Sights, properly explained
Not just where to go — what you're looking at and why it matters. History, culture, highlights, tickets, hours and transport.
Longmen Grottoes
龙门石窟 · Lóngmén Shíkū
A UNESCO-listed canyon of more than 2,300 caves and 100,000 Buddhist statues carved into limestone cliffs over four centuries.
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Yungang Grottoes
云冈石窟 · Yúngāng Shíkū
China's earliest great imperial cave temples — 5th-century sandstone grottoes near Datong with 252 caves and over 51,000 statues.
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Forbidden City
故宫 · Gùgōng
The vast imperial palace at the heart of Beijing — home to 24 Ming and Qing emperors over five centuries, now the Palace Museum.
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Great Wall (Mutianyu)
慕田峪长城 · Mùtiányù Chángchéng
A beautifully restored, less-crowded stretch of the Great Wall about 70 km northeast of Beijing — forest, ramparts and 22 watchtowers.
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Terracotta Army
兵马俑 · Bīngmǎyǒng
The 8,000-strong clay army guarding China's first emperor — one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
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Summer Palace
颐和园 · Yíhéyuán
The Qing imperial summer garden — a vast lake, a temple-crowned hill and the painted Long Corridor, the masterpiece of Chinese garden design.
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Temple of Heaven
天坛 · Tiāntán
The perfect Ming altar-temple where emperors prayed for good harvests — now also a living park of dawn tai chi, dance and music.
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West Lake
西湖 · Xī Hú
The classic Chinese landscape lake — pagodas, causeways, willows and tea hills that shaped a thousand years of poetry and painting.
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Zhangjiajie
张家界 · Zhāngjiājiè
The towering quartz-sandstone pillars that inspired Avatar's floating mountains — a surreal forest of stone needles in cloud.
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Li River
漓江 · Lí Jiāng
The karst-peak river of every Chinese painting and the ¥20 note — a slow cruise past green pinnacles, water buffalo and fishermen.
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Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)
黄山 · Huáng Shān
The 'Yellow Mountain' of legend — granite peaks, twisted pines and seas of cloud that defined Chinese landscape art.
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Mount Tai
泰山 · Tài Shān
The foremost of China's Five Sacred Mountains — where emperors climbed to address Heaven, up a stairway of some 7,000 stone steps.
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Mount Hua
华山 · Huà Shān
The 'most precipitous mountain under Heaven' — five granite peaks, knife-edge ridges and the infamous cliffside plank walk.
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Mount Song
嵩山 · Sōng Shān
The central sacred mountain — and home of the Shaolin Temple, birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu.
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Mount Lao
崂山 · Láo Shān
China's highest coastal mountain — a Taoist holy peak rising straight out of the Yellow Sea beside Qingdao.
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Kanas Lake
喀纳斯 · Kānàsī
A jewel-toned alpine lake in the far north of Xinjiang — ringed by Siberian forest, snow peaks and old Tuvan villages.
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Heavenly Lake of Tianshan
天山天池 · Tiānshān Tiānchí
An alpine 'Heavenly Lake' of meltwater below the snow-capped Bogda Peak — the easiest escape into the mountains from Ürümqi.
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Potala Palace
布达拉宫 · Bùdálā Gōng
The towering winter palace of the Dalai Lamas — Tibetan Buddhism's most iconic monument, rising thirteen storeys above Lhasa.
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Jiuzhaigou Valley
九寨沟 · Jiǔzhàigōu
A valley of impossibly turquoise lakes, travertine terraces and waterfalls in the Tibetan-Qiang highlands of Sichuan.
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Lijiang Old Town
丽江古城 · Lìjiāng Gǔchéng
A maze of cobbled lanes, canals and tiled roofs below snow mountains — the 800-year-old Naxi town of Lijiang.
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Wuzhen Water Town
乌镇 · Wūzhèn
The quintessential Jiangnan water town — black-tiled houses, stone bridges and canals you cross by wooden boat.
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Pingyao Ancient City
平遥古城 · Píngyáo Gǔchéng
A perfectly preserved Ming-Qing walled city — China's best-kept ancient town and the birthplace of its first banks.
