Behai Park is a good example of a classic Chinese garden. There are several sights in the park, among others the Drum Tower from 1420. The drummers of the Drum Tower helped the inhabitants keeping track of time. Besides this, there's also the famous Wall of the Nine Dragons, as well as several temples and the circular city in the park. If you get up early, you'll see the Chinese street life unfolding in the park.
The Forbidden City was built in 1420, after emperor Yong Le had decided that Beijing once again should be the capital. The palace, surrounded by a high wall, is composed of buildings with more than 9,000 rooms where the emperor and his court lived in isolation from the outside world. Furthermore the palace has a large number of temples and official buildings.
Here rest 13 of the Ming-dynasty's 16 emperors. To get to the graves you drive down the Street of Immortality, which is an 800 metre long street flanked by 36 giant stone figures, guarding the graves. Many of the burial places have fallen into decay and are in very bad condition, but the oldest, Changling, has been restored and is in a decent state.
The widowed empress Cixi started the building of the palace in 1888 and it was the last of the Quing-dynasty's buildings. The money for the building was supposed to be for the military, but empress Cixi would rather spend them on a secluded residence. The entire garden surrounding the palace is artificially constructed.
In the late 1960s, when the Chinese were afraid of a Soviet invasion, the building of an entire city underground, with escape tunnels out of Beijing, was started. 2,000 volunteers worked on the project for ten years. The city has 90 ways down, hidden in the buildings along Qianmen's major streets.
Tiananmen Square is the centre of Beijing and the largest square in the world. Mao's mausoleum is located on this square as well as the Great Hall of the People and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. On the Gate of Heavenly Peace is a large portrait of Mao gazing over the square.
The relatively new museum from 1991 is inspired by the Tang-dynasty style of building, and contains an exhibition of the history of the Shaanxi province and takes you through the various dynasties that have ruled the province. The buildings are worth the visit in themselves and consist of one main building, surrounded by a yard and four corner buildings.
The construction is allegedly the only manmade construction visible from the moon. The wall is about 6,000 km long and it is said that a construction worker died for every meter. The building of the wall, which was supposed to protect China from the barbarians of the north, was commenced in the year 400 B.C. and continued for more than 2,000 years.
The city of Guilin isn't as interesting as the nature surrounding it, where you'll find some peculiar green limestone mountains scattered around the area. Hidden inside the mountains are some fantastic stalactite caves, and the landscape is marvelous.
This magnificent building is the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. The huge mausoleum, constructed for Qin Shihuang, the first emperor for a united China, stretches for more than 8 sq km. During the excavations an army of stone of more than 6,000 men was found, each with individual shape and features. The men are known as the Terracotta Army.
The Wooden Forest is very unusual, and can from a distance look like a regular forest. When you get close though, you'll see that the trees are actually made of stone and 30-metre high rocks. There are some good hiking trails in the area, where you can explore the unusual phenomenon.
In the Yungang grottos you can experience some of the most outstanding Buddhist art of sculpture. The caves were cut out of the rocks between 460 and 495 and the art-works have been carved in the grotto-walls. There are 21 grottos with 51,000 statues in total.
Guangdong resides in the temple of the Chen family's ancestors, and the more than 100-year-old temple is today the largest, most decorated and well-preserved of its kind in the Guangdong province. The temple has nine buildings and six gardens and is famous for its exhibition of art works.
The tomb of the King of Nanyues was discovered in 1983. It is almost 2,000 years old and the oldest of its kind ever found south of The Five Ridges. In the museum more than 1,000 burial artifacts, found in the tomb, can be seen.
This beautiful Buddhist temple was built in 537 and is 57 metres high. Inside the temple are three Buddhist cobber statues, which are the biggest in the province. Seen from the outside, the temple has nine levels, but on the inside it has seventeen.
The garden received its name because of the seven mountain peaks composing the constellation called "the Great Bear". In this beautiful garden you can either climb or enter into the mountains, as the stalactite cave Qixing, also known as "the Sun's Resting Place", is located in the northern end of the park. The stalactites in the cave are transparent as crystal and incredibly beautiful.
Lonely beauty rises abruptly from the ground in the heart of the old palace. The mountain's name comes from a poem written 1,500 years ago by Yang Yannzi, the governor of Guilin. The mountain is 152 metres high and has 300 steps leading to the top.
This magnificent natural phenomenon is situated 7 km northwest of the city. The stalactite cave is 240 metres deep and 500 metres long and the cave-entrance is situated 27 metres above the rice paddies. The cave's stalactites are twisted in all shapes and have some fantastic colors.
Harbin Zoological Garden is one of the biggest zoological gardens in North-east China. The garden is situated in the western part of the city and covers an area of 42 hectares. It has more than 2,800 animals and 150 different species, among others the north-east-Chinese tiger, black bears and moose.
Compared with the busy metropolis on the other side of the river, Taiyang Island is the essence of peace, tranquility and beautiful nature. Here you'll find green trees, colorful flowers and fresh air.
The park is located in the northern end of Zhaolin Dajie in the Daoli district and covers an area of 7hectares. The park was originally called Daoli Park, but was renamed on the 15th of August 1946, when general Li Zhaolin was buried in the park. He was a war hero in the war against the Japanese.
This fantastic building was finished in 1996 and settles with the Chinese museums of the past. Gone are the long hallways and semi-boring exhibitions and instead an architectural jewel has been erected. The museum's buildings are shaped as a Chinese bronze urn and contain one of the world's most impressive collections of Chinese art. This is a must-see.
In the old Chinese district you'll find, besides the district, which is a sight in its own right, the Garden and Bazaar of Joy (Yuayuan), which is an excellent place to have lunch, where many small stalls are offering Chinese delicacies. Wuxntin's teahouse is situated in the middle of a lake near the bazaar where you can enjoy some excellent tea.
Nanjing Lu is Shanghai's main street, where enormous department stores lies side by side, and all sorts of things can be bought. Two of the department stores, Hualian and Shanghai No.1 were also there before Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The Bund is Shanghais most famous seaside front, which, back in the 1930s, was Chinas equivalent to Wall Street. The banks and insurance companies were situated in these large buildings in French Empire style, but this stopped as Communism took over and changed the entire city. Today the financial world is finding its way back into the old buildings. The Bund has a large seaside promenade, sizzling of life both day and night.
The first Ming-emperor, Zhu Yuanzhan, to keep evil powers away, built the city's bell tower in 1384. Xi'an is the former capital of China and he feared that "the dead city" would take its revenge. The bell tower is square with three floors and is a beautiful sight with its green glazed roof, blue and green walls with a speckle of gold.
The pagoda was built in 652 and thus dates back to the Tang-dynasty. The pagoda is very simple in its shape, consists of seven square floors and is 64 metres high. It was originally built to accommodate the Buddhist scriptures that the monk Xuan Zang brought back from a journey to India.
The impressive city wall surrounding the entire city is 24 km long and 12 metres high. It's undergoing renovation these recent years, where many of the guard towers with pagoda-roof are rebuilt. The same man who built the bell tower, Zhu Yuanzhan, built the wall to protect the city against attacks.