to the People’s Republic of China. The world’s most populous nation with an estimated 1.3 billion residents, with an amazing collection of ancient civilizations, is one of the world’s most revered destinations. With a recorded 5,000 years of a tumultuous history of collapsed dynasties and fallen emperors, many cultural and imperial relics can be visited and enjoyed today, including Buddhist caves, pagodas, pavilion temples, tombs, monasteries and palaces, many of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
China’s attractions can be divided into three main groups -- cultural, natural and historical. For a sense of Chinese culture, imagine 300 million people steering their bicycles in the cities, signs in Chinese character calligraphy and entertainment including acrobatics and martial arts. Chinese cuisine is unrivaled -- dim sum breakfast, Peking duck and hotpot are some examples. Natural sites include renowned Mount Everest, the Yangtze River’s mist-shrouded Three Gorges and dam, bamboo forests of the giant panda and the Gobi Desert. Endless historic places are scattered throughout China’s 26 provinces, which all have their own dialects and regional characteristics, from remote, mountaintop Ming Dynasty hamlets where residents live in near silence to the lively push and shove city streets of Beijing, itself a historical museum, and Shanghai, with its skyscrapers, restaurants and luxury hotel towers.
Historic treasures include the 3,375-mile-long Great Wall, X’ian’s Terracotta Army and Silk Road, and Beijing’s Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, 15th century Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Ming Tombs. Tibet in the Himalayas is a hauntingly beautiful Chinese territory with a Buddhist tradition.
To enter China, a visa is required. Come in spring or autumn, when the weather is most comfortable, or book in advance for Chinese New Year festivities.