Chongqing - One of the city's first foreign-language guides, Yang Shunhua has watched Chongqing grow from a brief stopover into a global destination.

Yang Shunhua. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Half an hour before his guests are due, Yang Shunhua is already waiting at the arrivals exit of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. He wears a suit and holds a handwritten sign.

When three Swiss tourists come through the gate, the 68-year-old greets them with a warm smile: "Hello! Welcome to Chongqing!"

Yang became one of Chongqing's first foreign-language tour guides in 1987, in the early years of China's reform and opening-up. Nearly four decades later, he is still leading tours. Over that time, he has watched his hometown rise from relative obscurity to fame as an "8D" city of layered roads, bridges, and buildings.

From scarce buses to drone-lit skies

Yang was among the first students to enter university after China restored its national college entrance exam. He studied English at Chongqing Normal University before joining the country's fledgling inbound tourism industry.

Those early days were tough. "There were only a handful of buses in all of Chongqing that met the standards for foreign tourists," he recalls. "In peak season, they were almost impossible to get."

In 1988, during one bus shortage, he ran back and forth to a public phone booth to arrange overnight transport for a foreign group. With no expressway, the trip to the Dazu Rock Carvings took more than five hours through village markets. Hotels for foreigners were scarce, so he checked and rechecked every booking.

Yang Shunhua (first left) shows foreign tourists around Chongqing. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Today, his tour bus glides across bridges while cruise ships sail below and trains weave between buildings. At Liziba, where a monorail runs straight through an apartment block, Yang shows guests how to pose so they appear to swallow the train. He takes them to see a robot make ice cream, strolls through Ciqikou Ancient Town, and keeps pace on the canyon walkways of Wulong's Three Natural Bridges. Walking 20,000 steps a day is normal for him.

Recently, a group of Mexican visitors watched thousands of drones light up the night sky. "It's so beautiful, like a river of stars!" one said, video-calling family back home to share the view.

The real Chongqing

In his free time, Yang explores the city on his own. "To introduce the real Chongqing to visitors, you have to truly know it and love it yourself," he says.

He often leads guests beyond the landmarks. Once, he took a group into a small noodle shop for xiaomian, Chongqing's fiery street noodles, with bottled water ready. Some guests gasped at the heat; others finished the bowl and wanted a second.

"That's Chongqing," Yang said, laughing. "First it burns, then you can't put your chopsticks down."

One evening at the Great Hall of the People, a Spanish visitor joined local residents in square dancing. Local aunties took her hands and showed her the steps, with no shared language needed. Back home, she wrote online that their warmth made her want to return.

Yang believes visitors remember these everyday moments most.

Yang Shunhua with friends he has made among his foreign guests. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

He has seen Chongqing's tourism transform. Foreign visitors used to spend just a few hours in the city after a Three Gorges cruise. Today, luxury ships sail the Yangtze and new attractions keep appearing. Visitors once came mainly from the United States, Western Europe and Japan. Now they also come from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America.

This National Day holiday, Yang is guiding a 160-member American group to sites including Mountain City Alley, the Yangtze River Cableway, the Liziba station and the Dazu Rock Carvings.

Friendships across oceans

An Ecuadorian visitor told Yang he had known Chongqing only for hotpot and pandas, but found it "far more complex and far more interesting than I imagined." "Mr. Yang showed me not a tourist attraction, but a city where people really live," he said.

A German guest said: "He told us not just what to see, but why."

Many of these bonds last. On May 12, 2008, the day of the Wenchuan earthquake, a former guest called Yang more than 30 times until he got through to make sure he was safe. Another guest said he had saved his whole life to climb the Great Wall and cruise the Yangtze. For Yang, moments like these show that a guide presents not just a city, but how China welcomes the world.

A photo Yang Shunhua took for his guests. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Nearly 40 years on, his job hasn't changed, but Chongqing has. It is no longer a city waiting to be discovered. It is now on travelers' maps around the world.

"The moment foreign visitors truly fall in love with Chongqing," Yang says, "that's when I'm happiest."