Attractions

I had spent two blissful but busy days circling West Lake before I finally listened to a friend who lives in Hangzhou. “You’ve seen the postcard,” she said. “Now come…

I still remember the morning I first walked through the gate of Hanshan Temple. I had spent two days in Suzhou chasing gardens — the grand ones, the famous ones…

The first time I set foot on Central Street Harbin, I genuinely forgot which country I was in. One moment I was in northeastern China, the next I was staring…

I still remember the first time I stepped onto the coarse sand at Tianya Haijiao and looked up at two giant grey boulders rising out of the South China Sea….

I still remember the moment the clouds lifted near Nyingchi and I caught my first glimpse of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. Standing at a roadside viewpoint, I watched the…

I first heard about Meili Snow Mountain from a truck driver in Shangri-La who told me, “If Kawagarbo shows his face, you are lucky for life.” I laughed at the…

The first time I stepped out of the car at Nalati Grassland, I simply stopped talking. A wall of green rolled up from the valley floor and kept going until…

I still remember the moment the cable car broke through the cloud layer and the split peak of Mount Fanjing appeared like a mirage above the mist. Nothing had prepared…

I still remember the moment I stepped off the shuttle bus at Baodingshan and rounded the first bend in the path. There, carved straight into a gray limestone cliff face,…

When I tell fellow travelers that Nanjing has a free, 500-year-old imperial lake sitting right next to its main train station, most people look surprised. Xuanwu Lake (also spelled Xuanwuhu,…