Gaoligong Mountain Guide: Yunnan’s Biodiversity Frontier
Yunnan, China does not do one climate per province. It does one climate per valley, and nowhere is that truer than on the Gaoligong range in the far west, where…
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Dushanzi Grand Canyon Guide: Xinjiang’s Rainbow Earth Ravine
Northern Xinjiang, China has a habit of producing landscapes that look wrong for a desert country: green valleys, black limestone, turquoise lakes, and then the canyon at Dushanzi, which is…
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Baili Azalea Guide: Guizhou’s Sea of Wild Mountain Flowers
Guizhou does not get the foreign visitor numbers that Yunnan or Sichuan do, which is exactly why the Baili Azalea forest is still one of the least crowded great flower…
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Ranwu Lake Guide: Glacial Blue Waters of Eastern Tibet
Most first-time visitors to Tibet, China fly into Lhasa, spend a few days getting used to the altitude, and then see only the Potala Palace and the Yarlung Zangbo valley…
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Riding China’s High-Speed Rail: Classes, Seats and Onboard Reality
Booking without the headache The single biggest mistake first-time riders make is assuming they can just show up and buy a ticket the way they would for a European intercity….
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Wuzhishan Travel Guide: Hainan’s Mountain Heart of the Li People
Every Hainan itinerary runs along the coast, and every Hainan itinerary misses the point. Two hours inland from the beaches sits Wuzhishan, the only mountain city on the island, holding…
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Qingzhou Travel Guide: An Ancient City of Shandong
Qingzhou is the city in Shandong that quietly outlived its own fame. For thirteen centuries it was the seat of a prefecture that governed most of central Shandong, and for…
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Yuanmou Travel Guide: Earth Forests and Ancient Human History in Yunnan
Yunnan is supposed to be the cool green province of the southwest, which makes Yuanmou the exception that proves you should check the map. This county in the north-centre of…
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Chinese Breakfast (Zao Fan): A Regional Field Guide to Morning Markets
What people miss most Ask a Chinese friend what they miss most abroad and the answer is often “breakfast.” Zǎofàn (早饭) isn’t a muted continental spread — it’s a full,…
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Shaxian Travel Guide: Home of China’s Most Famous Snacks
You have almost certainly eaten in Shaxian. It is the tiny district south of Sanming in inland Fujian that spawned the most widespread restaurant chain in China, the place where…
