Discover China

The 23rd day of the year’s last lunar month marks a traditional Chinese holiday called Xiao Nian, which means Preliminary Eve, the prelude to the Lunar New Year’s Eve celebration. Find out more in the CNTV story China celebrates Xiao Nian festival.

China’s history is a huge and daunting topic. Thousands of years, hundreds of emperors, dynasty after dynasty…but getting to grips with it all can be very interesting, especially with the eChinacities series of Instant Expert guides, the first looking at China’s dynasties.

Jinggang Mountain, regarded as the Red Army’s birthplace and the cradle of China’s revolution, would be the subject of an application for UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage status this year, with the Jiangxi Provincial Government including the application in a list of nine major tasks for 2011. Read more in the Shenzhen Daily article Jinggang Mountain vies for World Heritage listing.

Yunnan province’s Chengjiang fossils site and the site of Inner Mongolia’s Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital have both made application to UNESCO to make the coveted World Heritage list in 2012. Find out what makes these sites so special in the CNTV Culture Express story Two new applications for UNESCO World Heritage list. Last year’s two applications, the Hangzhou Westlake and Five Linked Lakes in Heilongjiang province, will be reviewed at the World Heritage Conference this June.

A visit to Shenzhen has just become easier for Australians with Hainan Airlines introducing a flight between Hangzhou and Sydney via Shenzhen three times a week commencing from 19 January. To find out more read the Shenzhen Daily article New air route to Australia to open soon or for bookings visit Hainan Airlines. Hainan Airlines has also just been awarded Skytrax five-star status, officially becoming the world’s seventh five-star airline.