China / Places of Interest

The Forbidden City

Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong, in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tian'anmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tian'anmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Devine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world wide.

Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, the 5th year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was completed fourteen years later in 1420. It was said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor. Stone needed was quarried from Fangshan, a suburb of Beijing. It was said a well was dug every fifty meters along the road in order to pour water onto the road in winter to slide huge stones on ice into the city. Huge amounts of timber and other materials were freighted from faraway provinces. Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable skills in building the Forbidden City. Take the grand red city wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters wide base reducing to 6.66 meters wide at the top. The angular shape of the wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.

Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. However, there is one exception. Wenyuange, the royal library, has a black roof. The reason is that it was believed black represented water then and could extinguish fire.

Nowadays, the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum is open to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the grand and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy "modern civilians".

The Great Wall

When Neil Armstrong, the first American astronaut to land on the moon, looked back at the huge, glistening earth, he could identify only two manmade works: the dikes of Holland and the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall is the largest defense work of ancient China and one of the wonders of the world's architectural history.

Construction of the Great Wall lasted for more than 2,000 years, from the Spring and Autumn (770-476B.C.) and Warring States (475-221B.C.) periods to the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Stretching from east to west in northern China, the Great Wall rises and falls with the contours of the terrain, climbing over rolling mountains and passing through grasslands and deserts.

The grandeur of the Great Wall and the difficulties and long years of labor in building it are rare not only in the history of China but also in the history of the world. The Great Wall was listed as one of the world's seven wonders a few hundred years ago, alongside the Coliseum of Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Sophia Mosque in Istanbul.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, seven ducal states appeared alongside the Huanghe (Yellow) River. Chu State was the first to erect walls to ward off incursions and was followed by other ducal states. At that time, Yan, Zhao, and Qin states were often harassed by the powerful northern nomadic tribes, and they built walls and stationed troops on garrisons along their northern borders. Construction of the series of Great Walls thus began.

In 221B.C., Qin Shi Huang conquered the other six ducal states, unified China, became the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-207B.C.) and built the first centralized feudal empire. To consolidate the territory and protect the country from the harassment of the northern nomadic tribes, he ordered the construction of the 5,000-kilometer Great Wall, starting from Liaodong Bay in the east and ending in Lintao of Gansu Province in the west.

There were Great Walls other than the one built by the Qin Dynasty. More than 20 ducal states and dynasties before and after the Qin Dynasty built walls in different areas. The Great Walls erected by the Han Dynasty (206B.C.-220A.D.) and the Ming Dynasty were each more than 5,000 kilometers in length.

The Great Wall of the Han Dynasty was the longest: 10,000 kilometers. It was built on top of the remains of the Qin Great Wall and extended westward via what is now known as the Hexi (West of the Huanghe River) Corridor to Lop Nur in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The section of the Great Wall west of the Huanghe River played a vital role in ensuring smooth traffic on the Silk Road to the western regions (mainly countries in Central Asia) and in the development of trade and cultural exchanges between China and countries in other parts of Asia and Europe. Like the walls built by many ducal states and dynasties, most of the Han Dynasty Great Wall gradually disappeared during ages of wind erosion and sand burial, leaving behind segments of earth or mounds of reeds and stone.

The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was the last to be built, and is the most perfect of the Great Walls in terms of defense engineering. Construction lasted for more than 200 years. The Great Wall that we see today is mainly the section completed during the Ming regime.

To achieve their goal of military defense, people in ancient China tried to make the design of the Great Wall as perfect as possible. The main body of the Great Wall extends for more than 5,000 kilometers, linking tens of thousands of block towers and beacon towers.

The beacon towers were also known as smoke mounds. They were built on the wall, on hilltops, or at spots easily seen on either side of the wall at regular intervals and were used as stations for military communications. If there was any enemy movement, a signal would be relayed—fire at night and smoke in the daytime—until the signal reached the capital or a large defense command post.

The block towers stood high above the wall and consisted of two or three tiers, including areas for the troops to live in and for storing weapons and ammunition. It is believed that the block towers were designed by Qi Jiguang, a general of the Ming Dynasty, who had distinguished himself in battles against Japanese pirates, and they played an important role in military defense.

The Great Walls were constructed with the rises and falls of China's feudal dynasties over a period of 2,700 years, and their remains can be found in the country's 16 provinces and autonomous regions in the northeast, north, and northwest, especially along the Huanghe River valley. The aggregate length of these walls was probably more than 50,000 kilometers. The masonry that went into the construction of the walls would be enough to erect a wall one meter thick and five meters high encircling the earth more than ten times. No other project in the world can boast such a huge amount of work in its making.

