China Regions, Cities and Attractions

Beijing (Capital City)

Forbidden City (Imperial Palace)
The Forbidden City is located in the middle of Beijing and it now houses the Palace Museum. The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms. Its extensive grounds cover 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Great Wall Of China (Great Wall at Badaling)
This section of the Wall is about a 45 minute drive from Beijing and this would be the entry point to The Great Wall Of China for most tourists. Stretching over three and a half thousand miles through rugged mountain and forest this is one Chinese attraction you will not want to miss.

Hutongs
Hutongs are narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing. During the growth of towns and cities, wells dug by villagers formed the centres of new communities. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences (siheyuan). Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. In old China, streets and lanes were defined by width. Hutongs were lanes no wider than 9 metres. Many are smaller; Beijing hutongs range in width from 10 metres down to only 40 centimetres.

Ming Tombs
The Ming Dynasty Tombs are located some 50 kilometers due North of Beijing at an especially selected site. The site was carefully chosen according to Feng Shui principles. The entire tomb site is surrounded by a wall, and a seven kilometer road named the "Spirit Way" leads into the complex which is one of the finest preserved pieces of 15th century Chinese art and architecture.

Summer Palace
The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan - Garden of Nurtured Harmony) contains Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. In its compact 70,000 square metres of building space, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.

Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven (Altar of Heaven) is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing. Construction of the complex began in 1420. The Temple grounds covers 2.73 km² of parkland, and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements: The Earthly Mount is the altar proper; The House of Heavenly Lord, where the altars were housed when not in use; The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, built on three levels of marble stone base.

Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is the large plaza near the center of Beijing, named after the Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. The square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square meters, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.

Shanghai (Shanghai Province)

Oriental Pearl Tower
The Oriental Pearl Tower is located at the tip of Lujiazui in the Pudong district, by the side of Huangpu River, opposite The Bund of Shanghai. Construction began in 1991 and the tower was completed in 1995. At 468 m (1,535 feet) high, it is the tallest tower in Asia, and the third tallest tower in the world. The Oriental Pearl Tower is especially striking when lit up at night.

Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum is a museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It was inaugurated in October 12, 1996.

The Bund
The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco.

Xi'an (Shanxi Province)

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (or Big Wild Goose Pagoda)
The structure was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories. The pagoda was built to hold sutras and figurines of Buddha that were brought to China by the Buddhist translator and traveller Xuanzang. Its current height is seven stories. It stands 64 meters tall and from the top it offers great views over the city of Xi'an.

Terra-Cotta Warriors and Soldiers Museum
The Terracotta Army (or Terracotta Warriors and Horses) is a collection of 8,099 life-size Chinese terra cotta figures of warriors and horses located near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. The figures were discovered in 1974 near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China.

Other Popular Cities (with province/region)

• Guangzhou - (Guangdong)
• Kunming - (Yunnan)
• Nanjing - (Jiangsu)
• Chengdu - (Sichuan)
• Dalian - (Liaoning)
• Suzhou - (Jiangsu)
• Hangzhou - (Zhejiang)
• Lijiang - (Yunnan)
• Yangshuo - (Guangxi Zhuang)
• Guilin - (Guangxi Zhuang)
• Lhasa - (Tibet)
• Qingdao - (Shandong)
• Chongqing - (Chongqing)
• Dali - (Yunnan)
• Shenzhen - (Guangdong)
• Harbin - (Heilongjiang)