backpacking/hiking in China

I'm looking to go hiking and backpacking in China in late summer/early autumn 2003. My idea is to flying into Beijing, travel on to do some hking along the Great Wall and then by bus/train to Shanghai to spend a few days there, then fly home.

Anyone have any info on the following?:

1. best place to backpack / camp along the Great Wall. 2. whether my plan is too much of a stretch for two weeks.

Ideally I'd like to join a small group for the camping part - anyone have any suggestions or know anyone who might be doing the same thing? Or are there any organized camping tours to join? My timing is fairly flexible.

I can speak/read reasonable Chinese so I don't need a tour guide to arrange everything on my behalf, it'd be more fun to organize it myself with other backpackers.

i hope the info is useful for u, but it's basically person opinion.

beijing and shanghai are the 2 worst places to visit in china. they're mostly overcrowded if u stay in the city centre. they are over-developed too. last year i went to shanghai, all the 'hot spots' were full of lousy tourists. the air was even more polluted than hongkong. everywhere in the city centre was construction site.

i suggest going to less developed districts, especailly if hiking, rather than sight-seeing, is your main goal. yunnan is one of my suggestion.

cheung (hongkong)