Best Travel Destinations - China
For those of us whose idea of modern China consists of crowded, hectic cities and growing pollution, the experience of visiting Yellow Mountain, or Huangshan, is a welcome relief from the frenetic pace of modernization. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Yellow Mountain in Anhui province is the most famous natural tourist attraction in China, and has the sweeping mountain views, bamboo forests, and ancient pine trees that inspired the cinematography of movies such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which was filmed on location at Yellow Mountain. The unexpected majesty of Huangshan is truly awe-inspiring as you gaze out at the huge peaks and boulders of the mountain range around you while riding in comfort up the slopes of Yellow Mountain on a gondola. You ...
China is the fourth largest country in the world, but when travelling through rural China, with combined train and bus journeys often lasting up to 36 hours, it can feel like the largest country in the world. Although this can be a test in personality and patience, put away those dark parts of your soul and remember that it’s about the journey, not the destination. Okay, maybe in China it actually is about the destination. My intrepid travel partner and I made the trip one hour east of Yongding to explore the world of the Hakka, (meaning “guest people”), an ethnic minority who migrated from northern China during times of war. For one night, we were to live as they do, in a tulou. Although ...
Climbing Tibet’s Potala Palace at 3,700 m (12,100 ft), is a difficult task indeed. The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, made famous as the winter residence of the Dalai Lama until 1959, was first built by a Tibetan king in AD 637, and used primarily as a meditation retreat. Potala Palace was rebuilt in 1645 to be used as the fifth Dalai Lama's seat of government. Today, Potala Palace is situated between two major monasteries in old Lhasa, and is a museum housing thousands of shrines, statues and manuscripts within its countless rooms. Clearing the last turn on the last set of stairs, you will be greeted by panoramic views of the city of Lhasa.The altitude affords unlimited visibility, and the azure skies, dabbed with ...
Amid the glittering skyscrapers of Shanghai, Yu Yuan Garden is an enclave of traditional Chinese architecture and a classical garden. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Shanghai, Yu Yuan Garden is worth a visit for the garden and teahouses, especially if you don't get a chance to go to the nearby garden cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou. But beautiful as it is, the true attraction for many who visit Yu Yuan Gardens is the enormous bazaar that extends from the central area and the entrance to the garden, to the outskirts of the local neighborhood. Here, great deals on all sorts of things can be found, from embroidered slippers, “new” antiques, lucky charms, fake paper money to burn for your ancestors' ghosts, parasols, ...
The Xintiandi district of Shanghai is where the trendy, well-heeled and in-the-know go to dine, shop, and be seen. This award-winning district is located near the French Concession of Shanghai, in the heart of Shanghai's expatriate-friendly dining and nightlife area. Walking through Xintiandi (which means “New Heaven and Earth”) is a strange but charming juxtaposition of old and new. One of the first lifestyle centres to be deliberately renovated and designed in Shanghai, Xintiandi is composed of renovated shikumen (traditional stone gate houses) that have now been turned into art galleries, restaurants, and shops. These stone houses, shikumen, were enormously popular in Shanghai in the 1860s, and are comprised of stone townhouses that line narrow stone alleyways. They were known for their strong stone doorways ...
Tai Shan is the most revered of China’s five sacred Taoist mountains, known as the Wu Yueh. If you are in the mood for history and culture with a bit of exercise, a trip to Tai Shan is a grand opportunity for thrills and knowledge. Located in the Shandong province, Mt. Tai towers over the captivating scene, and has an elevation of 1,545 meters above sea level. It is a national scenic treasure. UNESCO-listed Mt. Tai became a World Natural and Cultural Heritage in 1987. Tai Shan is considered "a partial miniature of Chinese culture" according to Guo Moruo, a modern Chinese scholar. Mt. Tai's extremely rich cultural heritage has been incorporated with the natural landscape, which is why people consider it a very precious ...
All those physics lessons in high school might have been wasted in explaining how an acrobat can teeter on a chair, with the bottom edge precariously balanced on the back of another, when you witness a Beijing acrobatic show. And so the chairs continue, forming a staircase that seems in imminent collapse. Meanwhile, the acrobat balanced on top pirouettes on her feet, while another acrobat clambers over the chairs and leaps to the top of the pile. Props such as Chinese plates and bamboo poles might come out at this point. Though the trappings of Chinese acrobatics are different from Western ones, seeing a Beijing acrobatic show when you visit China will inspire the same awe in the human body. Chinese acrobats are part of ...
China is a veritable foodie's paradise with a unique culinary tradition in every province. Beijing is no exception. One of the best ways to sample some traditional Chinese street foods is at the Donghuamen Night Snack Street in Beijing. The long stretch of road is lined with vendors selling everything from the mundane noodles to the strange, unusual, and sometimes a bit disgusting, but all for a good price. Once the sun goes down, join the throngs of Chinese and international tourists who flock to Donghuamen to fill their bellies or to simply catch a glimpse at some of the strange things people will eat. The red and white striped vendor carts and strings of Chinese lanterns lining the street give Donghuamen market a welcoming ...
You can’t walk down a street in Suzhou without coming across a silk store. Suzhou (also known as Soochow) is one of the top destinations in China for authentic classical gardens, complete with rock gardens, pagodas, glimmering pools full of goldfish, towering bamboo, and intricately carved wood buildings. It is easy to see how the Chinese city has garnered a reputation for being “paradise on earth”. As you stroll along the garden walkways, it’s easy to imagine a time when the gardens catered to silk-clad Chinese ladies carrying dainty parasols, and somber calligraphers dressed in black, enjoying the fresh air. In the midst of this idyllic atmosphere, a vibrant Chinese silk industry flourishes, making Suzhou one of the hubs for the textile industry in China. ...
Stretching nearly 4,000 miles, China's Yangtze river is the third longest river in the world and the longest in Asia. As the central dividing line between north and south China, the Yangtze river has played an important cultural and economic role throughout the country's long history. While the big tourist spots in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian can be maddeningly crowded with tours moving at a hectic pace, taking a Yangtze river cruise gives you a chance to experience the natural beauty of the Chinese countryside at a more leisurely pace. Most Yangtze river cruises begin in the small city of Yichang and end in Chongqing, taking you through the Three Gorges of Hubei province. The controversial Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric power plant in ...
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