| Great
Wall |  The
Great Wall started as earth works thrown up for protection by different States.
The individual sections weren't connected until the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.).
Qin Shihuangdi, First Emperor of Qin began conscripting peasants, enemies, and
anyone else who wasn't tied to the land to go to work on the wall. He garrisoned
armies at the Wall to stand guard over the workers as well as to defend the northern
boundaries. The tradition lasted for centuries. Each dynasty added to the height,
breadth, length, and elaborated the design mostly through forced labor. Throughout
the centuries, armies were garrisoned along the length of the Wall to provide
early warning of invasion and a first line of defense. Great piles of straw and
dung used to build signal fires have been found during excavations. There must
have been small garrison towns spotted along the length. There weren't many farms
or trade towns to provide ease, relaxation and food. The supply trails were over
mountains along narrow paths. To bring supplies to the top, ropes were slung over
posts set in the Chinese side of the wall and baskets were hauled up hand over
hand. Supplies must have always been short and chancy, particularly in the winter.Over
the past few centuries, the Great Wall has served as a source of building materials
for local farms and villages. Aerial photos show that in sections, only the top
battlements show -- the center of the wall has filled with sand and silt. The
same brutal isolated conditions which made the Great Wall a triumph of engineering
and determined planning make restoration problematic and slow. | | Forbidden
City |  Lying
at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong, in Chinese, was
the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace
Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the
world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter
deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. The wall has a gate on
each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Devine Might
(Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is
960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is
750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four
corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city
outside. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or
the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation.
The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family.
Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen
emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned
here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous
rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage
Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions
world wide. | | The
Oriental pearl TV Tower |  The
"Oriental Pearl" TV Tower is a new landmark of Shanghai which faces
the Bund across the Huangpu River at Lujiazui, the busiest part of Pudong new
Area. At a height of 468 metres, it is the tallest TV tower in Asia. An elevator
whisks visitors to the tower's observational deck at a height of 263 metres, where
they can feast their eyes on a panoramic view of shanghai. The tower is equipped
with tourist service facilities, including eateries, shops, recreational including
eateries, shops, recreational centers and a hotel. | | Guilin's
Landscape |  The
world-renowned scenic city of Guilin is naturally a fine tourist city in China.
A distinctive karst landmass is the reason behind Guilin's fabulous landscape
that is characterized by green mountains, sparkling waters, strange caves and
statuesque monoliths. Xing'an County, 60 km to the northeast of Guilin, is the
site of the Lingqu (a world-famous ancient canal), and the Leman Geological Scenic
Zone where visitors go for both recreation and leisure. Ziyuan County, 149 km
north of Guilin, features a landscape corridor where the scenery is by turns mysterious,
breathtaking, strange and graceful. Longsheng County, 97 km from Guilin, features
the folkways of the ethnic Zhuangs and Yaos, hot spring sanatoriums, and the world's
most spectacular Dragon-Ridge Terraced Fields. |
| |
| | China
Guide | A comprehensive China travel
guide to all China major cities and featured destinations with travel information
including maps, attractions, pictures, city tour packages, arts, folk customs
and more!
Welcome to pick up what you like and read. You will find China is
greatly beyond what you knew. | |
| | Major
Tourist Cities | | |
Beijing | Guilin | |
| Xian | Yangshuo |
| | Shanghai | Suzhou |
| | Dunhuang | Lijiang |  | Turpan | Hangzhou | | Guangzhou | Chengdu | | Kunming | Lhasa | | Urumqi | Sichuan | | Anhui | Hunan |
|
| | Main
Attractions | |
| Forbidden City | |
| Great Wall |
| | Tian'anmen
Square | | | Temple
of Heaven | | Terra
cotta Army | | Big
Wild Goose Pagoda | | Bell
Tower | | Li
River | | Lijiang
Ancient Town | | Yellow
Mountain | | Yellow
Crane Tower | | Dazu
Grottoes | | Reed
Flute Cave | | Elephant
Trunk Hill | | Yu
Garden | | The
Bund | | Oriental
Pearl TV Tower | | West
Lake | | Potala
Palace | | Sera
Monastery | | Sunday
Bazaar | | | | | | |
|
