Best of China - Top Ten Must-See Attractions in China
China is a vast and extraordinary country spanning thousands of miles from the deserts in the west to the ocean on the east. Culturally, China has one of the richest and textured histories of all civilizations that encompasses over 5,000 years. China’s top sights range from dynastic relics through to modern cityscapes, with some frankly jaw-dropping landscapes in between. If you come to China and miss out on these, it must be because you’ve seen them before. Here are China’s top ten essential attractions.
An interactive map of Top Ten Attractions in China
The Forbidden City: Imperial magnificence in a grand scale - 故宫
It’s not forbidden and it’s not a city, but it is extremely large, so you’ll need the better part of a day to see the best-preserved collection of imperial architecture in China.
The Forbidden City, or Palace Museum, sits at the center of Beijing, directly north of Tiananmen Square where the famous portrait of Mao Zedong hangs on the palatial crimson wall. It was the imperial seat for Ming and Qing dynasty emperors from 1420 until 1912 when the last emperor, Pu Yi, abdicated. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Address: (South entrance) North side of
Tiananmen Square across Chang’an Dajie; (North entrance) 4 Jingshan Qianjie, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Chinese Address: 天安门城楼北侧 (南入口）； 北京市东城区景山前街4号（北入口）
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No.2 Great Wall of China 长城
The Great Wall (China's best-known attraction) at Jiankou 箭扣长城
winds its way across China covering over 5,500 miles (8,850 km). While the latest construction occurred after 1368 during the Ming Dynasty, construction of the Great Wall began over 2,000 years ago. In fact, the Great Wall is actually made up of a number of interconnecting walls spanning China that different dynasties and warlords constructed over the years. The serpentine bastion is best visited from Beijing, but it charts a crumbling course across much of north China. If you don’t mind the volume of people,
Badaling is still the closest and most convenient part of the Great Wall from Beijing. And the views are spectacular. For a superior Great Wall experience, aim for original and unrestored sections such as
Jiankou.
The Great Wall at Badaling
Address: Yanqing County, Beijing
Chinese Address: 北京市延庆县八达岭
Phone:010-6912-1363
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No.3 Terracotta Warriors at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇兵马俑
Terracotta Warriors at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇兵马俑
This is the reason most visitors come to Xi’an, and unlike many big sights in China, it does not disappoint. Discovered in 1974 when a local farmer was digging a well, the terracotta army, buried in 210 BC with the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, of the Qin dynasty, is a breathtaking site. The thousands of life-size figures have individually unique faces and hair and armor styles appropriate to their rank. The museum of the Terracotta Army is located in Xi’An, Shanxi province. It’s hard not to get a shiver down your spine as you survey the unromantically named Pit 1, with four columns of warriors in each of the 11 passageways; there are over 1,000 infantry in battle formation, stretching back 182m (600 ft.)
Address: 30 km (19 mi) east of Xian in the town of Lintong, Xian
Chinese Address: 陕西省西安市近郊临潼区秦始皇陵东侧约1公里半处
Website:
bj.bmy.com.cn
Phone: 029-81399001
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No.4 Karst Scenery around Yangshuo and Guilin 阳朔桂林山水
Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo remains one of top river journeys in the world 阳朔桂林山水
Illustrating the 20 Renminbi (Chinese currency) note, the karst mountains are famously beautiful in China. Formed more than 200 million years ago when the oceans receded from this area, the towers sprout from a patchwork of paddy fields and flowing streams, creating a dreamy, seductive landscape that leaves few souls unstirred. Time and space meet here to produce a masterpiece of nature’s handiwork. Located in the south of China in Guangxi province, they can best be viewed by a cruise down the deductive Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo. The cruise may be overexposed and overpriced, but the scenery area remains captivating. With summer’s heat and humidity and winter’s low rainfall affecting water levels in the Li River, April, May, September, and October are the best months for cruising.