The Great Walls served as a monument to the political, economic, military, and cultural history of the feudal regimes as well as to the deeds of the bold, talented generals and the intelligent artisans.

The Walls also embodied the blood and sweat of numerous soldiers and laboring people. Legend has it that during the reign of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, a woman named Meng Jiangnu became distressed because her husband had not returned home for three years after being conscripted to work on the Great Wall. Meng decided to bring clothes to her husband. She suffered untold hardships before she arrived at Shanhaiguan Pass and wept in terrible grief when she learned that her husband had died of excessive labor and that his remains were buried under the Great Wall. Her tears caused 800 li (400 kilometers) of the Great Wall to collapse, and she found her husband's remains. The legend tells of the heavy forced labor over several thousands of years and the people's sufferings.

Today, the Great Wall stands as one of China's most well-known tourist attractions. People from all over the world put the Great Wall at the top of their list of places to visit when they come to China. The history, culture, art, and architecture of the Great Wall help them better understand China.

The Great Wall has lost its original appearance because of social changes and exposure to the weather over the past ages. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, measures were taken to protect it. In 1961, the Great Wall was designated as a major historical site under State protection. Maintenance and repairs have been conducted mainly at the sections at Badaling, Shanhaiguan Pass, and Jiayuguan Pass.

In 1987, The Great Wall was included in the List of World Heritages by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Great Wall has become a treasure shared by all mankind.

Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses are the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. Work is ongoing at this site, which is around 1.5 kilometers east of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum, Lintong County, Shaanxi province. It is a sight not to be missed by any visitor to China.

Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had work begun on his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life. A group of peasants uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby the royal tomb in 1974. It caught the attention of archeologists immediately. They came to Xi'an in droves to study and to extend the digs. They had established beyond doubt that these artifacts were associated with the Qin Dynasty (211 --206 BC).

The State Council authorized to build a museum onsite in 1975. When completed, people from far and near came to visit. Xi'an and the Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses have become landmarks on all travelerstinerary.

Life size terracotta figures of warriors and horses arranged in battle formations are the star features at the museum. They are replicas of what the imperial guard should look like in those days of pomp and vigor.

The museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters, divided into three sections: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit respectively. They were tagged in the order of their discoveries. No. 1 Pit is the largest, first opened to the public on China's National Day, 1979. There are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back.

No. 2 Pit, found in 1976, is 20 meters northeast of No. 1 Pit. It contained over a thousand warriors and 90 chariots of wood. It was unveiled to the public in 1994.

Archeologists came upon No. 3 Pit also in 1976, 25 meters northwest of No. 1 Pit. It looked like to be the command center of the armed forces. It went on display in 1989, with 68 warriors, a war chariot and four horses.

Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. Most of them have been restored to their former grandeur.

The Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a sensational archeological find of all times. It has put Xi'an on the map for tourists. It was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages

The Longhu Mountain

Longhu Mountain (Dragon and Tiger Mount) in Central China's Jiangxi Province is not as famous as Taishan or Yellow Mountains. But everyone who has visited it seems impressed by the experience. If it is not quite a journey to heaven, it is said to be something close.

Relics of Daoism and ancient tombs are two features of Longhu Mountain, but the natural scenery is also eye-catching, and even more interesting to some visitors.

Our guide said the mountain boasts 99 peaks, over 20 pools and waterfalls and 108 scenic spots overall. It isn't necessary to visit them all - it would completely wear you out.

All the peaks and rocks of the mountain are colored a peculiar deep red because of their composition, with a high iron content. In China, this characteristic is unique to the mountain.

Luxi Stream, which is also called the Shangqing River, is well known in the area. The stream meanders through the mountains and it is pleasant to sit on a boat and enjoy the scenery along the banks. The blue sky, white clouds, green water and red peaks bring people in contact with unspoilt nature.

Apart from the stream, the mountain itself is, of course, the main attraction of the place.

Our vehicle carried us to Luxi Stream, from where we could see the mountains towering in the far distance. As we approached the mountain on foot, the scene became even more beautiful. The waterfalls were crystal clear, while elegant pavilions stand under trees that drip with bright red flowers.

The mountain has many strange-looking peaks, some are huge and some more modest, but still lovely. Some look like the silhouette of a beautiful woman, some look like a roaring animals. Each has been given an interesting name.

Another interesting place along the river is Xujia Village, also known as "the village without mosquitoes". You can enjoy lively folk performances in the village.

Here, people can take bamboo rafts to travel along the river. The rafts are long and narrow, with just a few bamboo chairs on it. It is very relaxing to sit on the chairs and enjoy the feeling of calm and peace as the banks drift by. This is also the best way to enjoy the sunset.

