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China Travel and Destination Guide
PLACES TO SEE
Běijīng
If your visions of Beijing are centred around pods of Maoist revolutionaries in buttoned-down tunics performing exercise in Tiananmen Square, put them to rest: this city has embarked on a new millennium rollercoaster and it's taking the rest of China with it.
Karakoram Highway
This yak-nibbled highway over the Khunjerab Pass (4800m/15,740ft) is the gateway to Pakistan and was used for centuries by caravans plodding down the Silk Road. Khunjerab means 'valley of blood', a reference to local bandits who took advantage of the terrain to plunder caravans and slaughter the merchants.
Shanghai
Shanghai is a scintillating city swirling with rapid cultural change. Since market restrictions were lifted, it has embraced the forces of business and design and rewritten its rule book shaping a fresh, new city that is sophisticated, innovative and living a life it has never lived before.
Great Wall
The Great Wall (Changcheng) wriggles fitfully from its scattered remains in Liaoning province to Jiayuguan in the Gobi Desert. The wall was begun over 2000 years ago, required thousands of workers - many of whom were political prisoners - and 10 years of hard labour. Legend has it that one of the building materials used was the bones of deceased workers.
Summer Palace
One of Beijing's most visited sights, the immense park of the Summer Palace requires at least half a day. Nowadays teeming with tour groups from China and beyond, this dominion of palace temples, gardens, pavilions, and lakes was once a playground for the imperial court. Royalty came here to elude the insufferable summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City.
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits for 500 years, is the largest and best-preserved cluster of China's ancient buildings. It was home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing, who didn't stray from this pleasure dome unless they absolutely had to. Allow yourself a full day, or perhaps several trips if you're an enthusiast.
Yungang Caves
These caves, cut into the southern cliffs of Wuzhou Shan, contain over 50,000 Buddhist statues including the earliest Buddhist carvings in China. Images surrounding the main statues include the omnipresent '1000 Buddha' motif, flying apsaras (angels draped in flowing silk), pagodas in bas-relief and Chinese symbols such as dragons and phoenixes.
Army of Terracotta Warriors (Bingmayong)
Ranking alongside the Great Wall and the Forbidden City as one of China's top historical sights, the 2000-year-old Terracotta Army remains a stunningly well preserved, perpetually vigilant force standing guard over an ancient imperial necropolis. Almost as extraordinary is a pair of bronze chariots and horses on display in a museum by the main entrance.
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