Cities

Ziyang sits an easy train ride from Chengdu, yet almost no foreign visitors step off there. I have taken two clients—one a Buddhist-art enthusiast, one a family wanting a calm…

Fuzhou in Jiangxi province is not the Fujian city with the same name—a confusion I have had to clear up with clients more than once, usually at a ticket counter….

Binzhou rarely appears on foreign itineraries, yet I have routed two bird-watching clients and one history buff through it, and each left glad they came. This Binzhou travel guide is…

Most foreign travelers have never heard of Liaoyuan, and I understand why—it sits in a corner of Jilin province that the guidebooks skip. But I have sent three different groups…

Hegang sits at the top of Heilongjiang Province, on the bank of the Amur River that forms the border with Russia. It is famous abroad for one odd reason —…

Shuangyashan sits in the east of Heilongjiang Province, close to the Russian border and a long way from the China most guidebooks describe. The name means “Twin Ducks Mountain,” and…

Puyang is a county-level city in the northeast corner of Henan Province, wedged against the borders of Shandong and Hebei. Most foreign travellers have never heard of it, and that…

Hebi is a small industrial city in northern Henan that most foreign travellers skip on the way to Luoyang or Xi’an. We keep it on a short list for travellers…

Bengbu is a mid-size city in northern Anhui on the Huaihe River, and it is one of those places that rarely appears on foreign itineraries. We put it on a…

When travellers ask us for a Beijing day trip that isn’t the Forbidden City, we often point west to Mentougou. This Beijing Mentougou travel guide covers a district on the…