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Gulangyu Island
鼓浪屿 · Gǔlàngyǔ
A car-free island of colonial villas, gardens and piano music off Xiamen — 'the island of pianos'.
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Classical Gardens of Suzhou
苏州园林 · Sūzhōu Yuánlín
The art of the Chinese classical garden at its peak — Suzhou's scholar gardens, where landscape is composed like poetry.
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Zhangye Danxia
张掖丹霞 · Zhāngyè Dānxiá
The 'rainbow mountains' — striped hills of red, gold and turquoise rock in the Gansu desert, glowing at sunset.
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Huangguoshu Waterfall
黄果树瀑布 · Huángguǒshù Pùbù
China's mightiest waterfall — a 77-metre curtain of water you can walk behind, in the karst country of Guizhou.
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Mount Wuyi
武夷山 · Wǔyí Shān
Red-rock cliffs, a winding jade-green river and the birthplace of oolong tea — the cultural-natural gem of Fujian.
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Dujiangyan Irrigation System
都江堰 · Dūjiāngyàn
The 2,200-year-old irrigation marvel still watering the Chengdu plain — engineering without a dam, paired with Daoist Mount Qingcheng.
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Chengde Mountain Resort
承德避暑山庄 · Bìshǔ Shānzhuāng
The Qing emperors' vast summer palace-park — lakes, grasslands and Tibetan-style temples north of Beijing.
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Chengdu Panda Base
成都大熊猫繁育研究基地 · Chéngdū Dàxióngmāo Fányù Yánjiū Jīdì
The world's leading giant-panda breeding centre — go at the morning feeding for the best chance of seeing active pandas and cubs in the nursery.
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Wulong Karst
武隆喀斯特 · Wǔlóng Kāsītè
A UNESCO World Heritage karst landscape of colossal natural stone bridges and a sunken valley, about 2.5 hours from Chongqing.
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Dazu Rock Carvings
大足石刻 · Dàzú Shíkè
A UNESCO World Heritage collection of exquisite cliff carvings (9th–13th c.) that fuse Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.
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Enshi Grand Canyon
恩施大峡谷 · Ēnshī Dàxiágǔ
A 108-km karst canyon of cliff-hugging skywalks and the One Incense Pillar — a 150-m stone needle balancing a pine on top.
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Jinli Ancient Street
锦里 · Jǐnlǐ
A lantern-lit recreated old street beside the Wuhou Shrine — Sichuan snacks, teahouses and crafts, best after dark.
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Kuanzhai Alley
宽窄巷子 · Kuānzhǎi Xiàngzi
Three restored Qing-era lanes — Wide, Narrow and Well — of courtyard teahouses, cafés and Sichuan snacks in central Chengdu.
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Hongya Cave
洪崖洞 · Hóngyádòng
A vast cliffside complex of stilted 'diaojiaolou' houses that glows gold over the river at night — the image that made Chongqing go viral.
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Mogao Caves
莫高窟 · Mògāo Kū
The 'Caves of a Thousand Buddhas' near Dunhuang — a millennium of Silk Road murals and painted sculpture across 735 caves.
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Tian'anmen Square
天安门广场 · Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng
The vast ceremonial square at the centre of Beijing — the symbolic heart of modern China, ringed by the Forbidden City's gate, the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum.
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Great Wall (Badaling)
八达岭长城 · Bādálǐng Chángchéng
The most famous and accessible section of the Great Wall, about 70 km northwest of Beijing — grand, well-restored, and reachable by direct train.
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Jingshan Park
景山公园 · Jǐngshān Gōngyuán
The artificial hill directly behind the Forbidden City, crowned by a pavilion with the definitive panorama over the golden palace roofs and Beijing's central axis.
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Sanya (Yalong Bay)
三亚 · Sānyà
China's tropical beach capital — palm-fringed bays, warm seas and resorts on the island of Hainan.
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Dali
大理 · Dàlǐ
An old town between a mountain and a lake — the laid-back heartland of the Bai people on Erhai Lake.
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Pingshan Canyon
屏山大峡谷 · Píngshān Dàxiágǔ
The gorge where boats seem to float on air — spring-fed water so clear the hull's shadow falls on the riverbed below.
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