China

Welcome to the Travel Online Asia site featuring China. In this site you will find information about travel to China, the regions and provinces in China, attractions in China and plenty of China accommodation options. We represent accommodation in the following Chinese cities: Beijing, Changchun, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Kunming, Nanjing, Qingdao, Sanya, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Xiamen and Zhuhai. Read on for more information about China...

China is a cultural region, ancient civilization, and nation in East Asia. It is one of the world's oldest civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia. The stalemate of the last Chinese Civil War has resulted in two political entities using the name China: the People's Republic of China (PRC), administering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau; and the Republic of China (ROC), administering Taiwan and its surrounding islands. See Political status of Taiwan.

China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system, and is said to be the source of some of the world's great inventions, including the 'Four Great Inventions of ancient China': paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

China ranges from mostly plateaus and mountains in the west to lower lands in the east. Principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (Yellow river, north-central), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean.

The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (containing Beijing) has summer daytime temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius and winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (containing Shanghai) has a temperate continental climate with very hot summers and cold winters. The southern zone (containing Guangzhou) has a subtropical climate with very hot summers and mild winters.

Today, the Republic of China continues to exist on Taiwan, while the People's Republic of China controls the Chinese mainland. The PRC continues to be dominated by the Communist Party, but the ROC has moved towards democracy. Both states are still officially claiming to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of "China". The ROC had more international support immediately after 1949, but most international diplomatic recognitions have shifted to the PRC. The ROC representative to the United Nations was replaced by the PRC representative in 1971.