Over on the northeast edge of Beijing, the Dashanzi district represents the more modern face of the capital. In a de-commissioned industrial zone of cavernous East-German-built factories, an array of hip galleries, studios, cafés, and books…

View more

A side trip neatly combined with the Longmen Caves is a visit to Songshan, one of China’s Five Great Mountains, which rises behind the town of Dengfeng, an hour’s drive east of Luoyang. Streams of martial arts enthusiasts travel to the are…

View more

West of Longji, the main road winds through the heart of Dong country towards Guizhou Province Aside from some rustic scenery, the route takes you through one of the most culturally fascinating corners of Asia, where a host of different min…

View more

Modern China straddles vastly different worlds, and nowhere exemplifies this better than the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, which together hold the largest number of minority groups in the country. The region’s rugged terrain…

View more

The bamboo forests of southern Sichuan are the last stronghold of China’s national treasure, the Giant Panda. Around 1,500 of these adorable black-and-white bears survive in the wild, but they’re notoriously reclusive. For a guaranteed sigh…

View more

With temperatures plunging to minus 20 degrees or below, teams of artists from all over the world fly to Harbin around the time of the Chinese New Year, in early February, to carve a fairyland of castles, rides and other large-scale structu…

View more

”As white as jade, as thin as paper, as bright as a mirror, as tuneful as a bell” is how a famous Chinese saying described the porcelain produced at Jingdezhen. Although producing pottery since the sixth century, its porcelain gained fame i…

View more

There’s no better way to feel the pulse of modern China on arrival in Shanghai than by taking the futuristic Maglev  Train (Magnetic levitation) from Pudong airport into town. The German-designed locomotive floats on a friction-free magneti…

View more

One of the great things about Hong Kong is that it’s easy to escape. The city’s cheap, green-and-white Star Ferries chug day and night across the harbour, and are an enjoyable way to experience the famous cityscape. Among the largest of th…

View more

Foodies may not be surprised to know that Peking duck is among one of the many highlights to be enjoyed on a trip to China. The dish is an integral part of Chinese culture and a tasty one at that, with its origins thought to date back to th…

View more

A dusty, bumpy track running south off the Friendship Highway leads to the most spectacular close-up view of the world’s highest mountain you can have from ground level – at least without having to undertake an arduous, two-week trek. It le…

View more

A village we recommend to anyone hoping to avoid the kind of commercialism that mars so many Miao settlements these days is Shidong, in Taijiang County. Once a prosperous trading post on the Qungshui River, in February it hosts the famous ‘…

View more