Top China hotels
Forbidden City Beijing
465 Reviews A very serious advice: Pay attention to every detail of the explanation done by our guide (person or book), during the visit: that way you will find out that "peace and harmony" is the dominant...
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Yuyuan Garden & Bazaar Shanghai
186 Reviews Very small to Chinese standards and squeezed in the old town, this beautiful garden is a pleasant walk. Built with sensibility and good taste, water, plants and stones surround the buildings in a...
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Places around Guangzhou Guangzhou
36 Reviews Baiyun Hill is a beautiful Botanical Garden located in Guangzhou. There are so many works of art here, I was truly amazed. The time it must've taken to cultivate all those animals from living plants...
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Terracotta Army Xi'an
176 Reviews We enter pit 1, the larger one, and we get immediately the notion of the huge size of the archaeological site. But they alert us that only a small part is dug, and that the main open area is pit 3....
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Window of the World Shenzhen
20 Reviews Travel around the world in one day. This 480,000 square meter park has a beautiful natural landscapes and wonderful lighting at night. Inside, you can climb the 1:3 ratio Eiffel Tower, Egyptian...
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Pandas Chengdu
76 Reviews Walking around the Panda Research grounds we noticed a stone monument acknowledging Jackie Chan for his financial support of the Panda Research. He was made the Giant Panda Ambassador. Jackie Chan...
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Harbin Ice Sculptures Harbin
43 Reviews Not to be mistaken with snow sculptures. Ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights may not be everybody's idea of pretty but still, it wows you with its sheer size and creativity. The coloured...
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Yellow Crane Tower Wuhan
24 Reviews Originally constructed in 223, after being destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly throughtout history by fires and war, the current structure was built quite recently in 1985. It is still quite beautiful...
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Great Wall Beijing
203 Reviews In our way to Badaling we passed in another segment of the wall, with an interesting look - I think it was Nankou. Our guide took us further, to Badaling, I don't know exactly why. Maybe because the...
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The Bund Shanghai
218 Reviews After dark, take a cruise on the Huangpu River, where you can take in the beautiful sight of Shanghai and Pudong at night. The lights from the tall skyscrapers in Pudong as well as those from the Bund...
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Guangzhou Zoo Guangzhou
10 Reviews The zoo was founded in 1958 and covers 42 hectares. It receives about 2.5 million visitors annually. I'm not a fan of zoos, but while in China I couldn't pass up the chance of seeing a...
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Muslim Quarters Xi'an
64 Reviews The mosque of Xi'an is a surprise, without many signs connecting to muslim art and architecture. However, when you exit, if you walk a little in the narrow roads, you will easily fell the muslim way...
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Splendid China Shenzhen
5 Reviews It combines two different sections. The first part is a miniature park of China. You can find the famous Forbidden City, Terracotta Soldiers, Tibet Potala Palace, Huangshan Mountains, Yunnan's Stone...
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Leshan's Giant Buddha Chengdu
20 Reviews Caught the bus/coach to Leshan (44 yuans each) - home of the 71m Buddha. Upon arrival at Leshan Town you have to catch a local bus #13 (only 1 yuan) to Big Buddha. We decided to have lunch prior to...
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Historical Harbin - Centre Street Harbin
9 Reviews There's a square beside St. Sophia Church that feels oddly like Europe. Look at the photos, don't you feel the same? Walk on Zhaolin Jie away from St. Sophia Church to reach Zhaolin Park where the ice...
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Hubei Provincial Museum Wuhan
11 Reviews The Hubei Provincial Museum is an amazing museum with an impressive collection of artifacts excavated from areas throughout Hubei Province. The most famous are the bronze bells (bianzhong) excavated...
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Tiananmen Square Beijing
345 Reviews The square is so big that even the important buildings at each side seem irrelevant. At the southern side, an austere building flanked by statues in the typical Chinese revolutionary style is the...
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Lujiazui / Pudong Shanghai
95 Reviews Take an elevator up to the Oriental Pearl Tower to get a fantastic view of Shanghai and Pudong. There are actually three levels (spheres) you can visit -- at heights of 90 m, 263 m, and 350 m. One of...
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Qing Ping Market Guangzhou
6 Reviews Cantonese people are known to eat anything! Just go to this market and see! If you see here dogs and cats alive, people buy them to eat. Unfortunately, I visited this market at the end of a Saturday...
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City Wall Xi'an
66 Reviews It's fundamental to climb the city wall, and to walk on it. It's easy to feel its importance in the defense of the city, and the challenge it would mean to those who tried to cross it with their...
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Taj Mahal Shenzhen
2 Reviews Like to go on a around the world tour? Well, you can by going to Shenzhen's Windows of the World. All the world famous iconic structures (except china) can be found in this park, from the Eiffel...
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Wenshu Temple Chengdu
28 Reviews Wenshu Monastery is a famous Buddhist temple in China and is one of four major temples of Zen Buddhism. Initially built in the Sui Dynasty (605-617), Wenshu Monastery was once called Xinxiang Temple....