The food in Longhu Mountain is also tasty. The three most famous dishes are beancurd, fish and chicken served with chestnut. The bean curd is very tender, the fish fresh and the chicken also delicious.

Transportation: Reaching Yingtan City first by train, then you can take long-distance bus to Longhu Mountain at the bus station, west to the railway station. The ticket costs 5 yuan and it needs about 30 minutes’ driving.
Longhu Mountain is 120 km far from Nanchang airport, 150 km from Jingdezhen airport and 116 km from Wuyishan airport. Tourist may go there by air.

Underground World of Water

Huangxian Cave, about 60 kilometers from Zhongxiang, a city in Central China's Hubei Province, is off the beaten track but has great scenic potential.

Nestled in the Dahong Mountains, the cave is tucked away in a lush, wooded valley. The huge entrance to Huangxian Cave can be accessed via a stone path that follows a clear stream winding its way through the valley.

A pavilion has been built on a rock overlooking the path, from which you can see the arch of the cave and the nearby hills.

The cave is the source of the valley's stream and visitors can walk along the path on its left bank, listening to the sound of water, before entering the mystical world inside the cavern.

As the sunshine at the cave's entrance gives way to the gloom inside, you soon realize why the cave is under development.
Without the colored fluorescent lights used in many tourist caves, it is dark and exciting. You feel like an explorer.
Along the path, stalactites and stalagmites begin to appear in the dim light. Even though they do not look colorful in the darkness, they have beautiful shapes.

Then the flat path ends and you have to climb. After an exhausting 30-minute ascent, visitors reach the top of a huge rock and find themselves in an underground hall.

From the top of the rock, you cannot see the ceiling and boundary of the hall. But the cave tour guide says the hall covers an area of more than 20,000 square meters and its floor is almost completely covered by terraced ponds.

It is the largest collection of terraced ponds in any cave in the country. It is the main attraction of Huangxian Cave and deservedly so.

Visitors can spend one or two hours walking the iron stairways in the hall, exploring the ponds and experiencing their magic.
The ponds, whether large or small, shallow or deep, are all covered by yellow limestone sediment and filled with clear water. Set in terraces that stretch from the walls to the floor of the hall, they look like fish scales.
In the dim light, the pond water glints and overflows from one terrace to another.
As you walk the stairways, usually built about 1 meter above the ponds, you feel like you are on a different planet.
But the hall is only one small part of the cave, which is not fully open to visitors.
According to the tour guide, the cave system stretches more than 2 kilometers into the mountains and includes five big and 32 small halls.
The local government is planning to invest 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) on facilities in the cave and build another 500-metre-long path extending further into the cave.
But even without these additions, Huangxian Cave is worth a visit.

Dalian -- The Capital of Romance

Dalian City in Liaoning Province is located at the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, with the Yellow Sea in the east and the Bohai Sea in the west. Neither hot in summer nor cold in winter, Dalian has an annual mean temperature of 10 degrees Celsius.
One of the best tourist cities in China, Dalian has been honored many times. It has been named a Garden City and one of the World's Top 500 Cities of Excellent Environment by the United Nations; and it is the only holder of this UN honor in China, and the second metropolis to win such an award in Asia. In March 1999, then President Jiang Zemin stated that Dalian was a "Bright Pearl in North China." He Guangwei, director of the National Tourism Administration, appraised the city and named it the "Capital of Romance".

A Garden City: Squares, Lawns, and Fountains
Dalian has 13 million square meters of green land, making it the leader of green land in North China.
The city has 50 squares, and no other city can compare with it in terms of the number of squares it has. There are the Haijun (Navy) Square, the largest square in China, and the third largest in the world, the Zhongshan Music Square, the People's Fountain Square, and the Xinghaiwan (Star & Bay) Square, the largest in Asia with an area of 1.1 million square meters.
Forty-kilometer-long Binhai Road is a well-known business center for fine-quality tourist commodities.

Architecture: Traditional and Modern
Buildings in Dalian vary in style: ancient Roman, popular European, ancient Russian, Baroque, Byzantine, Japanese, and traditional Chinese. The most distinguished buildings are the Hope Plaza and the World Trade Mansion. The buildings in Dalian feature the styles of ancient and modern, elegant and romantic, and traditional and Western architecture.