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No.5 Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) 黄山
Huang Shan is China's most famous mountain for scenic beauty 天下第一奇山: 黄山
If you climb one mountain in China, let it be Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain). Put your head in the clouds while climbing Huang Shan, China’s most gorgeous mountain. Having no religious significance, the mountain is known instead for its sea of clouds, strangely shaped rocks, unusual pine trees, and bubbling hot springs — four features that have mesmerized and inspired countless painters and poets for over 1,500 years. They were so beguiling that years of labor went into their paths, which are actual stone steps rising up—sometimes gradually into the forest, sometimes sharply through a stone tunnel and into the mist above. Since 1990, the area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mountain is at its spectral best when wreathed in mist, but even on a clear day the views are simply stupefying. Trails are usually packed with hikers from May to October, so April is often cited as the best time to visit.
Location: southern Anhui Province
Jiuzhaigou: One of the China's most popular tourist destinations 九寨沟
High among the snowcapped peaks of the Aba Autonomous Prefecture of northern Sichuan lies the Jiuzhaigou Reserve, a spectacular national park filled with lush valleys, jagged peaks, a dozen large waterfalls, and most famously, a collection of iridescent lakes and pools. Jiuzhaigou has become one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, with more than 1½ million people visiting every year. The preserve’s cerulean and aqua pools are among the most beautiful in the world, and the park’s raw natural beauty has been compared to Yellowstone National Park. Of cultural interest are six Tibetan villages of the original nine from which this valley gets its name.
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No.7 Potala Palace (Lhasa) 拉萨布达拉宫
Lhasa's cardinal landmark: Potala Palace 拉萨布达拉宫
Now a Chinese museum, the Potala Palace was traditionally the seat of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhists’ spiritual leader. Famous for its imposing white walls surrounding the inner red palace, the building sits at 3,700 meters or over 12,000 feet. The Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. (
more top attractions in Tibet)
The Bund in Shanghai - China's most famous waterfront 上海外滩
, meaning embankment, was historically the seat of Shanghai’s most powerful businessmen in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A fabulous neoclassical and art deco sweep of architectural grandeur, Shanghai’s Bund squares off against the brashly modern cityscape across the Huangpu River. This is the contest between the old and the new in 21
st-century China at its most dramatic. China’s most famous waterfront of colonial architecture has become the toniest address in town, with the redevelopment of a few formerly stodgy old buildings into some of the city’s finest shopping and dining establishments. These rooftop restaurants offer unsurpassed views of Shanghai, old and new. For years, the Bund was the first sight of Shanghai for those arriving by boat; it should be your first stop as well.
Address: 5 blocks of Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu between Jinling Lu and Suzhou Creek, Huangpu District, Shanghai
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No.9 Wolong Nature Preserve and Giant Panda Breeding Center 卧龙自然保护区大熊猫研究中心
China's favorite animal: Giant Panda at Wolong Breeding Center 卧龙自然保护区大熊猫研究中心
Established in 1963, Wolong isn’t the only place to see
giant pandas, nor is it the most convenient. But scientists here have made more advances in artificial breeding and raising pandas in captivity than anywhere in the world. The Wolong Breeding Center currently has about 200 giant pandas ranging in age from newborn to adult, and it is almost always possible to see panda cubs here. Another aspect of Wolong’s appeal is location. Situated in the high, densely forested mountains between the Sichuan Basin and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the area has a diverse topography that supports a broad range of vegetation and animal life — not that you’re likely to see any endangered species including: red pandas, golden monkeys, white-lipped deer. Nonetheless, the area is unspoiled and the flora is magnificent.
Location: Sichuan Province, 135km (84 miles) NW of Chengdu
Chinese Address：四川省阿坝藏族羌族自治州汶川县303省道
10. Hong Kong 香港
The dazzling night View of Hong Kong island from Kowloon across Victoria harbor 夜香港
See modern China – and Asia – at the cutting edge with a visit to Hong Kong. Whereas it took Paris and London 10 to 20 generations and New York six to build the spectacular cities seen today, in Hong Kong almost everything you see was built in the time since today’s young investment bankers were born. To stand on the tip of Kowloon Peninsula and look across the harbor to the full expanse of the Hong Kong Island skyline is to see the triumph of ambition over fate. Walking down the Kowloon side promenade gives the traveler a view of some of the most beautiful modern architecture in China, dominated by the Bank of China Tower with two masts designed by I.M. Pei.
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