Attractions

There is a moment on the path above the ticket gate when the trees open and you meet a face carved out of a boulder in the eleventh century —…

For eight centuries this town was not called Jinxi. It was called Chenmu — literally “Chen’s Grave” — because a consort of a Southern Song emperor was buried here, in…

The smell hits before the view does. Walk into Anchang from the eastern car park on a December morning and the air is thick with smoke, soy and rendered pork…

The first time I brought a client to Cicheng, she looked at the wide, straight main street and said, “This isn’t a water town at all.” She was right, and…

I grew up thinking the red-crowned crane was a myth stitched from Japanese paintings until I stood in the reeds of Zhalong Heilongjiang and watched a flock lift off at…

The first time I rode the Mengdong River Hunan stretch, I expected a lazy float and got a two-hour white-knuckle grin instead. This river in Yongshun County, in the Xiangxi…

I first heard about the place from a taxi driver in Yulin who kept saying “long zhou” and drawing wave shapes on a fogged-up window. Two winters later I finally…

Why Baishuiyang Fujian Is Unlike Any Other Water Park I have taken families to a lot of Chinese scenic areas, and Baishuiyang Fujian is the one that makes adults act…

Why Chaji Village Anhui Beats the Famous Old Towns I guide a lot of visitors to the Huangshan area, and almost all of them have heard of Hongcun. Few have…

Why Nuodeng Yunnan Stays on My Yunnan List Most visitors to western Yunnan rush from Dali to Lijiang and miss the small places that actually explain the region. Nuodeng Yunnan…