Discover China

One of Shenzhen’s best-known temples is the Tianhou Temple in Chiwan. James Baquet talks about his excitement in discovering six more in Shenzhen in his Shenzhen Daily article Tianhou temples in SZ.

The National Museum of China, located to the east of Tian’anmen Square in central Beijing, has been closed for almost four years while a major expansion and renovation has taken place. It is now ready for its grand reopening day on 27 March. The museum has nearly tripled in size from 65,000 square meters to almost 200,000 square meters, making it the world’s largest museum. After already visiting two outstanding museums in China – the Shenzhen Museum and Henan Museum – I can’t wait to visit the National Museum on a future trip to China. It will undoubtedly be an outstanding experience, and probably require two or three days to take in such a great range of exhibits. Find out more in the CNTV Culture Express stories National Museum of China reopens, Inside the China’s National Museum and A centennial history of the National Museum of China.

In Beijing’s Xicheng district is the Lu Xun Museum, which includes Lu Xun’s tiny courtyard house. This was where Lu Xun (1881-1936), who many say gave Chinese literature its modern form (baihua), wrote Chaohua Xishi (Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk) – his reminiscences from childhood to early youth – the poems that went into Ye Cao (Wild Grass), and several short stories like Pang Huang (Wanderings). The Lu Xun Museum is easily one of the most detailed shows on the life and times of 20th century China’s best-known man of letters and has 21,482 cultural relics under one roof. To find out more see the China Daily article Following in Lu Xun’s footsteps.

A weekend trip to Liangzhu, in suburban Hangzhou’s Yuhang district, will not only take you to blooming orchids and green countryside, but also 5,000 years back to China’s primitive civilization. On 8 March the Liangzhu National Heritage Park officially opened to the public. Visitors can see ancient stone walls, archeological sites and the Liangzhu Museum, where scenes of daily life have been reconstructed. Read more in the China Daily article 50 Centuries Later.

In Shenzhen Chiwan you’ll find the remains of a gun emplacement from the days of the Opium Wars in the 19th century. This was when British and American merchants were illegally importing opium into China. Read more in James Baquet’s Shenzhen Daily article Chiwan Left Fort.