The Sea: Fresh Air and Seafood

Dalian has a coastline that is 1,900 kilometers long. With a mild climate and fresh air, it is an ideal place for seafood, sailing, fishing, and enjoying the sea view. Dalian is famous for its aquatic products, and its output of abalone accounts for 60 percent of China's total. The seawater is clean with a favorable temperature for producing salt. The proportion of salt in Dalian's sea, which is 30 percent, makes it ideal for precious aquatic products to thrive, making them nutritious, fresh, and tasty.

Dalian takes pride in its talented personages: Many long distance runners under Coach Ma Junren are world record holders; the majority of China's soccer team members and coaches who participated in the World Cup are from Dalian; the Dalian Soccer Team has walked away with six trophies among eight Grade A, national, professional competitions.

Dalian is also a cradle of composers, singers, dancers, fashion models, writers, painters, and movie stars. Someone owed the emergence of talented people to the fine-quality seafood in Dalian.

Jinshi Beach and Lushun: A Destination for Holiday Makers

The Dalian Jinshi Beach National Holiday Resort is attractive with its oddly-shaped rocks - the superlative craftsmanship of nature. Among the rocks is the Turtle-Shell Rock, which is 600 million years old. The Jinshi Beach is known as the Geological Museum of China. Jinshi Golf Court ranks sixth among the world's 40,000 golf courts. Other places of interest include the Jinshi Country Club, the China Martial Arts Center, the Model Film and Television Art Center, the Hunting Club, the International Convention Center, the Geothermal Springs, the Maple Leaves International School, the Golden Coast, and the Wedding Paradise.

The Bingyugou Holiday Resort is famed as the Lesser Guilin in North China because of its splendid natural scenery.
Another eye-catching view in Dalian proper is its 40 policewomen patrolling on horseback. The boundary line of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea also provides another fantastic scenic view.

Lushun, a district of Dalian, is known as a museum of contemporary Chinese history. Places of historic interest are the Lushun Museum and the old sites of the Japanese and Russian prisons. The city also has the largest snake museum in Asia, where Snake Island, Bird Island, and Pig Island are located. Other tourist attractions in Lushun include Mt. Laotie Hot Spring, the World Peace Park, and the Water Amusement Park.

A Center for Festivals and Tourist Activities

Dalian plays host to many festivals and international activities, such as the International Fashion Festival, the Admiration of Chinese Scholartrees, the Marathon, the Firecrackers and Fireworks to Herald the Spring, and the International Beer Festival. All these activities have drawn numerous visitors from home and abroad.

Every Spring Festival, China's most important festival, Dalian's Firecrackers and Fireworks festival attracts many visitors who have come to the city to light firecrackers and eat dumplings.

In September, the Dalian International Fashion Festival features various cultural, tourist, and economic activities, such as evening performances on squares, fashion shows, concerts, young fashion designers' contests, and trade fairs for garments and fashion materials.

Hospitable Dalian: Welcomes Friends from Afar

The people of Dalian are hospitable. There are 160 star-rated hotels in the city, 15 of which are five and four star hotels, and 20 international travel agencies. Visitors are also welcome to live with farmers, fishers, and urban residents to learn more about the lifestyle of the locals.

Dalian enjoys convenient transportation. Seven flights are scheduled between Dalian and Japan every day, and the flight is only 2 hours long. It takes only an hour to Seoul, 3.5 hours to Hong Kong, and 2 hours to Xi'an. There are 15 flights to Beijing a day, 50 minutes for each trip.

A plan to visit Beijing and Xi'an, both ancient cultural cities in China, would be perfect if it includes a visit to Dalian, a modern metropolis. A visit to these three places would offer a tourist an opportunity to get to know the nation's past and present.

Five honors for Dalian:

"The Capital of Romance" ------------ the brand of Dalian tourism
"The Bright Pearl in North China"-------the Gold Medal of Dalian tourism
"One of the World's Top 500 Cities of Excellent Environment"----------the highest honor for Dalian tourism
"Contest in Beijing, Sightseeing in Dalian"-----------the signboard of Dalian tourism
Jinshi Beach, Lushun, Bingyugou, Xinghai Bay, the Marine Museum at Tiger Beach, Sun Asia Marine World, Forest Zoo, Binhai Road, policewomen patroling on horseback, international festivals, seafood, the Zitan Pavilion, the Aolianna Yacht, a 3-dimensional movie theater, the Modern Museum, the Natural Museum, and Sledge Hammer Island - tourist attractions in Dalian

Yandang Mountain -- Captivating Grandeur

Yandang Mountain rises 1,150 meters high in Leqing County twenty-five kilometers from Wenzhou City in southeastern Zhejiang Province. In Chinese, Yandang means “reed marsh for wild geese” and in autumn wild geese do gather in the marshes around the lake at the top of the mountain. The mountain became known in the early Tang Dynasty and enjoyed greater fame during the northern Song Dynasty, when many temples, pavilions, and other buildings were put up here. The Yandang scenery is dominated by crags, valleys, and waterfalls, and there are said to be about four hundred scenic sights in the five scenic areas that cover some four hundred square kilometers on the mountain. There of these-Spirits Peak (Lingfeng), Spirits Crag (Lingyan), and Great Dragon Pond (Dalongqiu) on the southeast part of the mountain –are considered the “three wonders of Yandang.”

