Discover China

Experience both the classics and new-age marvels of Pearl River city Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong Province, in Li Jing’s China Daily Travel article Guangzhou old and new.

Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China, has been dubbed the “world of smiles, and the city of happiness” in a new BBC documentary. Heavenly Hangzhou’s slow life tempo and beautiful natural surroundings for many centuries has made it the tourist toast of the nation. Find out more about Hangzhou and it’s five must-see attractions – West Lake, Lingyin Temple, Xixi Wetland, Hefang Street and Thousand Island Lake – in the China Daily Hangzhou article City dubbed the ‘world of smiles’.

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.

At 2,155 meters above sea level, the peak of the rugged Huashan range is the highest of the five sacred mountain groups in China. But it is not just the altitude that makes the mountains in Huayin, Shaanxi province stand out, it is more about the Huashan’s importance in human history stretching back thousands of years. Read more in the China Daily article Haunting beauty of the Huashan.