The best ways to explore the cultural and scenic wonders of China and to deal with the various challenges posed by Chinese tourism. Its natural wealth, five millennia of history, and an old continuous civilization, place China as a great travel destination. China is an amazing cultural treasure of the world situated in eastern Asia.
Covering an area of almost 10 million sq km, China is the world’s third largest country and is home to well over a billion people who are distributed throughout 22 provinces, all of which are governed from the capital city, Beijing. With desert straddling the northern boundary, and the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan mountain range to the west, much of China is inhospitable territory and remains largely uninhabited, many preferring to settle in the eastern regions that are bounded by the East and South China Seas.
For its wealth of outstanding scenery and breathtaking variety of landscapes, China cannot be easily beaten and its spiritual quality draws people in droves to its peaceful mountains and rural areas brimming with natural beauty, as well as its cities of cultural and technological importance, the hub of which is, arguably, Beijing. For many, this cosmopolitan and dynamic capital city is the epicentre of China.
Located by the banks of the Li River, Guilin has gained fame both at home and abroad for its featuring scenery: verdant mountians, unique rockeries, crystal water, various caves, stones of numerous shapes. Top attractions in Guilin: The Li River, The Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill, Seven Star Park, Guilin Folded Brocade Hil, Fubo Hill, Solitary Beauty Hill, Longji Terraced Field in Longsheng, Fengyu Cave in Lipu County Guilin.
Numerous historical monuments scattered across the vast territory are vestiges of the ancient Chinese culture. These include: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, X’ian’s Terracotta Army and Tiananmen Square. The vast land of this country also hosts various natural landscapes, such as the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the Silk Road, the Tibet or Hainan Island.
Many splendid art objects can be found at Western and Chinese museums. Inside the country, there are numerous provincial and city museums, which preserve beautiful relics of at least two thousand years.
However, during the last centuries Western-trained Chinese architects have attempted to combine traditional Chinese designs into modern (habitually government) buildings, with a partial success, especially in the larger cities. The traditional skills of Chinese architecture, such us major carpentry, minor carpentry, masonry, and stone masonry, are still used in the construction of rural architecture at the towns of China.
Festivals often celebrate the change of seasons or auspicious dates, like the eighth day of the eighth month (“eight” is a lucky number within the Chinese tradition). These festivals are the occasion when the Chinese take a time for gift giving, family meeting and feasting. Each festival represents the great ancient folklore of the country, and counts with the participation and the excitement of the population.