Spirits Peak (Lingfeng)

Towering behind Spirits Peak Temple (Lingfengsi), this 270-meter-high peak is also called Husband and Wife Peak (Fuqifneg) because at night it looks like a couple in each other’s arms. The Goddess of Mercy Cave (Guanyindong) down the slope is among the most famous of the Yandang Caves. Spirits Peak is surrounded by grotesque peaks and cliffs, which are particularly striking at night.

Spirits Crag (Lingyan)

This screen-shaped crag is otherwise named Screen Clouds Peak (Pingxiazhang). Spirits Crag Temple (Lingyansi) at the base of the cliff, one of the eighteen ancient Yandang temples, was built in 979 in the Northern Song Dynasty. The temple faces two peaks, the Heavenly Pillar (Tianzhu) and the Fluttering Flag (Zhanqi), and to its left is Heavenly Window Cave (Tianchuangdong). Behind the temple are Dragon’s Nose Cave (Longbidong) and Little Dragon Pond Cascade (Xiaolongqiupubu). Among the other peaks surrounding Spirits Crag are Double Eagles (Shuangying), Jade Maid (YunÜ), and Solitary Beauty (Duxiu).

Three-terraced Falls (Sanzhepu)

Beside Orchid Terrace (Lanhuatai), the falls consist of three levels. Water from the upper and middle levels pour down the rock to a pond; you can observe the falls from behind by following a path built around the pond.
The grandeur and captivating beauty of Yandang Mountain draw an endless stream of sightseers every year. In recent years, communication, commercial, and service facilities have been developed rapidly in the area. The mountain can be reached by bus from Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, and other cities, and the scenic spots are linked with each other by a network of roads. Visitors can either spend their night at hotels on the mountain or take day-trips between the mountain and any of the three cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo or Wenzhou.

China's Top Water Country - Zhouzhuang

Known as a collection of beauty, Zhouzhuang, once called Zhenfengli, is an ancient water town of Kunshan City in Jiangsu Province and where rivers and lakes abound. It is located between the cities Shanghai and Suzhou. The town has stood up well through the years, 900 to be specific, and remains as it was so long ago. The typical style and features of the water town and even its inhabitants' way of life remains unchanged. The houses built by the streams have sidewalks, which have naturally evolved into streets used for transportation, together along with the water lanes. Overhead stone bridges span over the water lanes, providing convenient passage for the local people. Murmuring streams flow under small bridges and courtyards. These bridges and courtyards are each surrounded by dwelling quarters, which are typical features of Zhouzhuang and even the whole of East China.

Water lanes & Stone Bridge

Zhouzhuang is like a water nymph standing on a lake. The layout of its water lanes is perfectly arranged so that it looks like the Chinese character "#". Many stone bridges are built over them, linking up the households on either side of each stream. These stone bridges are very old, 14 of which were built between the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The most representative among them are the Twin Bridge, Fu'an Bridge, Zhenfeng Bridge and Fuhong Bridge. There is a beautiful saying that is popular among the folks in China-"the Heavens have their Paradise while the earth is proud of having Suzhou and Hangzhou." Zhouzhuang is just like Water Lily in-between.

The Twin Bridge

Twin Bridge, built between 1573 and 1619, is situated to the northeast of the town. It consists of the Shide and Yong'an bridges, with one of them being a stone arch type and the other a stone beam type bridge. Since they look like an ancient key, Twin Bridge also known as Key Bridge.

The Yinzi and Nanbei rivers cross the area here and these two rivers zigzag in north-south and east-west directions here. The square and round openings of the bridges provide a unique frame for the water scenery. Sitting on a boat, one may enjoy the scene between bridges and have a feeling of the quiet and simple life that this water town offers. When night falls, all the streets are empty. Down the narrow lanes one catches glimpses of dim lights. Walking by the waterside, along the road or over a bridge, the peace of the calm water and clear sky, perhaps occasionally punctuated by the distant sound of laughter, creates a harmonious and sweet environment.

