Discover China

Over the past few days I’ve had the pleasure of attending the Shenzhen Open tennis tournament, where in a close battle yesterday China’s Grand Slam champion Li Na (at left) defeated Klara Zakopalova from the Czech Republic to take the singles title. The Shenzhen Open is a new addition to the annual WTA calendar in the lead-up to the Australian Open.

Shenzhen’s Guan Shanyue Art Museum is holding an exhibition of art related to the ox — the city’s spiritual symbol. The pioneering, hard-working and self-sacrificing spirit of the ox represents the spirit of entrepreneurial pioneers in Shenzhen. Find out more in the Shenzhen Daily article Art museum highlighting the ox.

The new high speed rail service between Wuhan and Shenzhen has commenced, with the entire trip taking only 4 hours and 13 minutes. The new line connects Wuhan to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Shenzhen, and departs from the Shenzhen North Railway Station where there is a direct connection with the Shenzhen Metro. It makes it easy to visit Wuhan from Shenzhen, as well as other major places of interest such as Changsha.

The renowned world heritage site Mogao Grottoes in northwest China’s Gansu province has reported record high visitor numbers for 2011. One of the country’s three major Buddhist art treasures, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang received 680,000 tourists in 2011, up 23.6 percent from 550,000 in 2010. The 1,600-year-old Mogao Grottoes, or the Ancient Caves of 1,000 Buddhas, became China’s first UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. It has more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes in over 700 caves spread across about 1,600 meters along a hill. Find out more in the CNTV Travel story World heritage Mogao Grottoes receives record visitors in 2011.

The closing ceremony for the Shenzhen 26th Summer Universiade was held on 23 August. About 13,000 players and officials from 180 nations around the world attended this majestic event. This year’s competition was not only the largest in the event’s history, it was also different from previous games. Find out more about games highlights and see the videos from the closing ceremony see the CNTV News stories Closing ceremony of 26th Summer Universiade and Shenzhen Universiade makes history.