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CHINA
China
From the Terracotta Army and the Forbidden City to Jiangnan gardens and the Tibetan plateau, discover China along six themes: ancient capitals, imperial architecture, water towns, ethnic frontiers, city life and landscapes.
City guides
Start with a city
Every city guide has a timeline, stories of local figures, must-see sights, festivals and local etiquette.
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西安 · 古称长安
Xi'an
4 places
Chang'an, a thousand-year capital: the Terracotta Army, the Wild Goose Pagoda and six-hundred-year-old walls
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北京 Beijing
Beijing
4 places
Eight centuries as an imperial capital: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace
南京 · 古称金陵
Nanjing
3 places
Splendour of the Six Dynasties and the founding of the Ming: Zhong Mountain, the Qinhuai and the Jiangnan Examination Hall
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苏州 · 古称姑苏
Suzhou
1 places
Cradle of Wu culture: gardens, canals and Kunqu opera
杭州 · 南宋称临安
Hangzhou
3 places
Capital of the Southern Song and West Lake: the lake of Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo and Lady White Snake
ལྷ་ས། · 拉萨
Lhasa
2 places
'Place of the Gods': the Potala Palace, the Jokhang and the Barkhor circuit
Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden, Kaifeng
A Song-dynasty market town rebuilt from the scroll 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival', bringing the splendours of Dongjing back to l…
Pingyao Ancient City
China's best-preserved ancient county town, where the Rishengchang draft bank bears witness to the Shanxi merchants' financial legend of 'remitt…
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Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, Nanjing
The joint tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, where stone beasts on the Sacred Way and autumn plane trees form Nanjing's most poetic imperial …
Longmen Grottoes
The smile of the Vairocana Buddha, distilling the evolution of sculptural aesthetics from the Northern Wei to the High Tang.
Xi'an City Wall
The largest and most complete ancient city wall surviving in China.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Da Ci'en Temple
Where Xuanzang translated the scriptures — 'signing beneath the Wild Goose Pagoda' carries a thousand years of scholars' longing to pass the exa…
Terracotta Army
Three pits estimated to hold more than 8,000 figures — the most vivid monument to a centralised empire.