Fu'an Bridge

Fu'an Bridge is to the east of Zhongshi Street, crosses the Nanbeishi River and leads to Nanbeishi Street.
Fu'an Bridge was built in 1355 and rebuilt by Shen Wansi, the younger brother of Shen Wanshan. The bridge has towers on all four corners and each side has carved beams and painted rafters. People can now enjoy local foods and shopping in each tower.

Zhenfeng Bridge

Zhenfeng Bridge sits on the west mouth of Zhengshi River and connects Zhenfeng Lane and Xiwan Street. It was rebuilt in the Ming and Qing dynasties and is well preserved today.

Heritages of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Zhouzhuang has about 1,000 households living in the old dwelling quarters.

Shen's House

Shen's House is located to the southeast of Fu'an Bridge, on Nanshi Street. It was built in 1742 during the Qing Dynasty by Shen Benren, a descendant of Shen Wansan who was a wealthy man in southern China during the late Yuan (1206-1386 AD) to early Ming Dynasty.

Shen's House offers a unique traditional Chinese architectural style. Consisting of seven courtyards, five archways and more than 100 different size rooms along that lie along two sides of a 100-meter long axis line, the house covers an area of 2,000 square meters.

Shen's House has three sections. The first includes a water gate and wharf for mooring and washing boats. The second one consists of the Tea Hall and the Main Hall, which are used for receiving guests, holding weddings or conducting funeral ceremonies. The rear part serves as living quarters.

The Main hall covers 170 square meters. The six-meter-high carved brick archway facing the Main Hall is the most magnificent among the five and has a horizontally inscribed board bearing the inscription, "Ji hou liu guang" (Do more good forever). Around the board are relief sculptures of figures, animals, pavilions and opera characters.

Milou Tower

Milou Tower, once called De's Wine Shop, is located at Zhenfeng Bridge. In the 1920s, the founders of the South Society, including Liu Yazi, Chen Qubing, Wang Dajue and Fei Gongzhi, went there four times to drink and compose poems. They published the "Collected Works on Milou Tower", which is a compilation of more than 100 poems. It has been rebuilt, but retains its old-style charm.

Chengxu Taoist Temple

Chengxu Taoist Temple, also known as Shentang Hall, is located on Zhongshi Street, facing the Puqing Bridge. It was built during 1086-1093. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the temple has taken shape and in the Qing Dynasty it was expanded to three big courtyards, covering 1,500 square meters and serves as one of the four notable Taoist Temples in Wuzhong Region. Its main buildings are Yuhuang, Wenchang and Shengdi pavilions. The Yuhuang Pavilion was built in the Song Dynasty.

Folkways of the Land of Waters

The folkways of the land of waters in Zhouzhuang originate from an age-old civilization and the history of long standing of the ancient town and its unique natural environment as well. It's a great pleasure for visitors to appreciate the historic sights and to observe and learn from the folklore and the conditions of common folks.

Granny Tea

When visitors come to Zhouzhuang, they may often notice some elderly women gathering together to drink tea. However, few people know the true story behind tea-drinking and tea-making. All the people in the town are fond of tea, but they are fastidious about their tea-making methods. For instance, tea sets must be old, water is required to be boiled in a pottery jar and the fuel should be either bamboo or tea tree branches. The correct way of making tea is as such: put some tea leaves in a teapot or cup, pour a little hot water, wait a few minutes, and then infuse boiling water to make the tea. When people sample tea, they often as drink and eat melon seeds, tender boiled beans, candied fruits and pastries among other delicacies. Tea made in this fashion is called "granny tea".

Fast Boating

This event came into being during the early Qing Dynasty and has become a large-scale recreational and sporting activity held on the special occasion of folk festivals. Every boat is equipped with a punt pole, a large and small scull and staffed with 15 or 16 sturdy men. When all boats are on their marks, they begin the race after the signal is fired.

Wansan Home-style Banquet

Zhouzhuang enjoys rich natural resources and local specialties. Main dishes covered in the menu: Wansan Pig's Upper Leg, Meat Balls with three delicacies, Xianjiang (White Calm River) Aquatic products, Wansan brand wines & liquor.

Shangri-La : The Sun and the Moon in One's Heart

In 1933, James Hilton published his captivating novel Lost Horizon, which ranked first among the best sellers of the year. Later, he won the Hawthornden Prize for Imaginative Literature. In 1934, Hollywood invested US$2.5 million to make the novel into a film. The film's theme song The Beautiful Shangri-La spread across the world.

Shangri-La, or Shambhala in Tibetan, means the sun and the moon in one's heart. According to a British encyclopedia of literature, James Hilton's greatness lies in his literary creation of Shangri-La, while the biggest contribution of the novel is the introduction of a new English word, Shangri-La, meaning utopia on earth.

