China City Guide - Top Destinations in China

North China Tourist Area

The northeast dominates the People's Republic of China both and economically. Over a quarter of China s population live in municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin and the five provinces of Shangdong, Hebei, Liaoning, Jiling and Heilongjiang. Most of these people reside on the fertile North China and Manchurian Plains.

Beijing has been China's principal capital since the 13th century. Today the Beijing-Tianjin conurbation is the largest in the country, with a combined population of about 37 million people.

The coastal province of Shandong has played an important role in the development of Chinese civilization since the earliest times. In the last century Shandong was beset by economic problems, resulting from natural disasters and overpopulation, and men from that province, together with foreign capital and technology, were subsequently responsible for opening up the virgin lands of Manchuria.

Three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang are rich in tourist resources: natural beauty of tremendous and precipitous mountains, primitive forest, plains and hills, rivers and lakes, and cultural relics sites such as the Shenyang Palace Museum built in the Qing dynasty, the Oriental Pyramid the Mausoleum of emperor Gaogouli and the relics site of Shangjing — the capital of the Jin dynasty. The seasonal changes are obvious here. Cool in short summer, it is freezing in long winter which makes it a satisfying summer resort as well as an ideal place for enjoying the beautiful scenery of snow and skating. The famous scenic spots are as follows: Qianshan Scenic Spot in Liaoning, the Dalian Seaside, the Songhua Lake in Jilin, the Changbaishan Natural Scenic Spot, the Five-Pond SanitoriUm in Heilongjiang, the Zhalong Precious Birds Natural Preserve and the Jingbo Lake. The stylistic special tours include Liaoning's Hot Spring Tour and the Steam Vehicles Tour, Jilin's Skiing Tour on the Songhua Lake, Skiing, Bird-watching and Plant-surveying Tours in the Changbaishan Mountain, Heilongjiang's Hunting, Fishing, Skiing, Strolling in the Forest Tours and Cycling Tour in Xiaoxinganling.etc. They attract lot visitors from both at home and abroad.

The Great Bend of the Yellow River

The Yellow River is 3395 miles long, second only in China to the Yangzi River. It cuts through the world's largest loess plateau, and has the highest silt content of any river recorded. It has been both the joy and the sorrow of the Chinese, alternately irrigating the fertile land and devastating it with appalling floods. The focal point of the river is the great bend to the east where the tributary, the Wei, meets the Yellow River on the borders of the three provinces Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan. For the first 2000 years of recorded history the capitals of China were either near the Yellow River in Henan, or close to the Wei River in southern Shaanxi

Coastal Tourist Area

The Coastal Tourist Area covers the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan, and the city of Shanghai. It enjoys an advantageous location and a convenient traffic system. Close to the sea and back towards the inland, it is the richest area in China. There are mountains and plains, intersecting rivers and lakes. It traverses the northern and the southern parts of China, covering different climate zones. When spring comes, the northern coastal area is still capped with heavy snow, however, in the southern area fruits hang heavily on the trees and fragrance of rice greets people, especially in the islands of the South China Sea to the south of the Tropic of Cancer.the scenery is even more magnificent with jade-like white sands and hot sun.

The Coastal Tourist Area boasts for its long history, developed economy, splendid culture, places of interest and historic relics. Mount Taishan in Shandong is a colorful historical and cultural museum having stone tablet carvings representing high level of art. As the hometown of Confucius, an ancient educationist, Qufu is famous nationwide for its Confucius Temple, Family Mansion and Forest.

Suzhou in Jiangsu is particularly renowned for her landscaped gardens. The gardens of Wangshi, Lion Grove, Humble Administrator, and Lingering Garden are representative of Suzhou gardens. They are noted for delicate design, various scenery,' fully demonstrating the characteristics of Chinese traditional gardens. Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, is one of China's seven ancient capitals. The West Lake in Hangzhou is a combination of hills, waters, lakes, springs, gardens, and old buildings, hence the name "the Pearl in Paradise". There are also a lot of places of different features and charm, such as Xiamen in Fujian, Mount Wuyishan, Boyanghu Lake in Jiangxi, Mount Huangshan and Mount Jiuhuashan in Anhui, Xinghu Lake in Guangdong, and the scenic spot of "the End of the Earth and the Cap of the Sea" in Hainan.

