China is a destination of such epic proportions that we can barely scratch the surface here.
With three major regions, China stretches from the mountainous west, to the desert plains of the Mongol Plateau to Manchuria in the northeast. The largely low-lying eastern region consists of the valleys and floodplains of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, through to the coastal plains of the Pearl River in the south.
It is hard to bypass (and one certainly shouldn’t!) the nation’s capital for over 3000 years — Beijing — as China’s premier tourist destination. The architectural masterpiece of the Forbidden City, the equally impressive Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Ming Tombs, the Temple of Heaven… and of course, the most famous of all — The Great Wall of China, built during the Ming Dynasty’s reign to fortify China’s northern border and today one of the most visited sites in all the world.
For contrast, Shanghai is one of Asia’s fastest growing and most modern cities. A centre for commercial trade with the west during the 1800s, by the 1930s it was both famous and infamous as a cosmopolitan world city. Today soaring skyscrapers overlooking the Bund are testament to Shanghai’s influential economic position.
And beyond the obvious, there is also Xian, once an ancient capital on the Silk Road. Xian is most famous for the discovery of its Terracotta Warriors – over 7000 warriors and horses have been excavated from a site first discovered by a group of peasants who uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby in 1974.
Then there is Guilin, the Yangtze River, Zhouzhuang, Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Lhasa and so much more. A country certainly worthy of more than one visit, and with so much choice perfectly positioned to suit every requirement.
China — a country so vast, a history so rich and a culture so profound… Home to over one billion people, China is a mysterious and fascinating nation with an incredible array of iconic historical sites, traditions and civilisations that date back many thousands of years, breathtaking country landscapes and futuristic cities.