In 1971, Robert Kuok (Hock Nien), an overseas Chinese residing in Singapore, and a business tycoon established an international group of hotels and resorts named Shangri-La. On September 14, 1997, the People's Government of Yunnan Province solemnly announced that Shangri-La is located in the Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan.

At the foot of the Meili Snow Mountain, there are many areas of marshland and flatland. Scattered on the rich and fertile land are flocks of cattle and sheep. With tranquil lakes, sacred shrines, and the honest Kangba people, this peaceful land looks like a paradise on earth, and is called Shangri-La.

Shangri-La is situated in northwestern Yunnan Province, bordering Sichuan Province in the north and the Tibet Autonomous Region in the west. Preserving an excellent ecological environment and the traditional ethnic culture of the region, it enjoys a reputation of being the Garden on a Plateau, the Kingdom of Plants and Animals, and the Kingdom of Nonferrous Metal. Starting in the city of Dali and driving northward 315 kilometers along the Yunnan-Tibet Highway, visitors reach the county of Shangri-La, capital of the Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The county is 659 kilometers away from Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, and there are scheduled flights between it and Kunming.

Rich in grassland and livestock resources, Deqen is an important pastoral area in Yunnan. It has over half a million hectares of grass slopes, averaging nearly 2 hectares per person. In addition to being made up of rich, fine-quality grass, the natural grassland in Deqen produces alpine medicinal materials, including Chinese erpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis) and bulb of fritillary (Fritillaria thunbergii).

Shangri-La possesses 24 famous scenic spots, natural and man-made, and is one of China's eight golden tourist destinations.
According to a local saying, people can enjoy the customs of the Tibetan ethnic group in Deqen without going to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The prefecture has snowy mountains and canyons as well as the customs of the Tibetan ethnic group. Shangri-La, 3,280 meters above sea level, is an ideal place for visitors to enjoy the natural wonders and ethnic customs of the region, and there is no need to worry about altitude sickness.

Lijiang, an Ancient Town

Officially designated as a town between the end of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Lijiang is an ancient town that preserves the traditions of the Naxi ethnic group. Among China's famous historical and cultural towns, it is the only town without city walls. Since Lijiang has preserved its appearance from the Song and Yuan periods, the Chinese State Council has placed it on China's list of historical and cultural towns. On December 3, 1997, Lijiang was included on the World Cultural Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

In this town, more than 350 bridges, varying in shapes, span the Yuhe River that flows through the town. Lijiang overtakes the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province in terms of the number of bridges per square kilometer. The local people of the Naxi ethnic group make good use of water resources, and have built many three-tiered ponds. The upper ponds supply drinking water, the middle ponds are for washing vegetables, and the lower ponds are for washing clothes.

Wuhua Street paved with colored pebbles is full of bumps and holes, marking the age of the town, while old Sifang Street is permeated with a peaceful and stable atmosphere. Streams, bridges, and typical houses of the Naxi people form a beautiful image.

The Tranquil Shudugang Lake

Shudugang Lake is 35 kilometers away from the county seat of Shangri-La. Ravines and rising mountain peaks surrounding the lake have dense primitive forests growing on them. On the eastern bank of the lake is a forest of white birches, which turns golden yellow in autumn. The dragon spruce and fir forests are the haunt of rare birds and animals, including musk deer, bears, clouded leopards, tufted deer, Tibetan snow pheasants, and lynxes.

In spring and summer, the banks of the lake, with plenty of water and lush grass, are dotted with flocks of cattle and sheep as well as sheds. Listening to the melody of reed pipes and admiring the beautiful scenery of the blue mountain peaks and green waters, visitors can experience the leisurely and carefree nature of highland life.

There are transport facilities to Shudugang Lake. Departing from the county seat of Shangri-La, it takes one day to go to the lake and come back.

The Meili Snow Mountain

The beautiful Meili Snow Mountain, mentioned in Lost Horizon, towers in Deqen County in the northwest of Shangri-La. Separating Yunnan Province and the Tibet Autonomus Region, it is the highest mountain in Yunnan.

The Meili Snow Mountain is famous for its lofty, magnificence and mystery. In the 1930s, an American scholar praised the mountain's Kagebo Peak as the most beautiful peak on earth. The mystery of the mountain is strongly appealing to mountaineers and scientific explorers from China and abroad. In the past years, many mountaineers and explorers, including the Sino-Japanese Mountaineering Team, have done their utmost to ascend the summit of the mountain; but none of them have succeeded.