Many fascinating special tours have been developed according to the features of the Coastal Tourist Area. Shandong: the lours of Weifang International Kites Festival, local customs, Confucius's hometown, cooking, and Shuihu in the Liangshan Hill; Jiangsu: the lours of ancient canal, Jiangnan village and traditional gardens, Zhejiang, the tours of Buddhism and wedding; Fujian: the tours of study at Lanting Academy and boat-rowing at Mount Wuyi; Jiangxi: the lours of watching birds at Boyang Lake, porcelain archaeology, and visiting Jingdezhen—the capital of porcelain; Guangdong: the tours of diving and Cantonese cuisine; Hainan: the tour of the customs of minority nationality etc. These feature tours are interesting and fascinating and appeal to travellers from both at home and abroad.

Yangtze River Tourist Area

The Yangtze River is the longest river in China. It originates from the hinterland of the Qingzhang Plateau and runs across the provinces of Qinghai. Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Tibet Autonomous Region and -Shanghai city and finally enters the East China Sea. It is over 6,300 km. long, ranking the third after the Amazon River and the Nile River in the world. The Yangtze River Tourist Area covers the provinces of Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan. In this area, the landscapes are appealing and wonderful with green hills and clear waters. There are also historic sites, places of interest, flourishing cities and elegant towns, all like pearls inlaid along the banks of the Yangtze River. The Dujiang Dam in Sichuan is a great ancient water conservancy project. Although over 2,000 years has passed, it still brings benefit to the people. Constructed in 713, the Creal Buddha in Leshan Hill in Sichuan. 71 m.high, is the largest stone carving Buddha statue in the world. The Dazhu Stone Carving in Sichuan is the essence of Chinese grotto art. Hubei is a strategic point for which the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu fought from 220 to 280. Many historic sites were left behind. The Wulingyuan Scenic Spot in Hunan is a combination of grotesqueness, dangerousness, gracefulness, deepness and wildness. The Dongting Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in China. The Junshan Hill in the centre of the lake is faintly visible and presents a mysterious atmosphere.

Feature tours in this area is colorful and unique. In Hubei there are tours of the Three Kingdoms, Local customs, hot spring recuperation. Shennongjia exploration, tea-picking in the mist, orange-tasting, tonic medicine, and appreciation of the Daoist music at Mount Wudang . In Hunan there are tours of lotus-picking, dragonboat-racing. Chinese Buddhism, porcelain, Hunan cuisine and sports recuperation tour in Chenzhou. The most famous tour is the Three Gorges Tour covering Sichuan and Hunan. The Three Gorges, Qutanjj. Wuxia and Xiling, starts from Baidi City in Fengjie. Sichuan in the west and ends in Nanjinguan in Yichang, Hubei. It is 193 km. long, traversing Fengjie, Wushan Hill, BadongAigui and Yichang. It is a very famous scenic spot and ranks the first in the world. Qutang Gorge, around 33 km. long, is noted for grandeur and magnificence; Wuxia Gorge, about 40 km. long, is well-known for serenity and gracefulness. There are many peaks and it is said that the Goddess Peak is the most graceful of the 12 peaks of the Wushan Hill. Xiling Gorge, totally 120 km. long, is renowned for its dangerous rapids, shoals, reefs, sharp turns and whirlpools, and earns the fame of "the best scenery in the world".

Suzhou in Jiangsu is particularly renowned for her landscaped gardens. The gardens of Wangshi, Lion Grove, Humble Administrator, and Lingering Garden are representative of Suzhou gardens. They are noted for delicate design, various scenery,' fully demonstrating the characteristics of Chinese traditional gardens. Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, is one of China's seven ancient capitals. The West Lake in Hangzhou is a combination of hills, waters, lakes, springs, gardens, and old buildings, hence the name "the Pearl in Paradise". There are also a lot of places of different features and charm, such as Xiamen in Fujian, Mount Wuyishan, Boyanghu Lake in Jiangxi, Mount Huangshan and Mount Jiuhuashan in Anhui, Xinghu Lake in Guangdong, and the scenic spot of "the End of the Earth and the Cap of the Sea" in Hainan.

