Mount Wutai Guide: Shanxi’s Buddhist Sacred Peaks
Mount Wutai is less a mountain than a high-altitude valley ringed by five flat-topped summits — wutai literally means “five terraces” — and packed with more than 50 active monasteries….
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Mount Emei Guide: Sichuan’s Sacred Peak and Monkeys
Mount Emei does not do subtle. The highest of China’s four sacred Buddhist mountains tops out at 3,099 meters, where a 48-meter golden statue of Samantabhadra rides four elephants above…
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Shigatse Travel Guide: Tibet, China’s Monastery City
At 3,850 meters above sea level, Shigatse is the second-largest city in Tibet, China, and the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama lineage. Most travelers pass through on the overland…
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Turpan Travel Guide: Xinjiang, China’s Driest Oasis
Turpan is a place of superlatives. Sitting in a deep desert basin in Xinjiang, China, it contains the country’s lowest point (Aydingkol Lake, 154 meters below sea level), records some…
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Huashan Mountain Guide: Shaanxi’s Vertigo-Inducing Peaks
Huashan has a reputation problem — in the best possible way. Search for it online and you’ll find the infamous plank walk: wooden boards bolted to a sheer granite face,…
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Xiangxi Travel Guide: Miao Villages of Hunan
Western Hunan — Xiangxi in Chinese — is where the province folds itself into green gorges, stilted wooden towns and mist that rarely lifts before nine in the morning. This…
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Tianshui Travel Guide: Gansu’s Maiji Grottoes
Everyone has heard of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang. Far fewer travelers know that Gansu province holds a second Buddhist cave complex of world importance — and that it might…
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Dandong Travel Guide: Yalu River Views on China’s Northeast Border
Stand on the riverside promenade in Dandong at dusk and you are looking at one of Asia’s most unusual views: the broad Yalu River, a half-finished bridge glowing in rainbow…
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Yueyang Travel Guide: Yueyang Tower, Dongting Lake and Junshan Island
Most travelers racing between Wuhan and Changsha on the high-speed line never look out the window at Yueyang, and that is their loss. This mid-sized Hunan city sits on the…
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Anshun Travel Guide: Waterfall Country and Tunbao Villages of Guizhou
Anshun is the town most travelers rush through on the way to Huangguoshu — Asia’s largest waterfall — without realizing they’ve just skipped one of Guizhou’s strangest and most rewarding…