The mountain is a natural treasure house containing fascinating glaciers, glacier falls, alpine lakes, lush, primitive forests, and rare species of plants and animals. With monasteries scattered everywhere, the mountain has become a shrine for the local people who believe in Tibetan Buddhism, or Lamaism. Along the paths to the monasteries, there are piles of mani stones inscribed with the mystical, six-syllable mantra of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dai Temple

Located to the north of Tai'an City, the Dai Temple is the largest and most completed ancient building complex of Mount Taishan. It used to be the venue where emperors of the past dynasties held celebrations to worship heaven and earth and bestowed sacrifices to the God of the mountain. And it was also the first stop for the pilgrims on their way to the holy Mount Taishan.

According to historical records, the original temple was first built during the Qin Dynasty (211BC ~ 206BC). Since the Han Dynasty (206BC ~ 220AD), people replicated the imperial palace to construct it. Several dynasties later pavilions, old cypresses and steles to the decoration were added, bringing the modern Dai Temple to what it is today.

Most of the present attractions inside the temple were left over from the Han Dynasty. Seen from a distance, a feel of grandiosity and magnificence appears in your mind. Take a closer view and you will feel astonished by its stateliness. It is the symbol of the Chinese feudality. Standing at the entrance to the temple, Yaocan Pavilion and the Archway of the Dai Temple will appear before your eyes first. Its grand framework and elaborate engravings impress tourists deeply and entice them to visit the temple. Entering it, there are many gateways and palaces, colorful and brilliant. Among them, the most conspicuous is the Hall of Celestial Gifts built in 1009 AD. This was during the Northern Song Dynasty, and one of the three palace-style architectures in China. Insidethe hall, there is a portrait of God, 4.4 m high, set in the middle. Around the walls of the east, west and north, an enormous mural 3 meters high and 62 meters long named "the God of Mountain Tai on an inspection tour" pictures the wonderful and grand scene of the inspection tour itself. Old cypress trees in the courtyard are very valuable. Five of them were planted by Emperor Wudi himself, from the Han Dynasty, and have lived for 2,000 years. Behind the temple is a bonsai garden. Different kinds of bonsais are offered for tourists’ viewing pleasure.

Another attraction is the Bronze Pavilion. Lying in the northeast corner of the temple, the pavilion is made of bronze castings. Intricate workmanship makes it highly valuable, thus gaining its reputation as one of the famous bronze pavilions in China.

Address: Northeast of Tai’an city zone, Shandong Province
Transportation: Take bus 1, 3 at Tai’an railway station.

Songshan Mountain and Shaolin Monastery

Known worldwide as the cradle of Chinese martial arts, Shaolin Monastery is 80 kilometers southeast of Luoyang at the western edge of Songshan, the central of China's four sacred Taoist peaks. It can be reached in 3 hours on a country road through farming villages. The fame has brought change and it is far from a remote and romantic retreat where the wisdom of the ages is passed from master to novice. It is now a major tourist area, as well as a place of pilgrimage for monks and lay Buddhists. A training hall has been built next to the monastery for the many foreign enthusiasts that come to study. The founder of the monastery was the Indian monk Bodhidharma, where he reportedly sat facing the back wall of a cave and meditated for nine years. His silhouette is said to have been imprinted on the rock. Imperial sanctions ensured the growth of Shaolin's reputation as a martial arts center.

It still houses 70 monks to this day. One of its greatest treasures are the 18 art frescoes, painted in 1828, depicting ancient monks in classic fighting poses that today's novices attempt to emulate. In Thousand Buddha Hall, depressions in the stone floor of this main hall of the temple serve as reminders of the tough combat exercises performed by the monks. Southwest of the monastery is Stupa Forest and its 230 monuments and burial mounds, the oldest of which dates from the Tang Dynasty.

The Shaolin Monastery, in the Songshan Range near Luoyang, is the home of most Asian martial arts. Be it Kung fu or karate, taekwondo or judo, they all originated in ancient China as fighting techniques of one individual against another. The bald-headed Shaolin monks, well known for their inimitable Shaolin boxing, recognized the signs of the time a few years back and made the monastery a commercial affair.

The monk that founded the Shaolin monastery climbed to the heights of Songshan in 527. He realized that many Buddhist monks were unable to keep up demanding meditation exercise in complete quiet and concentration. Based upon observations of the movements of animals, the monk is said to have developed an excise that he described as a method of physical training, and this in turn became the origin of Shaolin boxing. This type of boxing must surely be one of the most sophisticated Asian martial arts.

Transportation: Special tour bus to Shaolin Temple is available at Luorang railway station. It will take 2 hours' driving with ticket pricing 20 yuan.
 

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