China

Overview
China is the cultural treasure-house of East Asia: its social riches and 5,000 years of tumultuous history place it among the world's greatest travel destinations. The Great Wall, X'ian's Terracotta Army, the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square: the very names reverberate with history and legend.

China's paradoxes are many: Shanghai's skyscrapers contrast with Beijing's historical treasures, while in rural provinces, mechanisation is slow. Its history is one of turmoil in between periods of stability.

The civil war in 1945 defined the China of today. Defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan, while victorious Communists founded the People's Republic of China. Prior to that, China endured eight years of brutal occupation by the Japanese imperial army from 1937, souring relations between the two countries to this day.

The convulsions of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s preceded major economic reforms but little political liberalisation prompted widespread protest. In 1989, thousands occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the army clearing the square with great loss of life and the government reasserting political control.

History and politics aside, China is a land of superlatives, encompassing the Yangtze River, the Silk Road, the bamboo forests of the giant panda and misty peaks immortalised in traditional ink paintings. China has 33 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Chinese food ranks among the world's great cuisines. From acrobatics to martial arts, calligraphy to Chinese opera, the vibrant, distinctive culture of this great land is everywhere to be seen.

Spectacular Tibet (Xihang) has been open to tourists since 1980. Occupied by China since 1950, the Cultural Revolution seriously damaged its cultural identity, yet Tibet's way of life and historically important Buddhism traditions have endured. Now linked by train to the rest of China, Tibet's unique culture faces renewed threats, from hordes of immigrant Han Chinese settlers and tourists.

China is set to become the world's major economic power within 20 years. Growth has come at great environmental cost. However, it has also spurred on China's rapidly improving tourism infrastructure. Beijing is currently undergoing a huge investment programme for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Flexibility and patience are still required to travel around China but, in return, China rewards visitors with memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Top Things To Do

• Get on your bike to enjoy China's great outdoors. Some 300 million Chinese use bicycles to get around. Hire shops are everywhere. Popular cycling routes include alongside sections of the Great Wall and Guilin and Yangshuo, in Guanxi province.
• Enjoy China's scenic natural wonders. They include Tibet's Qomolangma Nature Reserve around Everest and UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Mount Taishan mountain park, Huangshan Mountain's fog-shrouded rocky precipices, Buddhist mountain Emei Shan and Jiuzhaigou Valley's lakes and waterfalls.
• Hike or trek amid spectacular scenery. Everest Base Camp is Tibet's most popular trekking destination. There's also great hiking in other areas of the mountainous Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan's threatened Tiger Leaping Gorge and along the Great Wall.
• Conquer the world's highest mountains. Mighty Himalayan peaks form Tibet's southern border, among them Mount Everest (or Qomolangma), at 8,848m (29,021ft), and Namcha Barwa, at 7,756m (25,445ft), around which the Brahmaputra River carves a fantastic gorge to enter India.
• Go rock climbing, a fast-growing sport in China. The sheer-faced limestone karst mountains around Yangshuo in Guangxi province have become a climbing Mecca, offering many marked routes for everyone from novice to expert climbers. Some bars even have practice walls.
• Go river cruising. The Three Gorges Dam will raise levels of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) by 175m (574ft) by 2009, although the spectacular gorges will still tower high above. See striking limestone formations on a Li River cruise from Guilin.
• Explore caves. Head underground to Zhangjiajie's Yellow Dragon Cave, Asia's largest, or more popular caverns including Guilin's Reed Flute and Crown caves and Yangshuo's Silver Cave - their stalactites and stalagmites lit by garish multi-coloured neon.
• See forests of stone. Take a day trip from Yunnan capital Kunming to see one of southwest China's most celebrated natural attractions. The Shilin Stone Forest's limestone rock columns resemble petrified trees.
• Relax on a tropical beach. Sanya, on the southern coast of China's most southerly province, Hainan Island, is one of China's newest holiday areas and has international resort hotels, fine sand beaches, golf courses, coconut palms and watersports.
• Try the ancient ‘shadow art' of tai chi, a series of linked, slow movements using the entire body while focusing the mind. Traditionally practised early in the morning throughout China, good places to see it include Beijing's Beihai Park.
• Enjoy festivities surrounding the Spring Festival, the Chinese calendar's most important date. Families get together to celebrate Chinese New Year, festooning homes with banners and pictures to bring good fortune. Festival activities often include parades, lantern shows and lion dances.

