Dunhuang
The weird, eroded desert landscape of Yadan National Park is 180km northwest of Dunhuang, in the middle of the Gobi Desert’s awesome nothingness. A former…
Must-see attractions in China
Lhasa
This monastery, 10 minutes’ walk downhill from Drepung Monastery, is worth a visit for its historical role as the seat of the Tibetan State Oracle until…
Sichuan
A popular subject of paintings for Chinese art students, this ancient river village began as a way-station on the southern Silk Road more than 2000 years…
Beijing
Infused with an air of sleepy reverence, this working Buddhist temple is one of Beijing's most evocative. Perhaps it's the ancient Song dynasty pines,…
Beijing
Known locally as Da Kucha (大裤衩, Big Pants), the 234m-tall CCTV Tower is an architectural fantasy that appears to defy gravity. Designed by Rem Koolhaas…
Shanxi
This supremely peaceful 550-year-old village, hugging a hillside with terraces of crops running up it, has hundreds of cave dwellings (窑洞, yáodòng)…
Guangzhou
One of Guangdong's four famous classical gardens, this graceful property on the outskirts of the city was built in 1871 by an official of the Qing court…
Beijing
This tranquil, little-visited temple was originally consecrated for the storage of Buddhist texts. Its name echoes the Summer Palace’s Longevity Hill …
Shandong
Next to Confucius Temple is this maze of living quarters, halls, studies and further studies. The mansion buildings were moved from the temple grounds to…
Guizhou
One of eight Ming-era fortified villages in the area, Yunshan is a gem. Protected by a wall and a main gate, and overlooked by the Yunjiu Mountain (云鹫山,…
Shanghai
The spacious 200 acres of gardens here offer an escape from Shanghai’s synthetic cityscape. The floral displays are truly impressive, especially during…
Song Qingling's Former Residence
Beijing
Set in well-tended gardens on the north shore of Houhai Lake, this is the mansion of Madam Song, venerated by the Chinese as the wife of Sun Yatsen, first…
Guangzhou
You'll feel like Indiana Jones/Lara Croft (select as preferred) as you descend the two-millennia-old steps into an actual Han dynasty tomb. This was the…
China
Famed throughout China for being one of the great ancient battlegrounds, this 700-year-old fortress is perched on top of a 300m-tall hill at a bend in the…
Beijing
The restrained, grey-stone edifice of the Bell Tower (Zhonglou) is arguably even more charming than its resplendent other half, the Drum Tower (Gulou),…
Hong Kong
Services have been held at this Anglican cathedral since it opened in 1849, with the exception of 1944, when the Japanese army used it as a social club…
Qinghai
The closest Qinghai Lake tourist spot to Xining, this site 150km west of town consists of a Chinese-style sightseeing village backing on to the shores of…
Lijiang
On the northern edge of town is Black Dragon Pool Park; the view from here of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is an obligatory photo stop in southwestern China…
Xi'an
The backstreets leading north from the Drum Tower have been home to the city’s Hui community (non-Uyghur Chinese Muslims) for centuries, perhaps as far…
Lhasa
In 1530 the second Dalai Lama established the Ganden Podrang, the palace that was home to the subsequent Dalai Lamas until the fifth built the Potala. It…
Shanxi
This pair of Green Lotus Temples are among China's oldest in Pure Land Buddhism. They're celebrated for their gorgeous Tang and Song dynasty painted…
Shenzhen
This Ming dynasty walled town was erected 600 years ago to shore up the coastline against marauding Japanese pirates, and later became embroiled in the…
Shanghai
Resembling an art deco take on a pagoda, this crystalline edifice is a beauty. It’s essentially an office block with the high-altitude Grand Hyatt renting…
Chengdu
In 2001 archaeologists made a historic discovery in Chengdu’s western suburbs: they unearthed a major site containing ruins of the 3000-year-old Shu…
Lhasa
For your first visit to the Barkhor, enter from Barkhor Sq, a large plaza that was cleared in 1985. The square has been a focus for violent political…
Guizhou
The under-visited understudy to the famous Huangguoshu Falls in the south is a 76m-high beauty pummelling into the pools below. Even standing 100m away,…
Sichuan
The Sanxingdui Museum, 40km north of Chengdu in Guanghan (广汉), exhibits relics of the Shu kingdom, a cradle of Chinese civilisation dating from 1200 BC to…
Qinghai
Dedicated to the Tang dynasty Chinese Princess Wencheng, who was instrumental in converting her husband and Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo, to Buddhism in…
Beijing
Of all the Ming tombs, this is the only one to have been excavated, and visitors can descend into the enormous burial chambers of the Wanli Emperor (1563…
The Great Wall
Simatai, built during the reign of Ming dynasty emperor Hongwu, is famed for the precarious steepness of its battlements as they soar up the 'heavenly…
Guangzhou
Built for the 2010 Asian games, this 604m tall tower was designed to look 'female' by its Dutch architects, earning it the nickname 'slim waisted' (小蛮腰,…
Qinghai
Well known throughout the Tibetan world, this 17th-century hillside monastery in the Huzhu Tuzu (互助土族, Hùzhù Tǔzú) Autonomous County is considered one of…
Shandong
About 75km northwest of Yantai, perched on a bluff overlooking the waves, the 1000-year-old Penglai Pavilion is closely entwined with Chinese mythology…
Beijing
This cathedral-like Bauhaus space, ceilings emblazoned with red Maoist slogans, makes for the quintessential 798 photograph whether or not an exhibition…
Shandong
About 1km north of the walled town on Lindao Lu is the peaceful Confucius Forest, a cemetery of pine and cypress covering 200 hectares and bounded by a…
Qingdao
Up a hill off Zhongshan Lu looms this grand Gothic- and Roman-style edifice. Completed in 1934, the church spires were supposed to be clock towers, but…
Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition
Shenzhen
One of those thrillingly space-age, 'only in China' architectural projects, this gargantuan exhibition space designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au anchors…
Qinghai
One of the great monasteries of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Kumbum Monastery was built in 1577 on hallowed ground – the birthplace…
Macau
Macau’s oldest temple was founded in the 13th century, but the present structures date to 1627. The roof ridges are ornately embellished with porcelain…
Former Residence of Mao Zedong
Hunan
Surrounded by lotus ponds and rice paddies, this modest mud-brick house is like millions of other country homes except that Mao was born here in 1893. By…
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