Many fascinating special tours have been developed according to the features of the Coastal Tourist Area. Shandong: the lours of Weifang International Kites Festival, local customs, Confucius's hometown, cooking, and Shuihu in the Liangshan Hill; Jiangsu: the lours of ancient canal, Jiangnan village and traditional gardens, Zhejiang, the tours of Buddhism and wedding; Fujian: the tours of study at Lanting Academy and boat-rowing at Mount Wuyi; Jiangxi: the lours of watching birds at Boyang Lake, porcelain archaeology, and visiting Jingdezhen—the capital of porcelain; Guangdong: the tours of diving and Cantonese cuisine; Hainan: the tour of the customs of minority nationality etc. These feature tours are interesting and fascinating and appeal to travellers from both at home and abroad.

Southwestern Tourist Area

The green hills and mountains of southwest China offer some of the finest scenery in the People's Republic The region is relatively under-populated and under-industrialized, with only one major population center, the Red Basin of Sichuan. As a frontier area, the southwest has a number of hitherto unassimilated tribal peoples, now called national minorities. Most of them are related ethnically to the Thais, Burmese or Tibetans.

The flora and fauna of southwest China is by far the richest in the country. The giant panda of Sichuan is world famous. It is less well known that many of the garden flowers in the west originated from this area, discovered by botanist-explorers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Northwestern Tourist Area

The northwest is an arid region of deserts and mountains, appealing to the would-be explorer rather than the conventional tourist. In early times, merchants, officials and Buddhist monks travelled northwest from China, along a series of oasis towns and small kingdoms out to central Asia, the middle east and eventually the Mediterranean. This route became known as the Silk Road. The whole history of the northwest is closely bound up with the development of this trade route.

Starting in Xi'an, the Silk Road followed the Gansu corridor to Dunhuang, where it divided in two. One route went north of the Taklimakan Desert, the other south, the two joining again at Kashi (Kashgar) in the extreme west of the present-day People's Republic.

Today the northwest is of considerable economic importance. The railway has dramatically improved communications, and China's pressing need to exploit the region's rich mineral resources, including oil, has given it a high development priority. It shares a sensitive border with the Soviet Union, so that it is also of strategic significance.

The northwest is an area of great cultural diversity, offering the visitor the experience of meeting many of China's interesting national minorities. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is seldom on tourist itineraries, though some foreigners cross through it taking the railway from Lanzhou to Inner Mongolia. It is the home of the Hui, Chinese followers of the Moslem religion. Numbering 6.49 million in total, they are widely scattered throughout China, and only a small percentage of them live in Ningxia. Many of them can also be found in Xi'an, Lanzhou and Urumqi.

Gansu Province, historically the link between China and central Asia, is overwhelmingly Chinese though there are isolated communities of Tibetans and Bonan and Dongxiang Mongols in the south near Lanzhou, and Kazaks, Mongols and Yugurs in the north near Dunhuang and Jiayuguan.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region occupies no less than one-sixth of the entire country. A large number of the inhabitants are now Chinese, the result of large scale immigration during the past 30 years. Nevertheless the various non-Chinese peoples who have lived for centuries in Xinjiang still exert a powerful influence on the cultural life of the area.

Most of the national minority peoples are Turkic language-speaking Moslems. The largest group are the 5.48 million Uygurs, a sedentary farming people who live in the oasis towns. Generous hosts who love singing and dancing, they are strikingly handsome with faces combining both Mongoloid and Indo-Iranian features.

Their ethnic cousins the Kazaks and Kirgiz are nomadic. Most of the Kazaks live in the mountains and their way of life is not dissimilar to that of the Mongols on the steppe. They are fine horsemen, keep sheep and goats, and live in yurts in the summer. The Kirgis keep herds of Bactrian camels.

The Xibe Manchus, living on the Soviet border, are descended from Qing Dynasty garrison troops and originally came from the northeast of China. The Tajiks on the border with Pakistan, Afghanistan and the most western part of the border with the Soviet Union are related to the Iranians. There are also Uzbeks, Tatars, Mongols, Daur Mongols and a few Russians.