Attractions

Some bridges get you across a river. The Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge, in Sanjiang county in the north of Guangxi, does that and then becomes the social heart of…

I went to Meizhou Island expecting a quiet fishing islet and left understanding why millions of overseas Chinese make the pilgrimage here every year. This small island off the coast…

I have stood in a lot of Chinese temples, and after a while the gold roofs start to blur together. Famen Temple, in the small county of Fufeng about 120…

The first time I went to Xi’an I did the obvious loop: Terra-Cotta Army by day, the City Wall at dusk, the Muslim Quarter for lamb skewers. It was good….

Most travelers who fly into Beijing never make it past the Forbidden City and the nearby Ming Tombs. I almost did the same. On my third trip to China I…

Fengdu Ghost City is one of the strangest half-days you can spend in China — a hillside warren of temples dedicated to the Chinese underworld, where demons judge the souls…

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric structure on earth, and seeing it in person rearranges your sense of scale. On our last trip we approached from Yichang, stood…

Most visitors to Hangzhou spend their whole trip circling West Lake and never learn that, 20 km northwest, a 5,000-year-old city lies buried in the rice fields. The Liangzhu ancient…

A Beijing Olympic Park guide should be clear about what this place is: a purpose-built sports and leisure complex in the north of the city, anchored by two of the…

I have taken clients up plenty of Chinese mountains, and Taimu is the only one where I hand out head torches at the trailhead. The reason is simple: much of…