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Siberian Tiger Park Harbin
9 Reviews Tiger park... you'd think it is just a name. But apparently they have a wonderful National Park where tigers and lions live in the wild. Actually, we went there because my Australian's friend Chinese...
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Guiyuan Temple Wuhan
7 Reviews Guiyuan Temple is famous as the first Chan (Zen) temple to be built in Hubei. It was constructed in 1658. It is a large complex, featuring many a variety of structures with the most famous being the...
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Temple of Heaven Beijing
209 Reviews A large (and discreet) platform was, in the old days, considered the center of the world. There is a long story about stone in circle, multiples of nine, and so on, but you will have to listen to it...
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We visited the National Day (Oct 1) Exposition at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Take a look at the Temple of Heaven Travelogue on my Beijing page.National Day celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949
Visit the Summer Palace. There are more pictures in my Summer Palace Travelogue on my Beijing page.The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was first built in 1750, largely destroyed during the war of 1860, and then rebuilt in 1886. Destroyed again in 1900, it was restored to the scale and design that it is today two years later. It was originally known as the Garden of Clear Ripples. It is the second largest ancient preserved garden in China after the Mountain Resort of Chengde in Hebei.
Visit the Sacred Walk at the Ming Dynasty Tombs in Beijing. See my Sacred Walk Travelogue on my Beijing page.Stroll along the Sacred Walk at the Ming Dynasty tombs.The Ming Tombs, built from 1409-1644 A.D., is where 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, along with their empresses and concubines were buried.The 7 kilmeter long Sacred Way has 18 pairs of giant stone statues.
In the early days, Shanghai was a fishing village. It graduallydeveloped into a trading port by the 13th century and became China's largest textile center in the 16th century. After the Opium War in 1840, Shanghai was forced open as a 'treaty port' by the colonialists. Shanghai is one of the three municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the central government. Stroll along the Bund in Shanghai. Here are some of the Bund's foreign built buildings.
Visit the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai. There is another travelogue on this.In 1882 the monk Huigen brought 5 jade buddha statues from Burma. He left 2 of them in Shanghai building a temple there to keep them. In 1918 the old temple burned and the present one was built.The temple consists of three main halls and two courtyards. The first hall is Tianwand Dian Hall, the second is Daxiong Baodian, and the third is the Jade Buddha Tower. The white jade buddha, which was brought from Burma, is two meters high and encrusted with jewels weighing in at 1,000 kg.The temple is closed from noon until 1 pm.
Nanjing is one of the four well known ancient capitals in China. It is also known as the 'Metropolis of Ten Dynasties'--the East Wu, East Jin, Song, Qi, Liang Chen, the Southern Tang, the Early Ming, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the Republic. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtse River. The main attractions in the area are Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum (pictured here), Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall, the Mei Ling Place, the Plum Blossom Hill, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da's Tomb, Li Wenzhong's Tomb, the Linggu Temple, Liao Zhongkai's Tomb, Tan Yankai's Tomb, the Zhongshan Botanical Gardens, and the Purple Mountain Observatory.
Qingdao began life as a fishing village and trading port. It was also a favorite spot for pirate raids until it was fortified during the Ming Dynasty. Germans seized the village in 1897 in retaliation for the murder of two missionaries. They built a naval base and trading port here. That explains the beer. Do visit the Tsingtao Beer Factory. If you have a chance, visit Little Fish Mountain Park in Xingdao. Notice the different spellings-- the old for the beer factory, the new for the others.
Dalian is at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. It is one of the major industrial bases in China. The establishment of the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone in 1984 created a good environment for foreign investment.
Do not forget to visit the Great Wall of China near Beijing. Unfortunately when we were there it was wall-to-wall people and we didn't get any good photos while walking on the wall.Construction of the wall started in the 7th century B.C. The vassal states under the Zhou Dynasty had each built their own walls. In 221 B.C., after the state of Qin unified China, the walls were joined to hold off invaders and were extended to 10,000 li (5,000km.) In 1368 the Ming Dynasty undertook a renovation of the wall which took 200 years to complete. It became a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Visit the Forbidden City as well as Tiananmin Square.The Forbidden City is where the emperors of China resided during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911.) Do not forget to visit the Great Wall of China near Beijing. Unfortunately when we were there it was wall-to-wall people and we didn't get any good photos.
Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing Beijing
5 Reviews and 908 Opinions Well, unbeknownst to me when I booked our stay at the Park Plaza Hotel during the Olympics that it...
Peace Hotel Shanghai Shanghai
12 Reviews and 205 Opinions The Hotel is truely a mixture of ancient and modern decore built in a Gothic Style, it once was...
The Garden Hotel Guangzhou Guangzhou
7 Reviews and 1707 Opinions My friend and I just checked into this hotel. The rooms we received are terrible with stained...
Reviews and photos of China attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for China sightseeing.
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Q: hello my travel friends! I am getting ready to explore exotic china and would like to get inputs from everyone. I would like to...
A: Both Beijing and Shanghai are amazing, but in totally different ways. The European settlement (the Bund) is quite historic, plus any number of other places. Beijing has...
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