1

Hi, I'm a geographer. You are going to have to study some online maps to find the best roads. Obviously you need side roads and not highways. It might seem to make sense to follow the coast, since the coast is at sea level. The problem with this plan is that parts of the Fujian coastline are very steep, and the road will force you to go inland and pass over steep hills. However, here is a sequence of towns I recommend that you pass through on your route to minimize hill climbing. This route cuts across the great bend of the lower Yangtze (Chang Jiang) and then follows the Yangtze to Jiangxi Province, then follows the Gan River valley south, then passes through low hills between the Jiuling and Luoxiao Mountains into the Xiang River Basin of Hunan Province. Now there is a range of mountains that borders Guangdong Province to the north, but it is at its narrowest along the border with Hunan, and there are a number of river valleys that you can follow to minimize hills. These lead you into the Pearl River Basin and a fairly flat ride right up to the border of Hong Kong.

Here is a rough description of this route: From Shanghai, head for Qingpu in western Shanghai municipality. Continue south of Taihu (lake) through Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. You need to follow really minor roads that parallel the G50 motorway to Xuancheng in Anhui Province. Pass through Nanling and continue west until you again hit the G20. Turn left at this point, a bit east of Tongling, to parallel the motorway on minor roads. When you approach the Yangtze just south of Tongling, break away from the motorway to follow the river to Dadukou just across the river from Anqing. Here you should take a ferry across the river to follow its northern bank, which has easier terrain that the southern bank. Also, on the southern bank, the only bridge across the mouth of Poyang Lake is a motorway bridge and you can bypass this on the northern bank. Continue to follow the north bank of the river just into Hunan to Xiaohizhen. There you can cross the river on a non-motorway bridge to Jiujiang in Jiangxi. Follow National Route 105 south to Anyi. Continue south on back roads to Huachengzhen in Gao'an City. Continue south to the west bank of the Gan river, then follow the river southwest to provincial route 324, which will take you to Yichun and on to Zhuzhou in Hunan Province, where you can cross the Xiang river on a non-motorway bridge.

From here, follow provincial road 313 to national route 107. Follow Route 107 south until it joins a motorway in far southern Hunan. At this point, you can continue south on provincial route 346 into Guangdong. At Xingzizhen, turn left onto provincial route 259. Continue south until you reach national Route 323. Turn right on Route 323, which brings you to Lianzhou. Turn left here onto provincial route 114, which will take you through the mountains along a river valley to Yangshan. From here you should continue about 5 km south along Route 260, but then continue straight ahead without crossing the river, which will put you on Route 347. Follow route 347 just past Hanguanzhen, turn right and take Route 348 to Zhiwu, then head east along back roads to Zhutiancun, then south to the banks of the Lian river. Follow the bank of the Lian river, to its confluence with the Bei River at Lianzhangkouzhen, where a bridge will take you across the Bei River. Then head south along Provincial road 253 until you reach Provincial Road 114, which will bring you into the Pearl River Basin, centered on the city of Guangzhou. Route 114 will take you toward Guangzhou, but when it merges with a motorway, you will have to choose back streets into the city. National Route 107 will take you east to Dongguan. Then follow back roads and streets to Shenzhen, cross the border into Hong Kong, and generally follow Hong Kong's western shoreline into the city.