Top Things To See

• Visit Beijing's crowning glory, the Forbidden City, officially the Palace Museum. The imperial palace of the Ming and Qing emperors for 500 years, it is China's greatest surviving historical site with fabulous halls, palaces and gardens.
• Take in other Beijing sites including Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square; circular 15th-century Temple of Heaven; the Summer Palace imperial resort; the old city wall gates; traditional hutong alleys and courtyards; and beautiful Beihai Park.
• Stop off on a day trip from Beijing to the Great Wall to see the Ming Tombs, where most of the Ming emperors were buried. They lie just outside Beijing.
• Marvel at the Great Wall, built over 2,000 years and stretching over 5,400km (3,375 miles). The restored stone and brick Badaling section stands 8m (26ft) high and 6m (20ft) wide, and is the closest to Beijing, 70km (44 miles) away.
• Wonder at Xi'an's Terracotta Army - 6,000 life-sized warriors and horses buried with Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, who first united China in 200 BC. Also visit the Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas and the old city walls.
• See the monumental carved Buddhist effigies of Yungang Caves, near Datong, or carved effigies and monuments in Luoyang's fifth-century Longmen Buddhist Caves. Visit the 34 early Buddhist caves at Bingling Lamasery, near Lanzhou. Dunhuang's Mogao Caves have some of China's oldest Buddhist shrines.
• From Chengdu, visit the holy Buddhist mountain of Emei Shan and the spectacular Grand Buddha of Leshan, carved out of a cliff. At 71m (225ft) high, it is so enormous that 100 people can fit on its instep.
• Explore China's oldest wooden pagoda, the Yingxian Pagoda, Kaifeng's Iron Pagoda and Fan Bo Pagoda (AD 1049 and c. AD 977), Jinan's Square Four Gate Pagoda (China's oldest stone pagoda) and Guangzhou's Huaisheng Mosque (built by Arab merchants in AD 650).
• Pay homage in Qufu at Confucius' Tomb, Temple and Mansion. Shenyang's North Imperial Tomb is where the Qing Dynasty's founding father is buried. Nanjing possesses the Xiaoling Tomb of Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang, and the mausoleum of China's first president, Dr Sun Yat-sen.
• Soak up the cosmopolitan atmosphere of economic powerhouse Shanghai, where soaring skyscrapers contrast the European-style Bund waterfront and traditional delights like tiny Yuyuan Gardens and the Yuyuan Gardens Bazaar, a touristy warren of lanes and stalls housing the Temple of the City God.
• Shop for silk and tea in ancient China capital Hangzhou, described by celebrated traveller Marco Polo as ‘the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world'. Popular with Chinese and foreign tourists, its main attraction is the beautiful West Lake scenic area.
• See China's own Venice, 2,500-year-old Suzhou. Its streets lining the Grand Canal and famous water gardens are a delight. Gardens include the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Garden of the Master of the Nets. Buy exquisite Suzhou silk fabrics and embroidery.
• Spot unique wildlife. Sichuan province's ancient parks and bamboo forests are among the last strongholds of the endangered giant panda. View them close up in Chengdu's panda breeding and research centre and on a day trip to a mountain sanctuary at Wolong
• Touch the sky at Tibet's capital, Lhasa, which stands at 3,700m (12,000ft). The iconic seventh-century Potala Palace, home to successive Dalai Lamas, houses exhibits include frescoes and gigantic bejewelled Buddhas. Also visit the Norbulingka (Summer Palace) and Jokhang Temple, with its golden Buddhas.
• Trace the ancient Silk Road trading route, which ran from Xi'an through deserts and mountains to the Caspian and Mediterranean seas, bringing Buddhism and Islam into China. The main sights include Dunhuang's Buddhist grottoes at Dunhuang, the ruins of Jiaohe city near Turpan and Kashgar's lively Sunday market.

Climate
China has a great diversity of climates. The northeast experiences hot and dry summers and bitterly cold winters. The north and central region has almost continual rainfall, hot summers and cold winters. The southeast region has substantial rainfall, with semi-tropical summers and cool winters. Central, southern and western China are also susceptible to flooding, China is also periodically subject to seismic activity.

Required Clothing
North – heavyweight clothing with boots for the harsh northern winters. Lightweight clothing for summer.
South – mediumweight clothing for winter and lightweight for summer.