Macao and Taiwan are already highly recommended by Chinese readers.

Compared to other mature Asian markets, independent travel in China is still in its early stages, but the growth has been explosive. In 2014, more than 100 million Chinese travelled abroad. Destinations all around the world are fighting for a slice of the Chinese tourist market. Some shops hire Chinese-speaking staff, and some places have become filled with Chinese tourists almost overnight. On a recent trip to Chiang Mai, the old city almost felt like a Chinese city, with Chinese writing everywhere. Some less refined Chinese tourists showed little respect for the local culture, for example by smoking in temples, leaving behind a bad impression of Chinese tourists for the locals. The most shocking thing was that some Chinese tourists bought the school uniforms and entered Chiang Mai University to take pictures, even sneaking into lectures and examinations, causing a great nuisance to the school. As a result, the school, which was originally free to enter, started charging for entrance as a way to prevent unwanted visits from Chinese tourists.

As such, China needs high-quality travel guides not just to tell travellers how to get the most out of their travels, but also to educate them about the correct attitude to travel. For example, the guides encourage people to stay at more environmentally-friendly hotels, take part in charitable activities and lists ways to respect local cultures. Founder of Lonely Planet Tony Wheeler believes that only by changing the way that we travel can we really start thinking responsibly about travelling and why we travel, to minimise the impact of our footprint on nature.

In addition to recommendations for food and entertainment, responsible travel guides cannot ignore a destination’s past and present or its social problems. Only through examining these closely can a traveller fully understand the destination and connect with local people with their hearts and minds open. As such, I think the most valuable, but also painstaking, part of producing a travel guide is actually the background information sections, including history, culture, the environment and other topics.

It is impossible to freely write what you want in China because of strict censorship. But when it comes to the local China guides, I tell the writers and editors to try to not self-censor and just be as straight as they can. The publisher has its own censors; when any issues arise, I will discuss with them what changes to make to make sure the guide gets published. Other publishers in China will only publish positive things, never negative, and will dance around sensitive issues or avoid them altogether. Luckily, I share the same ideal as my fellow writers and editors—to contribute to the development of the Chinese travel market and the publishing industry. It’s a difficult job, but it’s also always a happy and memorable one.