Xi'an and its surrounding area is at the very heart of China's history. This city served as the capital seat of twelve dynasties for more than 1100 years, and its Wei valley is the legendary birthplace of Chinese civilization. It was here that the mythical Yellow Emperor (third millennium BC) conquered the other warring tribes to give birth to the Chinese nation. Over the centuries successive capitals have changed their names and locations,  » Read more »

Renowned for its numerous gardens and canals, Suzhou is frequently mislabeled as the "Venice of the East". Its size and trading volumes though once significant nonetheless do not warrant such a grandiose comparison. Rather, it is best to think of Suzhou as the most distinguished of a multitude of canal towns, dotted around the Yangzi delta. Suzhou's history dates back to the early seventh century BC at which time the semi-mythical ruler,  » Read more »

Shangri-La – is there another word so redolent of a utopia on the roof of the world? Since the publication of James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" in the 1930s, the western imagination has been gripped by the promise of an earthly paradise somewhere high in the Himalayas . Hilton had travelled in the region a few years before his novel was published, but never gave the exact location, and to this day it remains a mystery.  » Read more »

Few cities show as many contradictory aspects as westernized Shanghai. Those who glibly argue that this swinging city is all about money, not politics, should be reminded that the Chinese Communist Party was founded here. Others who see it as a city without a heart need only imagine the elation of those Jews who fled here from the Nazi Holocaust – at that time Shanghai was their only available refuge.  » Read more »

Lying at China’s southern most point, Hainan Island has at various times been a Chinese penal colony, suffered invasion and exploitation by the Japanese, used as a port of free trade, and, in its current incarnation, is an island that China likes to compare with Hawaii.  The comparison is not out of place as tourism and a naval base prop up the economies of both places. The first Chinese to settle Hainan Island were the Li people.  » Read more »