Discover China

Songshan is considered to be the central sacred mountain of China. At the foot of this 1500 metre high mountain, close to the city of Dengfeng in Henan province and spread over a 40 square-kilometre circle, stand eight clusters of buildings and sites. These buildings are reflections of different ways of perceiving the centre of heaven and earth and the power of the mountain as a centre for religious devotion. Find out more about this amazing World Heritage listed location by watching the online videos of the CNTV Journeys in Time six-part Series: Mount Songshan.

I enjoyed a visit to the Songshan Shaolin Temple and its ancient pagoda forest as part of my travels through Anhui, Henan and Zhejiang provinces in 2009 (see story and pictures).

The oldest and most important festival in China is the Spring Festival, which marks the start of a new year on the lunar calendar. This year the Lunar New Year day was 23 January, and introduced the Year of the Dragon. Find out more in the CNTV Special Feature 2012 Spring Festival which includes online videos of the spectacular Spring Festival Gala.

Happy New Year from discoverchina.info!

After three years of renovation, an ancient street in Ningbo city in eastern China has opened to welcome visitors from home and around for an authentic experience of traditional local culture. Find out more in the CNTV Culture Express story Taste old flavor of Ningbo.

China is globally famous for its tea culture. Chaozhou Kongfu tea, from Guangdong Province, is just one of the many different varieties produced and taken in China. To get the very best from a good cup of tea, everything must be right – the water, the heating, the tea leaves, the tea sets, the brewing, and even the way of drinking. The elegant Chaozhou tea ceremony is listed as a national intangible cultural heritage and reflects Chaozhou culture. To find out how you can taste this culture see the CNTV Culture Express story Chaozhou festival displays tea culture.

China’s long and complex history has given rise to a range of different architectural styles. They not only fuse cultures’ structural and decorative forms, but are also influenced by Chinese concepts such as feng shui and yin and yang. The Shenzhen Daily presents the ten best examples of Chinese architecture in this series of articles:

• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (I) – Kaiping diaolou and Wang Family Compound
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (II) – Imperial Prime Minister’s Palace, Fujian tulou and Qiao Family Compound
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (III) – Dayi Liu Manor, Hongcun Village and Xidi Village
• Ten best examples of Chinese architecture (IV) – Kang Baiwan Manor and Yulin Manor of Jiang Yaozu

I had the pleasure of visiting the Hongcun and Xidi ancient villages on my trip to Henan, Anhui and Zhejiang in 2009.