2

I found a slightly better variation on the route that I described yesterday that reduces your distance traveling through Hunan. I marked out this route in this Google Map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Shanghai,+China&daddr=30.884839942605787,120.1154200360179+to:30.950340074435033,118.14612004905939+to:30.850180116691995,117.37615004181862+to:30.14068010470462,116.67772997170687+to:30.045728194587575,116.58251758664846+to:29.755452968860197,116.00345514714718+to:28.193130125043062,115.28545998036861+to:27.82652006843218,114.94898993521929+to:27.659059914488964,113.82319003343582+to:26.789204226596652,113.1955249607563+to:26.766826113423882,113.11223600059748+to:26.00294999590441,113.00084989517927+to:25.124090060626923,112.7453500404954+to:24.46293775065883,112.65266261994839+to:24.28379201649461,113.08932591229677+to:24.20000995377304,113.14265996217728+to:24.044550058639192,113.31718996167183+to:23.60316013516371,113.10178007930517+to:23.460100016168404,113.01173999905586+to:%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%8D%97%E8%B7%AF&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=22.529365,114.096107&spn=0.170928,0.228996&sll=22.535073,114.124002&sspn=0.021365,0.028625&geocode=FbmJ3AEdqIo9BykzPPWxQHCyNTGhZMMjlBKVAg%3BFehD1wEd3NAoBynBVb06Xqi0NTHAcJpzCoUdBg%3BFcRD2AEdSMQKByl9_TxPjTw1NDFae2MnUD39ug%3BFYS81gEdlgT_BilnHOnAdY80NDHdRT8fiTNpyg%3BFQjpywEdYlz0BimD19WmuGMxNDErkBK1yScDkQ%3BFSB2ygEddejyBimhr3BqUnAxNDGyDF_bj3uwJA%3BFT0IxgEdfxLqBin1ua02mskxNDHEhlTk2pdVRQ%3BFWoxrgEd1B3fBilBNSbDfsIkNDFnUz3BQ7zBzw%3BFViZqAEdfvvZBin1Co2R_oAkNDF2ZrF3GZ42UA%3BFTQLpgEd1s3IBinHN4ccx0EhNDHaPsVutxbs5w%3BFVTFmAEdBDq_BimBmbym_iUgNDE7P_nsI0W6iw%3BFeptmAEdrPS9BilfIVq6uCYgNDHBVvWJJCGBxg%3BFQbGjAEdkkG8BimpeLKwscofNDHVkGqThXXgcA%3BFfpcfwEdhlu4Bilhwi4rb_AdNDGSCoGqbjug0w%3BFVlGdQEddvG2BilFOsqkO30dNDHFtB3z0Vry_A%3BFY-KcgEdLZu9BinlQXvxBBQdNDHihGVaJf6uJQ%3BFUpDcQEdhGu-BilltSGXLBYdNDEYiFWAL2VFuw%3BFQbkbgEdRhXBBilx2dMa7iYdNDH-0NY5hXZDCw%3BFdgnaAEd1Mu9Bik1G2bDJcQCNDFQyHxHPjkjiA%3BFQT5ZQEdHGy8BilZ8pcH0eoCNDH_XQ955FV-fA%3BFZraVwEd4FDNBg&oq=Shenzh&dirflg=h&mra=dme&mrsp=20&sz=15&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19&t=p&z=12

Wow, I didn't realize that would be such a long URL!

This map just takes you to the Hong Kong border, since Google Maps won't show routes across the border. I chose the Lo Wu border crossing, since web sources suggest that this is the best for a bicycle.

Here is a map showing a relatively easy to cycle route from Lo Wu to the Harbour at Kowloon:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Lo+Wu,+Hong+Kong&daddr=22.40488,113.97908+to:22.354652,114.128188+to:Nathan+Rd&hl=en&ll=22.33269,114.144173&spn=0.042793,0.057249&sll=22.290367,114.158421&sspn=0.042806,0.057249&geocode=FYS-VwEdh0HNBikr-LuQ3PUDNDEWkuPct3saMw%3BFRDfVQEdyC7LBinvuwUY4PoDNDEMyXJE6sTuCg%3BFdwaVQEdPHXNBinzIU2Lu_gDNDHKDtpwz43ZoA%3BFSQxVAEdIiLOBg&oq=Government+Hou&t=p&dirflg=h&mra=dme&mrsp=3&sz=14&via=1,2&z=14

3

" I chose the Lo Wu border crossing, since web sources suggest that this is the best for a bicycle."

You cannot bike across the border at Lowu. Exit from Lowu is only by MTR, and that three-wheeler with 350kg onboard is far too big and heavy to be allowed on the train. You couldn't even get it through the immigration halls.

The OP will have to do further research on which road crossing, if any, will allow passage.

4

I agree that the border crossing into Hong Kong might be a problematic part of the journey. Forget the borders which connect to the rail - Lo Wu. Lok Ma Chau Spur Line might also be difficult as it is only for those on foot. I'm not sure whether there would be enough space to get your bike through. For crossings which are for road vehicles, you will have a problem on the HK side as bicycles are not allowed on the highways connecting the border area to the downtown area - also this area is a " Frontier Closed Area" on the HK side and you are not officially allowed without another permit. For rail, car and bus passengers crossing the border this is not a problem; for cyclists it might be.

Wikitravel has some information - http://wikitravel.org/en/Hong_Kong#By_bicycle

5

If you look at the OP's website you'll see it's not really a bike but a three-wheel cart, a 三轮车 sanlun che, with a 350kg sculpture on board. No way that's going to roll into an immigration hall, much less an MTR train. Of course, it would be great fun to watch what happens if he tries to do it.

Further, these carts are prohibited in the central parts of some Chinese cities, though I don't know about Shenzhen.

It's possible the OP may have to have his cart hauled into Hong Kong by truck.