Backpacker Liu Ying left Shenzhen for Beijing on Tuesday for a 10,000-kilometer journey mostly by foot along China's northeastern and eastern frontier, an unprecedented move that has excited her fellow "donkeys" nationwide.

Liu is one of the two "donkeys," or Chinese backpackers, to have won a sponsorship from a travel equipment company in a recent contest. The other sponsorship recipient Qiu Zhimin from Guangzhou will travel across Kenya and Tanzania in one month, according to a Shenzhen-based Web site for backpackers, www.doyouhike.net.

While many applicants planned to visit western China, Liu won the contest with her detailed plan about a creative journey along China's beautiful borders and coastlines in the east, the Web site announced earlier.

She will first explore border cities in Northeast China. Then she will travel along the eastern coastline from Tianjin down to Haikou, Hainan Province, crossing Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.

Liu wants to trace the history of her family. "My grandfather worked in the customs and was always transferred from one city to another. So my family has lived in almost all cities with a custom in China's frontier from Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia to Shanghai," she said in her plan.

She will visit natural reserves, scenic spots with beautiful landscapes and tourist spots with historical or cultural significance but avoid "over-developed places with excessive admission charge," according to her plan.

The journey will take three months with a budget of some 23,000 yuan (US$2,875).

Liu Ying was born in Beijing and graduated from Beijing University, according to her personal information listed at the Web site. She began traveling as a backpacker in 1999 and settled in Shenzhen in 2001.

Editor: Yan