multi-day walk in rural china

I have no idea if this is possible, but I highly doubt it, esp with 2 toddlers. My concern is that "little traveled back roads" in China has very few infra structures to support foreign travellers. Many local inns do not take foreigners as guests. I wish you luck.

I think you are being unrealistic about wanting a continuous point to point hiking trip, with two children that young. What would be more realistic is a collection of small towns/villages in reasonable proximity to each other, where you could base in one place and then do daily walks in different directions each day but return at end of day to a "home base". During the day, you could walk between villages for refreshments, food, breaks, etc. What comes immediately to mind are the Yixian villages in Anhui or the Wuyuan villages in Jiangxi. Both of these areas have guesthouse-type accommodations with some licensed to take foreigners. By late October/early November, these areas should be down to only light domestic tourism. Yixian will get a bit more (daytrippers) due to proximity to Mt. Huangshan. Both groups are fairly easy and quick to reach from Shanghai by fast train + last bit by car.

You could do something like this in the Guilin/Yangshuo area. Be advised that Rice Terraces won't be worth going to at that time of year--they will be post-harvest, muddy, not yet flooded. Not sure if going the greater distance from the Shanghai region is worth it for what you seem to want. If either Yixian or Wuyuan village areas sound good to you, the Yunhe Rice Terraces aren't too far away in Zhejiang Province and you could swing by there as a separate 2-day stopover on the way back to Shanghai or Hangzhou.

Agree with jiejie another good area to consider is Chengyang the Dong Minority area with those wonderful wooden nail free covered Wind and Rain Bridges. It's not that far from Guilin . Series of inter connected villages easy short walks and enough tourist infrastructure to make it easy without being ruined

Thank you all for your suggestions, those areas sound like just what we are looking for!

Yangshuo would work for a sort of "stay-put" cycling holiday - the problem of accommodation not accepting foreigners is very real in rural areas, but there are some lovely inns around Yangshuo, some are owned by expat Americans or Australians - Outside Inn, Li River Rtreat, Giggle Tree, Yangshuo Mountain Retreat etc & will have food that your kids will eat etc ;-)

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